When you enter into L Mulligan Grocer you think you’ve walked into any old pub.
Lots of wood, dark corners and the smell of beer permeates the air. Walk deeper into the place and suddenly you come across a room that is much brighter and actually resembles a restaurant. There are bricked walls and tables are made up of very chunky blocks of wood. The interior decorator aimed for a rustic but quaint effect and it works because who can’t be charmed by the Scrabble rack that spells out “reserved” or the flowers placed in a jar?
After having had lunch at ely gastro pub and grazing the whole afternoon in Dublin’s best food shops, I could barely spell the word “hunger” and opted for just a main course. Reports were that the Scotch Egg (€5) was decent albeit spicy and although the potted crab was well presented, more than half the jar’s content was oozing with butter and mysteriously the fresh crab was watery and tasteless.
Bacon jam was served with one of the burgers but honestly just tasted of chopped up bacon which led me to think that either L Mulligan Grocer doesn’t know how to prepare it or there is a big hype over nothing. My rib-eye steak (€21.50) was a huge slab of meat, cooked rare just like I asked for. A Portobello mushroom was served on top of it with some Connemara whiskey butter which was rather good. The chunky, crunchy chips had a serious moreish factor to them in the sense that I kept on nibbling them even though I’ve finished eating, which gives an indication of how long it took for plates to be removed.
If it’s a toss-up in terms of quality and consistency between L Mulligan Grocer and ely gastro pub, the latter will win hands down.
Quick Overview
Food
5/10: From what I tasted there were more misses than hits.
Value
7/10: Decent portion sizes.
Service
5/10: Even though it was busy on a Thursday night I felt the service was a bit slack.
Toilets
N/A: Didn’t go.
Ambience
6/10: Laid back atmosphere.
Recommend
5/10: If you want simple, traditional food, L Mulligan Grocer is it. Don’t expect anything more.
L Mulligan Grocer
18 Stoneybatter
Dublin 7
Ireland
P.S. I was a guest of Bord Bia – Irish Food Board.
I liked the setting too, though the bench seating at the tables was not really very comfortable for sitting through a whole meal. Food was mixed, with some of it tasting great but some not really delivering. Service was helpful and friendly but so very slow and I was really not happy that they’d somehow forgotten my order from our table of 6 and it didn’t come till the rest of you had almost finished. The table next to us, they messed up the orders too, didn’t they? So, nice but no cigar. Thought Ely was much much better.
Oh I love the scrabble rack idea! As for whisky butter – need to instantly add this to me repetoire :o)