Anyone eaten in that Shebeen Chic place?

Miguel_Sanchez

I know they had a licence problem and now are only serving booze with "a substantial meal" but has anyone eaten in there? What's it like.

I was thinking of bringing a young lady there on Thursday but wanted to scope it out first.

kmick

Apparently the food is good. Everything else (service, decor, atmosphere) is crap. She might not be impressed if its a first date - try somewhere like Yamamori. There is a bit of a buzz in there and the food is nice.

whiskeyman

REview from the Sunday Business Post here:
http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=FOOD+AND+DRINK-qqqm=nav-qqqid=35426-qqqx=1.asp

Review wrote:

Back to a very tasty future
Sunday, August 31, 2008 Reviewed by Ross Golden Bannon
Shebeen Chic. 4 South Great Georges St, Dublin 2
Tel 085–1186108 Executive chef: Seamus O’Connell

Shebeen Chic is on George’s Street in Dublin. Opposite its front door is The George pub and the back entrance leads onto Dame Lane and the Stag’s Head.

These are two of the city’s most popular, long-standing pubs, and yet this premises in the middle has seen several restaurants open and close. At first glance, it looked as if the curse wouldn’t take long to doom the most recent inhabitant, Shebeen Chic.

There’s a battered sofa on the street, along with an ancient standard lamp. Just inside the door are more dodgy sofas and objets trouvés from the 1970s and 1980s.





A horrendous, mock Regency glass-fronted cabinet hangs on the wall next to battered cupboard doors and tattered lamps. Nailed to another wall are black toilet seats hung to resemble the Chanel logo (thankfully, Coco isn’t around to see this).

The rest of the interior includes a bar stretching along one side, a dining room beyond and downstairs, another bar with more kitsch kit-out and trad musicians with ZZ Top beards. All in all, this place is terminally cool.

So cool that I’d nothing appropriate to wear to match the shabbily beautiful people lounging at the bar dressed in €300 ragged jeans, teepee dresses that cost $800 in New York and faces that hadn’t smiled since daddy bought them the new iPhone.

It was a relief when the staff smiled. I also met Cuz there, who smiled when I arrived. Things were looking up. We read the menu and our smiles broadened. It has all the hallmarks of the slightly eccentric Seamus O’Connell of Ivory Tower fame in Cork, so there are plenty of curiosities.

The wine list includes some real treats, and we went for a Palazzino Chianti 2001 (€30) which delivered all the dark berry flavour we were looking for. I kicked off with the tripe sausage and Sneem black pudding with ‘treacle-ized’ apple sauce (€6.49).

It was simple and utterly traditional in its component parts, but cleverly assembled to create rich earthy flavours and a smoky sauce. Its remarkably inexpensive price tag is proof that you don’t have to spend big bucks for big flavours and big talent.

Cuz had the boxty made with ham and cheese (€8.49). Allow me a small cry here for traditional Northern Irish dumpling boxty - why doesn’t anyone make it south of Cavan? Granted, it’s not easy to make, but staff should know there are two types. This triumphant version is a bit like giant rosti with a crispy exterior, creamy centre and ham flecks that oozed quality.

For the main course, I had the ox cheeks in ale with carrots (€14.49). Due to the long cooking time required for this dish, it’s not a simple one. But in this instance, it sang of flavour. The rich sauce and a' point vegetables tasted of old-fashioned meals that, although otherwise exist only in mythical memory, are magically brought to life here.

Cuz had the Irish stew with pearl barley and mash (€15). Any New Irish living in Ireland who have never tasted our national dish should head straight for here. Plonk this before Seamus Heaney and he’d probably deliver an ode in seconds.

Side orders included some tragic vegetables (€5) which tasted like leftovers from the 1980s, but we were back on track with the addictive duck fat chips (€6.49).

For dessert, we had the raspberry jelly with vanilla custard and ice cream (€5.49). The menu’s simple description hid a wealth of quality, flavour and style - quite different from my dark memory of this golden oldie. We also had the ‘‘best ice cream in the republic’’ (€5.49), though there was some confusion about its origin.

It took our waitress several journeys to deliver an answer that left us no wiser. We think, but are not sure, that the chef has an ice cream factory in the republic of France. Suffice to say the boast was pretty good. I can’t remember the last time I tasted ice cream that good, and the mint one seemed flavoured with freshly plucked leaves.

The bill came to €96.94 between the two of us, and we would have happily paid double. This is back-to-basics, traditional Irish food made with 21st-century panache.

Ignore the too-cool-for-school gang at the bar, and head straight for the flawless menu at the back of the premises. Back-to-the-future never tasted so good.

Miguel_Sanchez

Hmmmm.... my chopstick skills have let me down on a first date before.

Might give the auld Shebeen a try and laugh it off if the place is a kip.

leiwand

i ate there last week .had crubeens and they were truly awful.was surprised that the business post gave it such a good review.


b.

MikeHoncho

Havent been in yet but the place that was in those premises before served me the worst breakfast ive ever had.

AnonoBoy

I know someone that ate there once and he's dead now.

(probably unrelated - I'm just saying is all)

Dub13

Anytime I walk by the place its always packed,it looks a bit strange and stands out.At one stage they had a couch outside but I think thats gone now.

I did not hear they had license problems.

Miguel_Sanchez

Dub13 wrote: »

I did not hear they had license problems.

Yeah - they've got a sign up on the door about it.

Not so sure about it now - seems more negative than positive things to be said about it.