Restaurant Recommendation Thread - Anyone for seconds?

I had lunch in the Opera House cafe this week, very small menu but the food was nice. Soup, sandwiches, (very big) sausage rolls & salad. There were five of us there & everyone was happy with the venue.

Yes but you said if an increase in min wage is the problem a business has no long term future. Its more the tipping point/the straw that breaks the camels back. You can only increase your prices so much before your not filling seats.

I always have a bit of a problem with people on moderate to high incomes (or any wage above minimum wage) complaining that minimum wage is too high.

A bit like when the lower tax band is widened or the threshold to enter taxation is increased, you hear the usual, "nothing for the middle income earner", which ignores the fact that everyone benifits from the lower rate reductions. That reads to me, that not only do I want more in my paycheck, I want extra that poorer people don't get! It's like it doesn't count if everyone gets it!

Think ye might need a new thread for this lads 😉

With labour costings in a business, one has to multiply the wage by 1.5 to look after PRSI, holidays etc. So €13.60 is about €20/hr when doing the calculations. That being said I believe everyone should be on the living wage a minimum.

Price point may be an issue in the city where there is a lot of close competition, definitely much less a factor outside of it.

Thirded

Had a takeout from Haveli in Douglas. The place is just a takeaway now, tables pushed aside a bit, pretty much the same as always but no punters sitting down eating. .

Got our usual few dinners, for the family, and I thought it was a mistake before, but confirmed it's not...(this is the second time they've done it) got tikka masala sauce for one of my younger ones) Was charged the full price as if there was meat in it. So €12+ for a tub of sauce. No denying it was nice, but still. If there's a next time, I'll be asking for meat on the side if they're charging me full whack.

The amount of chicken has reduced in the mains, and was a bit stringy, obviously not their usual quality anymore.

Tbh I won't be going again, I couldn't afford it for a family takeout, unless it was a special occasion. Indian restaurants charging for rice on top of a fairly expensive main is something I could never fathom.

...ate in this (new?) restaurant the other day - Thindi - in Bishopstown, just across from the Bishopstown Pub fork... menu had Indian and Thai dishes (might be mistaken, but I think that it was a Thai restaurant earleir). We only had Indian food as the folks we were with wanted Indian and not much else was open. Now the food was not top notch authentic Indian fare, but not bad I must say, not like the usual - so it wasnt the ususal disappointing experience

Have you tried "new Iyer's" yet? From my limited experience, it's no Iyer's, but it is pretty good.

what is the NEW Iyer's please?

Spice genie are doing blackrock sunday market -

I only tried them once from their shop in midleton pre flood ( not noahs one ,)

And it was good , not amazing but good , and definitely value,

Is there a difference between corriander in douglas and balincolig? Ive always been very underwhelmed by the one in Douglas ..

No. Not sure he's going to either. Although he did mention possible pop ups and/or collaborations in the future.

Strange one. Badly missed.

So have we any decent authentic Indian restaurant that we can visit in Cork at all?

Still have gravies in the freezer but would love a sit down dinner, sans kids, at the weekend.

I remember Raj Gaylord out in Kerrypike being decent but I'd say it's been over a decade or more since going there!

Willing to travel.

I don't trust recommendations for Indian restaurants . I've been told so many places are really good over the years and I've never been impressed by any of them apart from Iyer's. I think I just don't like western style Indian restaurants.

We had some Indian colleagues visiting Cork a while back. They were really impressed with Coriander in Ballincollig. They thought the Gaylord was awful.

The Raj is like tung sing, living on past times.

Often wondered about the Raj, glad I asked now!

Used to go to Bombay palace in town 20+ years ago, loved it back then. and one evening last year we decided to take a walk there and maybe dine in as it was still opened, then anyway, not sure now. My reckoning was when I got outside ,if they can't be arsed to keep their windows clean inside and out and keep the place looking good, then the food wouldn't be good, or place clean inside.

Ate in an Indian at kings cross last year, not a fine dining experience, but a working person's restaurant. Absolutely lovely, decent food, decent prices with loyal customers it seemed and humour from the servers thrown in..

Nope 😀

The Lodge in Myrtleville, Spice Genie and Thali are the best of the current lot that I've been to. There is someone in Douglas running a south Indian kitchen for home delivery but I can't remember the details. I saw a menu a while back and it looked good.

The thing with Indian restaurants here is - the clientele - the max clientele is the not the proper authentic Indian food loving folks like most of you here.... The Indian population is increasing quite a lot here in Ireland now (in Cork as well), so when a few restaurants will realise or new ones open up thinking that there is enough amount of people to sell real Indian food to, it will happen - once Indian restaurants start cooking/catering for Indians, the food quality will improve, but at the moment thats not the case - this is my take on the situation anyway

UK has enough population who appreciate and know good indian food to sustain the business of those kind restaurants