Saturday, June 03, 2006
Fallon & Byrne
I just realised that yesterday I managed to omit our most important feed discovery form my blog: Fallon & Byrne food hall on Exchequer Street. So, before I do anything else, let me rectify this mistake.My mum and I had been walking around for quite a while when a large, and yet totally inconspicuous, storefront caught her
eye. I personally thought that she was merely admiring another one of these posh, overpriced restaurants that, for some reason, she likes so much, so I did not even look at the menu that was taped to the window. She really wanted to go in right away, but I was just not in the mood. I did not want to face Dublin's rich and trendy folks packed down with everything from North African sweets to camping chairs and certainly had no intention of eating anything else after stuffing my face with excessive amounts of vegetable tagine and Baileys cheesecake. It was only when she asked me "What is a 'food hall'?" that I got interested. We stood on tiptoes trying to peak through the window, but, short as we are, we could not make out what the goings-on behind the glass were all about. There was a hustle of bustle that would have been unusual in a restaurant, so we decided to be adventurous and just go in. We could always turn around if all we found was a restaurant. What we really found behind the plain facade was, what the Irish Times two months ago, advertised as follows:It won't just be a food hall, it will be a fabulous, Manhattan-style, meet-your-friends-there, taste-the-wine, organic-and-free-range and the chicken-died-happy food hall. It won't just be shopping: it will be unique and exclusive, put-your-feet-up, we've-sourced-the-products-so-you-don't-have-to shopping.
And while that sounds thoroughly pretentious, it is a surprisingly good description of a surprisingly unpretentious place. What you get there is simply great food, and lots of it. They have a relative large and definitely exclusive selection of fruit and vegetables, lovely home-made breads, a deli counter that almost rivals the stall at Temple Bar Market, a fish counter with a great selection of fresh fish (something that was sorely needed in the city centre), a meat counter, a fridge full of artisan, organic and just plain interesting dairy products and ready meals made on site, a sweets counter, an espresso bar, a juice bar and a selection of fine foods to die for: teas, oils, condiments cereals, chocolates, cooking ingredients, ethnic foods, if you can think of it, you will find it here. And, considering the selection, quality and location, the prices are far from outrageous. If you love food and are ever in Dublin's city centre, do pop into this old telephone exchange, I promise, you will not be disappointed.Christine at 10:32 pm
