Standing at the tourist kiosk in the Dublin airport, I voiced the question foremost on my mind after missing lunch and the clock inching towards 21:00.... "where might we find traditional Irish food?!" The informative native Irishman replied: "You want Irish food? The Irish don't even want Irish food, and certainly won't pay for it! But we have plenty of Oriental and Italian restaurants! Or Supermans (the local burger joint), or Eddie Rockets (you won't believe how similar this is to Johnny Rockets! Identical)." Well, Mama and I thanked him for the advice and hopped onto the bus with our 3 day bus passes. The gleaming lights of the Hapenny Bridge and multi-colored facades of the pubs announced our arrival into the city center. Carting our rolling duffel and two overstuffed totes, we bounced down the cobblestone, stopping to peer at the menus each of the restaurants in the Temple Bar district had to offer. Finally, we chose a pub sporting the slogan of "traditional Irish food."
At this point, we learned the meaning of an "Irish minute." We were told that our wait would not be longer than ten minutes...ten Irish minutes that is! An Irish minute is the amount of time that an Irishman will quote to you to make you happy - generally a gross understatement of the amount of time the action will truly take. We thoroughly enjoyed our calamari (probably the best calamari either of us ever had!), brown bread, potato soup, and apple crumble. The Kerry butter (made in County Kerry) was the best butter I'd ever tasted! We left the restaurant quite full (with our waitress glaring - for we had not ordered enough for her taste - Drinking tap water, sharing, and appetizers no less!) We hopped a bus to the hotel (supposedly 15-20 minutes outside the city centre) and rode for an hour and a half! The bus driver, a sweet Irishman, had promised to tell us where to get off, and subsequently forgot. "So sorry!" He cried. And then took a 15 minute smoke break before turning the circle to complete the route again. Our bus dropped us off at a construction stop, and we walked 10 Irish minutes to our hotel. The hotel was brand new and delightful.
The next morning we had a fantastic Irish breakfast (included in our stay). The chefs made Mommie and I fantastic Irish porridge, eggs (for Mama), bacon, pudding (a delightful mix of entrails etc in sausage patty form that was quite tasty), cereals, dried fruits, juices, tomatoes, and toast (with fantastic jams!) Checking our watch, we flew out of the hotel, speed walking the 10 Irish minute walk to the bus stop (found that the bus wouldn't come for an hour) and then caught the Luas. We had five minutes to make it to the bus at St. Andrews' Cathedral! We hopped in a taxi and the driver absolutely careened down the street, pedestrians jumping out of the way! We made it!
At this point, we learned the meaning of an "Irish minute." We were told that our wait would not be longer than ten minutes...ten Irish minutes that is! An Irish minute is the amount of time that an Irishman will quote to you to make you happy - generally a gross understatement of the amount of time the action will truly take. We thoroughly enjoyed our calamari (probably the best calamari either of us ever had!), brown bread, potato soup, and apple crumble. The Kerry butter (made in County Kerry) was the best butter I'd ever tasted! We left the restaurant quite full (with our waitress glaring - for we had not ordered enough for her taste - Drinking tap water, sharing, and appetizers no less!) We hopped a bus to the hotel (supposedly 15-20 minutes outside the city centre) and rode for an hour and a half! The bus driver, a sweet Irishman, had promised to tell us where to get off, and subsequently forgot. "So sorry!" He cried. And then took a 15 minute smoke break before turning the circle to complete the route again. Our bus dropped us off at a construction stop, and we walked 10 Irish minutes to our hotel. The hotel was brand new and delightful.
The next morning we had a fantastic Irish breakfast (included in our stay). The chefs made Mommie and I fantastic Irish porridge, eggs (for Mama), bacon, pudding (a delightful mix of entrails etc in sausage patty form that was quite tasty), cereals, dried fruits, juices, tomatoes, and toast (with fantastic jams!) Checking our watch, we flew out of the hotel, speed walking the 10 Irish minute walk to the bus stop (found that the bus wouldn't come for an hour) and then caught the Luas. We had five minutes to make it to the bus at St. Andrews' Cathedral! We hopped in a taxi and the driver absolutely careened down the street, pedestrians jumping out of the way! We made it!
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