A recent conversations I had with a friend set me thinking about eating out in Dublin: she had lately returned from a family holiday in Lisbon and was extolling the food-quality and value in restaurants in the Portuguese capital. Now, said conversation planted a seed of an idea that I might write the occasional post about restaurants, wine bars and cafés in Dublin where it is possible to eat reasonably well without paying a king’s ransom for the privilege.
The Fallon & Byrne Wine Cellar on Exchequer Street is one such place. Fallon & Byrne is Dublin’s foodie central, spread over three floors: the top floor houses the main restaurant, the ground floor a food hall with a café area and the basement is a wine shop cum wine bar.
Despite being below ground and despite the use of lots of dark wood the cavernous space that is the Wine Cellar doesn’t major on Stygian gloom. The visible bits of the walls are pale-coloured , the floor is a light shade of grey and there is plenty of artificial light from tasteful fittings.
The high-ceilinged room is large, not quite plane hangar proportions, but big nonetheless and yet it has a cosy intimate feel. Giant circular pillars covered in eclectic and colourful posters, wine barrels encircled with stools and wooden tables surrounded by dark bentwood chairs with seats covered in red leather, break up the space. Around the perimeter the lion’s share of the walls are lined with dark shelves filled with bottles of wine from most of the world’s major wine regions.
The menu has four sections Nibbles (tapas-type dishes), Shares, Bites and Deserts. Most of the items on the Shares (examples: cheese board, charcuterie board, half a dozen oysters … ) and the Bites (examples: Mediterranean fish stew, cold poached salmon …) are under a tenner. The deserts are mainly priced at a comparatively highish €6.95 but there is a mini one at €2.50.
I like the place not because it’s culinary nirvana, the food is goodish but not sublime, but because of the mellow ambiance and because they have a very good selection of decent and sometimes unusual wines by the glass (such as a biodynamic Priorat). And if you want to select a bottle from the shelves you won’t have to pay a restaurant mark-up just €10 corkage and if you are there on a Monday you can take advantage of the Happy Monday special offer when corkage is only €1.
I ate warm brie wrapped in Parma ham which was served
with a baby spinach and frissé salad, it came with plenty of bread. I followed this with the mini dessert which is a chocolate brownie, sadly this was on the dry side. I drank a glass of Picoul de Pinet made by the Languedoc producer Baron de Badassière. The service was good.
Fallon & Byrne is at 11 – 17 Exchequer Street Dublin 2
Just Add Attitude 
thanks for review, also good to get another opinion on restaurants so look forward to some more, I always enjoy your blog
Thank for the compliment on the blog – it’s very much appreciated. I will do the occasional review – thanks also for reading Just Add Attitude.
Sounds like a lovely place with great character! Warm brie wrapped in ham?! My mouth is watering right now 🙂
It’s a good spot for a casual meal. There is something about melting cheese that’s particularly mouth watering! 😉
What a great, insightful review, B!
I like the place and the decor, beside of course the large selection of wines 🙂 And, I like Priorat wines too!
Thanks for the coverage! 🙂
Thanks Stefano.
The large selection of wines is great – although I am not absolutely sure I think it’s possibly the largest number of bottles available to have with food in Dublin. 😉
I like the sound of the warm brie wrapped in parma ham. That sounds like a delicious combination.
Thanks for your comment Karen. And yes the warm brie with Parma ham was a good combination.
The food choices sound good and it is a very attractive place too!
Thanks Meg for your comment and I am sorry for the delayed reply to it, somehow I missed it when it first came in. 😉
delicious!
you had us at Kings Ransom, tenner and those Vintage Posters.
glorious.
*wavingfromlosangeles*
tg xx
Hello TG
I love those vintage posters too.
*wavingtowardsLAfromtheemeraldisle*
xx
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I’m not losing hope to finally make it to the emerald isle (in this lifetime).
so I’m picking up all the bits for future visits 😀
as for the concept here, it totally reminds me of vienna’s meindl: it’s both a food specialties store and a fabulous restaurant.
and something similar for satisfying the sweet tooth can be found in berlin 😉 the beautiful fassbender & rausch chocolate store with a chocolate restaurant, right, not just a café, a restaurant, on its first floor.
Wow a chocolate restaurant, that’s amazing. I have never been to Berlin but anyone I know who has visited raves about it, altho I am not sure if they stumbled upon Fassbender & Rausch. Maybe one day I’ll get to see Berlin for myself. *hopeful sigh* 😉
*hopeful sigh back* (Dublin)
😉
they’re actually quite well-known, displaying berlin sightseeing highlights as huge chocolate statues! maybe not everybody gets that there’s a restaurant above.
here are some pictures:
http://www.fassbender-rausch.de/en/home?nl=en
Thank you for the pictures – now I am totally longing for some chocolate and I have none in the cupboard to avoid temptation! 😉
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Thanks for the auspicious writeup. It iin fact was a enjoyment account it.
Look complicated to far inteoduced agreeable from you!
By the way, how can we communicate?
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