Following my post about Gordon Ramsay’s Petrus in London, I wanted to write a blog post about another fantastic restaurant I visited. During my travels end of last year, I was also fortunate enough to get to travel to Ireland. I’ve always wanted to visit Dublin, having seen and heard so much about things such as the Spire of Dublin on O’Connell Street, Guinness Storehouse, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, St. Stephen’s Green and the many pubs of Temple Bar. Thankfully, it is only a short flight away from London. Apart from all my sightseeing, shopping and touring around the city of Dublin, I also did a little food research. I was very pleased to discover that Marco Pierre White has a steakhouse in Dawson Street. Being a Marco Pierre White fan, I immediately made a reservation.

Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill was Marco’s first restaurant to open in Ireland. The chefs have all been trained in London by Marco himself. They serve simple, elegant dishes with fresh and locally sourced produce. According to Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill, such simple dishes demand the finest quality cuts of meat, freshest fish and classic sauces. Personally, I’m of the belief that South Africa has some of the best quality meat (perhaps I’m a little bias). I’m a big fan of beef, pork, lamb and chicken but I’ve generally been disappointed after tasting any kind of meat from restaurants in both Europe and the United States. I do believe this is because I’m fortunate enough to come from a country with really great quality meat. Having said that however, Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill most certainly proved that they do in fact use the finest quality cuts of meat. I ordered the Chargrilled 8oz Beef Fillet Steak (never easy coming to terms with the Imperial system ;-) that’s about 225g) served with a béarnaise sauce and a side of triple cooked potato chips. My beef fillet was absolutely amazing and most certainly great quality. Seems the Irish too, have brilliant beef! The béarnaise sauce was beautifully made to perfection – undeniably the best béarnaise sauce I have tasted. I loved this dish! It was absolutely delicious. My benedict ordered the Wicklow Lamb A la Dijonnaise with gratin dauphinoise – another superb dish! The lamb was out of this world; it was tender, juicy and tasty beyond words. The dijonnaise was delicious and complemented the lamb beautifully. The potato, too was amazing – loved the crunchy element of the gratin. Both the beef fillet and the lamb definitely met our high South African meat quality standards. For dessert I had the apple tart tatin with vanilla ice cream; a warm classic French style dessert. It was wonderful!

Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill proved to be a wonderful experience and I’m so glad I managed to fit in a visit during our short stay in Dublin. The restaurant is very elegant looking with a lovely feel to it. The service was exceptionally good. My only complaint was our waiter suggesting we order an Italian wine and definitely not a South African or Chilean wine, as these are poor wines in his opinion ;-) Our differences in a wine aside, we were made to feel very special and the service at Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill was fantastic. The food was certainly outstanding. I hope to return to Dublin again someday and when I do, I will be sure to include another visit to the amazing Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill.