Thursday 29 January 2015

Meat Lovers’ Heaven: The Butcher Grill


The Butcher Grill is owned by successful food entrepreneur John Farrell, the man behind Super Miss Sue, Dillingers and 777. Located in the heart of Ranelagh village the restaurant is quite small with a few seats at the bar, high tables and high bar stools, cool floor tiling, a beef cut diagram on the walls and a display of wine bottles above the bar.


They’re only open for dinner during the week but also serve a brunch service on Saturdays and Sundays. The menu is quite short with starters ranging from €2 for a single raw oyster with shallot vinaigrette to €12 for the grilled gambas with Iberico chorizo, red pepper and almonds or scallops with crispy pork belly, pickled seaweed and miso dressing.  Mains include meaty options such as the burger served with French fries (€20), bbq baby back ribs with coleslaw, duck breast (€26) and there is also a fish option.


I started off with the seared tuna tostados (€12), which I’ve always wanted to try in their sister restaurant 777, so I jumped at the opportunity. There were two majestic tostados, beautifully plated, consisting of fresh seared tuna, guacamole, chipotle mayo, topped with very thin crispy onions. This dish was refreshing and light as well as being a little fiery and perfectly sized too.


Mr. FFID went for the beef tartare (€12) which usually never looks too pretty, it’s raw meat after all but this one was well presented. The meat was perfectly seasoned and paired with tasty condiments. It came with a quail egg, a smear of caper jam and toasted bread. It was actually better than most of the steak tartars I’ve had in Paris, Irish beef always wins for me.


The main reason we visited the Butcher Grill was for the côte de boeuf. This huge cut of meat is to be shared between two people and comes served with onion rings and smoky beans, all for €58. I have a great tip for you though, it’s only €45 on Mondays and Tuesdays which makes it much better value. Côte de boeuf is a rib eye steak cooked on the bone. It’s my favourite type of steak and is hugely popular in France but you can now find it in a few places in Dublin too. It came on a wooden board and cooked to our liking (medium rare), it was tasty and juicy although I thought it may have lacked just a little bit of seasoning. It was still a satisfying meat feast, especially for the price of €45 for 2 people.


We rounded off the meal with a cheese selection (€10) which were delicious and nicely portioned; I was just a little disappointed with the cream crackers that came with them and would have preferred better quality cheese biscuits.


Throughout the evening the staff were friendly and made us feel well looked after and I loved the intimate neighbourhood bistro feel to the place. Well worth adding to the must-try list of any carnivores out there.



The Butcher Grill
92 Ranelagh
Dublin 6

Website

This is an independent review, I paid for my meal. 




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