Ely Gastro Pub – Stylish Bites
Another lunch date with my Mother was on the cards last week – don’t we love ourselves? We had a nice mill around the Grand Canal Docks, in search something salady for herself. The menu at Ely Gastro Pub got the nod, and in we went. The chic surrounds of this place always say wine bar to me rather than gastro pub, but the lunch fare is hearty enough to earn the name.
In among the suited and booted clientelle, we relaxed in comfy leather bucket chairs. Daily specials included vintage cheddar on sourdough which appealed to my carb cravings. It arrived with a cute little basket of chips. Mother went for the Ely super salad. Although rice was listed in the ingredients, we were surprised to find that most of the salad was filled out with hard white rice.
Restaurants often make the mistake of thinking that salad eaters must be filled up with extra carbs or meat. I always find that Caesar comes with mounds of unwanted chicken. But no. We like green stuff. Keep salad simple! Our waiter was such a lovely chap, but when the guy in charge came by we told him that the otherwise delicious salad was not what we’d expected.
I was quite impressed that he took our feedback on board and there was nothing negative apart from the cold rice. Having spied next door’s desserts, we decided to round off our meal with a sweet treat. Our man told us that Ely’s pastry chef, Monto, is well known for his delicate confections and he helped me with my French as I ordered the pear bavarois, and ice cream for Mama.
The desserts really did taste as good as they looked. So light and expertly flavoured. Ely is such a nice place to kick back, we found ourselves chatting away with the staff, in between our own conversation. When paying the bill we noticed that our ice cream was on the house. Making customers feel welcome is the best thing on the menu here. We’ll be back!
Ely Gastro Pub, Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2 / www.elywinebar.ie