Business Trip to Dublin (Part 2) - What I Ate and Drank with My Second Daughter

(Continued)

The first day of work is over. It was a series of one-on-one meetings with local employees, and everyone talks a lot. If you leave them to it, they will explain their work duties forever. Some people speak at a machine-gun pace. I occasionally interrupt to clarify things I don't understand, but that gradually becomes a chore.

I reached the evening feeling quite exhausted. My second daughter, who lives in Edinburgh, was visiting a friend in Cork, Ireland's second-largest city, but she took the opportunity to come up to Dublin so we could have dinner together.

First of all, when you come to Dublin, you have no choice but to drink Guinness. Since my time in London, it has been said that Guinness tastes different when drunk in Dublin. I first visited Dublin in 2009 and drank Guinness at a pub in the famous "Temple Bar" district. I remember it was indeed fresh and went down as smoothly as water.

On this day, the place my daughter took me to was about a 10-minute walk from the hotel, called "Toners Pub". According to its official website, it was founded in 1734 and is one of the oldest pubs in Dublin. The interior feels historic, and there is no unnecessary music at all. It is interesting that the counter is divided by partitions. It was before 6:00 PM, but there were quite a few people.

Naturally, I drank Guinness. Because it has a silky foam, the barman pours it carefully in several stages. I carried it to my seat, waited a while for the foam to settle, and then took a gulp. "This is it," the beer, which tasted as if it had just been made, soaked gently into my empty stomach. As I was drinking, more and more people kept coming in.

By the way, I had a pint (568ml) and my daughter had a half-pint, which cost 10 euros (about 1,600 yen), so it is reasonable compared to places like London.

My daughter apparently went to the "Temple Bar Pub" in the Temple Bar district the day before, but it was overflowing with people. Before dinner, she apparently went to an experience facility called "Guinness Storehouse", but that was also extremely crowded, mainly with American tourists.

Also, according to my daughter, in a rare case for the cashless era, when you take a bus in Dublin, it is cash-only, and they don't give change, so please be careful if you are going sightseeing. (There was a reference article about this.)

After the pub, we went to a stylish bistro called "Note". Like me, my daughter loves good food and is good at finding restaurants, so this was also her selection.

First was "Cucumber and taramasalata," the cucumber was crisp and delicious. Next was "Crab crumpet, sea urchin espuma," where a generous amount of crab meat mixed with sea urchin was placed on a crumpet, which is something between a pancake and bread. This also had a quite good flavor.

The main dish was "Roasted Quail." It was served with beans and girolle mushrooms. The roasting was just right, and we both gnawed on the bones. On the side, there were roasted potatoes flavored with garlic and rosemary. Not just in England, but the crispy roasted potatoes you eat in Ireland are also delicious.

We shared four dishes including the side dish. We finished a bottle of wine, and the bill was 129 euros (about 20,000 yen). For your reference.