Tribeca Restaurant Dublin

People are always asking me if I am fussy about food when I eat out being a chef, and I always tell them that i am not in the slightest. See when you spend your entire life behind the stove it is such a pleasure for somebody else to actually be cooking it for you that i really enjoy the simple things like a good roast dinner or a simple homemade soup. One of my other favourites and a Saturday morning ritual that I share with a couple of my friends is to have a big fry up in a little local cafe that is slap bang in the middle of D4 but so well hidden away that only a privileged few know about it. It's basically a greasy spoon but it's not unusual to see Colin Farrell and a whole host of other stars in there having there there Saturday morning treat. Of course you are now wondering where it is and the bad news is that there is no way I could possibly share that information as there are literally 10 seats in the place and it's already packed by the time I get there. Due to work commitments we had to push our sacred fry back to Sunday morning and panic broke out when we arrived and found the cafe closed! Undeterred we sought an alternative venue and after much discussion settled on Tribeca in Ranelagh.

Now I have only ever heard good things about the place and it all started very well as we were greeted with the newspapers and ushered to our seats swiftly. Being simple folk and in the absence of a full cooked breakfast we ordered 3 "full Irish breakfast omelette's" and sat back licking our lips in anticipation. What arrived was a disgrace and only for the fact that we all had a mild hangover and were staring I might have said something. It was a little miserable omelet that resembled something out of a 70s canteen. There was literally a quarter of a sausage, half a rasher and some weird aniseed flavoured black pudding. Now i love fusion cooking and am all for chefs being creative but don't go trying to reinvent the wheel, if it's not broken DON'T TRY TO FIX IT!!!

   Give me a nice breakfast in the cafe any day!!

I have no problem paying big money if it is good as I understand all the hard work that goes into it but paying 11 euros for crap like that really winds me up! Ireland has changed and evolved at breakneck speed over the last 10 years and since coming back I have noticed that people are adapting their taste in food. The thing is if you go to New York or Sydney they have the most amazing food and tons of variety but if they put waffles or steak and chips on the menu that's exactly what you get! You won't have some idiot poaching the steak and setting it on a bed of wilted rose flowers! See cooking is about playing to your strengths and the cafe we usually go to does that, there is lots of bacon, the toast is warn, the sausages are plump and service is fast. So as far as i am concerned you can take your fancy aniseed black pudding and stick it, you'll find me in the cafe this weekend!