First post - Gourment Food Parlour, Dun Laoghaire

So, first post. Which really means first restaurant review. As mentioned in my profile, my husband and I go out to eat. A lot. I think our family and friends wonder where we always have the money for all our meals out. Well we both work and don't have kids, and like to treat ourselves. I don't like cooking, I have no interest in it, but I love eating good food. My husband is a great cook, he enjoys it and likes experimenting with new foods. and for the most part, I like eating his creations! But mostly, we are serious dining out people. Not a weekend goes by where we are not out for breakfast, lunch or dinner or our favourite meal, brunch. Brunch combines the best of both worlds. It has all the options for breakfast, but with a lunchy savoury slant as well...

Anyhoo, to our brunch yesterday. After a great night out with friends in Dalkey, we were feeling a tad delicate yesterday but as often happens, we had nothing in so decided to head out into Dun Laoghaire. Googling 'best brunch in Dun Laoghaire' brought up Gourmet Food Parlour, which I was surprised to realise, I'd never heard of but they have several locations around Dublin and have been around 6 years. It's the same sort of place as Salt in Monkstown, in that it has nice relaxed décor, friendly staff and really great quality food, I went for the veggie breakfast, which looked amazing. And for the most part, tasted amazing. The mushrooms though (and I am a mushroom fan) were very garlicky, which for dinner, is lovely, but for breakfast? Not convinced. The potato rostis looked great but I found them a bit bland. Having said that, it was all tasty enough and washed down by a very decent Americano. Oh, I should mention, we are coffee fiends, and I can't stand a wishy washy Americano. What's the point of drinking coffee if it doesn't have a kick?!

My husband had the French toast with bacon, which he said was really nice. He couldn't' finish it though, and he'd have a decent appetite so possibly bit too big a portion. The place really filled up after we arrived, so by 12pm it would be slightly hard to get a seat.

It was lovely and relaxed and we enjoyed reading the papers and just not being rushed. It's also great that it's within walking distance for us, so we'd definitely go back and try some other dishes on the menu. Oh and it turns into a tapas restaurant in the evening supposedly, so we might try that some night as well...

L

Gourmet Food Parlour, Cumberland Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin

http://www.gourmetfoodparlour.com/index.php/restaurants/dun-laoghaire