French Fine Dining At Pearl Brasserie

After my fine dining experience the night before, I decided to treat myself for the rest of the trip and continue with the fine dining streak. So for my next adventure, I dined at Pearl Brasserie. It is a French brasserie located in a basement. But don't worry, it's a very nice restaurant, despite its underground location. From my first moment in, it was an extraordinary experience. And that's exactly what it was, an experience. It wasn't just a regular meal, it was an event. The place is very nice, but not snooty at all. There are light fixtures that look like pearl onions. I assume that's where the pearl in Pearl Brasserie came from.
Complimentary whole wheat baguette with pesto and butter. This butter was incredibly rich and amazing. And while I'm not normally a pesto person, I enjoyed it on the baguettes.
While waiting for my entree, we were all treated to a complimentary appetizer. It was pork with cumin with a horseradish sauce. Man, was this thing good. With a start like this, I knew my entree was going to kick ass.
And kick ass it did. I got the seared queen scallops and dublin bay prawns. It was served with curried gnocchi, and fresh garden peas, in a prawn bisque. Everything about this dish was amazing. The scallops and prawns were perfectly cooked, the gnocchi was tender, the peas had just enough crunch, and the bisque had an amazing flavor. I could have licked this plate. And if I wasn't surrounded by so many high class people, I totally would have.
I couldn't stop eating. Since it was french brasserie portions, I still had room, and a need to keep eating. So I got the creme brulee, and my server said it was a good choice. I love me some creme brulee, and if it's on a menu, and I'm feeling dessert, there's a good chance I'm going to pick it. This one was particularly great. It was made with organic free range eggs, and you know what, you really could tell. It had good texture, a lovely strong vanilla flavor, and a nice and crispy burnt crunch on top.

And let me tell you about the service. This place is run like a machine. But not in a cold and robotic way. Just in an incredibly precise and well-oiled machine kind of a way. Everyone worked as a team, and they were immaculate professionals. Everyone was nice, friendly, and great at their jobs. And you could tell they deeply cared about what they were doing. This was one of the most memorable meals I've ever had in my life. It was the type of meal where they spoil you a bit, and well, I enjoyed it. I wholeheartedly recommend anyone in Dublin to try this place out. You'll remember it for the ages!

La Croissanterie - French Fast Food

I literally roamed around for 6 hours waiting for my hotel... there's only so much walking you can do in Dublin before you run out of things to do. But if you roam around enough, you get hungry. There's a big indoor shopping area at the beginning of Grafton Street. There isn't too much to eat here and it's pretty touristy, but I was tired and just decided to eat at La Croissanterie. Turns out to be a french chain. They sell sandwiches (baguette types, paninis, etc) and some sweets. I got a special which comes with a sandwich, dessert, and drink. I forget what this sandwich was called, but it had country turkey (don't know what makes it country, except it has an orange-ish ring around the edges) and cole slaw. The sandwich wasn't terrible, but it was freezing cold (everything is kept in refrigerated display cases). If they had maybe heated it up or put it in a press or something, it would have been a thousand times better. The pastry was an apple puff and it was stupendous. So I'd have to say oui to the pastry and peut-etre to the sandwich.