Sheebeen Chic - bit of a dog's dinner

After passing by it a few times, I finally ventured into Sheeben Chic with a friend last evening to a) eat, b) catch up and c) check the place out.

First impressions - the interior is fun, shabby and quirky, paintings hanging on the ceiling, passport photo booth to amuse yourself with (presumably after a few scoops). The place was freezing - a gale force wind coming in the door and after asking for it to be closed if possible, it gets half shut. Still freezing. Eventually ordered soup and crubeens to start, boxty for mains. I being a proud culchie and eater of all things good ordered the crubeens out of curiousity to see if they were any good, likewise with the boxty. I've eaten both before (but never in a restaurant) and have dreamt about frequently since.

My hopes of finding good crubeens were dashed when I was served 4 balls of thick pig fat coated in breadcrumbs (to hide the fat) sitting on cold cauliflower. Needless to point out, none of this is authentic and the dish was revolting. Jacinta's soup was nothing to write home about but edible. The boxty was more enjoyable, though not completely authentic either. Service was slow and a tad rude. The damage for the 2 starters, 2 boxtys and 2 cokes was €32. We left cold and still hungry and resorted to bloody Starbucks for mugs of tea and buns - American and homogenised it may have been, but it was certainly more traditional that most of our Sheebeen Chic experience.

In a nutshell - Sheebeen Chic is yet another Dublin establishment to see and to be seen in. Don't bother with the food and for the coming months, bring a nice warm Aran jumper on you. If you want crubeens, go to a good butcher. For boxty - go to Longford, buy a tonne of it and keep what you can't eat in the freezer.

Image from Irish Independent online.