Boeuf et Frites. Two track menu! All about the beef and the buzz at this friendly fast-paced Temple Bar venue.

Boeuf et Frites. Two track menu!

All about the beef and the buzz at this friendly fast-paced Temple Bar venue.

Boeuf et Frites  has a central Temple Bar location. It features exposed brick and chandeliers, and serves prime Irish steak or chicken with unlimited garlic bread and bottomless frites. And that’s about it apart from a solo dessert offering.

Despite the chandeliers and the old style gilt framed landscapes, this is a lively venue and also a very popular one, so best to book before you go. Our visit on a Monday night saw the venue packed.

We were escorted to our seats and, even before we got settled, that Warm French baguette with roast garlic butter starter was served. And, don’t worry, more arrived on our table in minutes.

Service is fast for sure but it is also very friendly and helpful and there’s a great atmosphere here.The first choice you have to make is either go chicken or steak. You may have Irish chargrilled half chicken — rosemary, thyme & garlic, red wine gravy or Chargrilled peri peri half chicken — lemon and chilli peri peri sauce, each served with Caesar leaves and bottomless frites. CL picked the first option, absolutely delicious, perfectly cooked. Hard to beat that one, though I'm sure the Peri Peri would have been fine also. 

My options were the 7oz Prime Irish Fillet  or 10oz Prime Irish Striploin. Six sauces were offered and my pick was the fillet with the Red Wine Jus. Some of the other sauces were Brandy Peppercorn, Classic Béarnaise, and Mushroom. Like the chicken, the chosen fillet came with Caesar leaves and bottomless fries (and yes, extra fries were regularly volunteered).

All the while, we were sipping from a Malbec (Languedoc) at €9.50 a glass, Aromatic and full bodied, it was very much at home here and very much appreciated. Despite the lively pace, there was no rush at all when it came to the dessert: Profiteroles with warm chocolate sauce. In any case, the tempting dessert was rather swiftly dispatched!

Back at Hotel Marlin, I was delighted to see Wicklow Wolf Elevation Pale and a series of Teeling whiskey available in the bar. Over the week, that beer became our friend, of course we knew it well from previous occasions, but it is that little bit better on draught as was the case here. The Teeling Whiskey was, as you’d expect, top class, and the trio sipped were Small Batch, Single Grain and Single Malt. Cheers!