Restaurant: The Abbey Tavern

Right! Things might be just about back to normal.

I flew back to London last Wednesday night, stayed in on Thursday night - not that it was exactly peaceful, with the letting agent showing up to show the room again! Anyway, I flew back to Ireland on Friday - this being my scheduled trip, booked weeks ago. And we didn't get up to much, but as usual, yesterday, we did brave the storm to go to the Abbey Tavern.

It's been stormy for quite a while now in Ireland, more particularly in the west, and was blowing up strongly as we drove to Quin. We got parking quite near the door, at least, and it wasn't crowded - we got a table by the radiator, and as the server remarked, that was where everyone wanted to be that day!

I hesitated before writing this review. The Abbey Tavern is generally excellent, and one bad meal isn't at all indicative of its quality. Still, this was the first time I'd had this dish, and I thought that merited a review. We had our usual garlic bread for starter - it's meant to be a side, but we like to start with it. It comes as toasted burger buns, spread with garlic butter - and this was the second time in a row that the buns were badly charred on the outside.

This theme was to follow through the meal. I think my mother's salmon was ok, but I nicked one of her potato croquettes, because I like them, and didn't bother with the second, although she offered it - it was burnt too. As for me, I think we're spoiled after that meal in the Clare Inn - they rarely vary the menu much in the Abbey Tavern, and you do get tired of the same thing. So when I saw a beef and mushroom pie on the specials menu, I went for that.

And, to be fair, it was ok, albeit a bit salty. My mother's opinion was that the crust was burnt, but I didn't think so. I was surprised to be served four large scoops of mash in a side dish.. as if the pie wasn't enough! and it was an odd accompaniment. The main problem was an unusual one - there was simply too much meat! Every single forkful I brought up contained a lump of meat. And this was a large dish. Combine this with all that mash, and you have far too much food - more meat than your average steak. Well, I managed about 2/3 of it, and a scoop of mash, and we bagged the rest of the pie (not the mash - were they crazy?!). The cats really enjoyed it, later that night. Even the crust.

I guess they'd have had complaints if they'd served less food, eh?

Well, back in Blighty now, and glad to have a respite from the rain! For tomorrow, several things were sold out, and Happy Days is the same production I saw last year. Recommended, but I'm not eager to see it twice. What I did come across was a curious little production in the Soho Theatre. Well, that is the home of curious productions! Dracula, or Mr Swallow - the Musical. I soon gathered it was a comedy - but I'm wary of comedy, it is subjective after all. The theatre website doesn't do previews, but I figured that Mr Swallow, whom I'd never heard of, sounded like a character I could search for, and I did so on YouTube. And found this preview! On the basis of which, I booked a ticket - it looks like fun. Well, they did say extra dates had been added due to phenomenal demand.. we shall see.

On Tuesday, I'm headed to the Women of the World (WoW) festival. Honestly, they don't have that much on that appeals to me, but they do have a performance art thing on Tuesday, so in the interests of the pursuit of weirdness, I'll give it a shot. Also booked, because this was selling out quickly..