(Bates) Comfort Food

Irish comfort food—that’s the style of Trinity Bar & Venue. It had been a long day of classes and shopping, and even longer since I’d eaten a dinner that wasn’t a frozen meal from the local market. So when my roommate Dominique and I struck out onto Dame Street, a street that runs parallel to Temple Bar in the heart of Dublin, I was ready to sit down in any establishment that promised hot food not served in a plastic tray. We initially passed Trinity Bar & Venue, which is located a couple of blocks up Dame Street from Trinity College and is part of the Dublin Citi Hotel. From the outside it looks like an insignificant black building with standard gold lettering displaying its name. But finding no other place to our liking, we passed Trinity Bar & Venue on our way back, and liking the low prices, decided to give it a try.

As its name suggests, a bar takes up the majority of the first floor and is the first thing you see when you walk inside. There are some high tables and stools relegated to the corners of the room, but the majority of the dining seating is accessible via a spiral staircase to the second floor. The interior contains dark chestnut-colored wood and is dimly lit, but during the day, the windows provide more than enough light. There are also several TVs in the bar area.

The menu, as I said earlier, is a list of comfort food, though it’s not very friendly to vegetarians. Bangers (sausage), rib-eye, steaks, stew, and a fish of the day all figure on the list. I had the fish, which that day was fried cod served with chips (what Americans would call French fries) and a small salad. I enjoyed the lightly battered cod and chips. One important thing to note about eating in Ireland is that Irish food contains much less salt in than American food, particularly in their chips. I consider this a plus, but some people may find them bland.

For dessert I had the hot chocolate pudding, but what they served me was actually a small chocolate cake with frosting and chocolate ice cream. It was delicious, if rich, even though the name was misleading. The dessert menu also included an apple crumble and rubard crumble.

Overall, I would give Trinity Bar & Venue a three to four star rating. The service was helpful and relatively quick, and for prices only a little over ten dollars, the food was excellent.