Hugo's Restaurant, Dublin

Hugo's Restaurant on Dublin's Merrion Row, was somewhere that I was blissfully unaware of for quite some time. On the particular evening we ate there, we were in search of a pre-theatre meal, close to the Gaiety Theatre, in a restaurant that could accommodate us at 5 pm at the latest. Hugo's opens at 5 o'clock, so we were in business. I love the outside of Hugo's - the turquoise/aquamariney colour is striking and appealing and an unusual but pretty choice for a restaurant facade I think.

Hugo's front
~ Image sourced from www.rai.ie website ~

The pre-theatre is not the cheapest you will find around Dublin, priced at €21.50 for 2 courses, with quite a substantial jump to €27.50 for 3 courses. However, on the plus side it is available every night of the week from 5 to 7 pm, which is an attractive offer. Also the website is very clear and easy to navigate, with all menus available to be downloaded and perused.

We chose a nice bottle of French red from their extensive wine list, of which most bottles tend to be moreso on the pricier side. Our Domaine des Anges was €35. We also had one Kir Royale and a glass of Chablis during dinner.

Four of us were eating this particular evening and we all went for starters - two Barbary ducks rillettes and two goat's cheese salads. The starters were a little bit of a disappointment in truth. The two men found the duck to be only okay, not unpleasant but the flavours were not up to their expections. The goat's cheese salads were pretty small and simple, which is fine, but they were seriously lacking on the cheese front and there were no candied walnuts to be seen at all. These were described on the menu but did not make it to the plate. I love the crunch and sweet tasting contrast of sweet nuts with a cheese such as goat's cheese, so I did miss that element.

Goat's Cheese Starter

On to mains and there were four very pleased diners. Three of us! - went for the Lambay Island rib-eye, which came in with a supplement of €3, which isn't astronomical for steak. It was extremely succulent, very tasty and the accompanying fries and peppered sauce were delicious.

Lambay Island Rib-eye Steak Main

The only non-steak eater decided upon the Free-range Breast of Chicken with Herb Mash. Sometimes I find chicken dishes can be a little lacklustre but this dish looked really impressive on the plate and the report was that it tasted great too.

Free-range Chicken Main Dish with Herb Mash

Two of us went the whole hog (including me, of course) and decided to round the meal off with a dessert. L chose the Wexford strawberries with crushed shortbreads and Chantilly cream. This was presented beautifully in a sundae style glass and she really enjoyed it. 

Wexford Strawberries Dessert

I went for the gluten-free brownie with homemade honeycomb ice-cream. I generally prefer the more fudgey texture of gluten-free brownies rather than those made with regular flour, and this was no exception. The brownie was delicious, lovely and chewy, with the added crisp consistency of a few walnuts throughout. The honeycomb ice-cream complemented it well also. Did I mention, it was also a huge portion?!.. I was very fully after this and even needed a little help in cleaning off my dessert plate.

Gluten-free Brownie with Honeycomb Ice-cream

All in all our meal came to about €150 between the four us for two 2 course menus and two 3 course menus and our drinks. Not cheap for an early bird but overall it was a good meal and certainly the quality of our food for mains and desserts could not be faulted.