Only two more restaurant reports to go from our stay in Dublin this summer, and they’re both from places we really enjoyed. The first is a place we ate at twice as a family, and I went back a third time as well with a group of students in tow: Sichuan Chilli King. I had little idea before arriving in Dublin as to what the non-Irish and European food scene would be like. If I’d been asked, I probably would have said that I had low expectations of Chinese food in the city. And our first Chinese outings—dim sum at Ka Shing and Good World—would have mostly borne those expectations out: they were decent meals but nothing more. I certainly was not expecting to find good Sichuan food and so we did not have our hopes up on our first visit to Sichuan Chilli King: we went mostly because it was the start of our third week in Dublin and we needed some heat! As you can guess from the fact that there was both a second and third visit, we in fact liked the food there very much. Herewith a brief report on all three meals.

Sichuan Chilli King is located on Parnell St., just at the intersection with Marlborough St., in a part of the city that is clearly one of its immigrant centers. There are a lot of other immigrant restaurants and groceries and businesses in the area. There are two Indian restaurants right across the street from Sichuan Chilli King, and several other Chinese restaurants and a grocery right alongside. And that’s just on that one small segment of Parnell. With more time in Dublin we would have liked to have explored that general area a lot more but given how over-scheduled our time was, and given how much we enjoyed our first meal at Sichuan Chilli King, we elected to go back there after/before visits to the James Joyce Centre (just up the street) and the Hugh Lane Gallery (a few minutes walk). Indeed, our first visit as well was after a tour of the Abbey Theatre (about a 10 minute walk).

It’s a small restaurant. The main dining room is on the ground floor. There are also a couple of small private dining rooms upstairs, complete with karaoke setups. I’d considered bringing all my students back for a send-off shindig in one of those rooms but the presence of one too many peanut allergies in the group made me reconsider. Especially since on our first visit it was quite a struggle to get the waitstaff to clarify the presence of nuts in the dishes we were ordering. Our lead server on both occasions had a decent amount of English but not a decent knowledge of ingredients, and those who had the knowledge of the ingredients didn’t have much knowledge of English. But if you don’t have nut allergies to contend with, none of this should bother you. The menu you will be presented if you are not Chinese is in English and most of it has pictures, so if you are not familiar with Sichuan food you can get a sense of what the dishes look like. (There’s also a section at the back of the menu that lists the Irish equivalent of American Chinese dishes.) After our first lunch we were to learn that there’s also a second Chinese menu, but more on that later.

At our first lunch we kept things simple and ordered some classic dishes. And as we didn’t have full confidence in the quality we did not over-order as we usually do with an eye on taking lots of leftovers home. We started with cold, hacked chicken in chilli oil (excellent). To follow, shredded pork in spicy garlic sauce (very good) and the ma po tofu (very good). Sauteed greens beans with pork on the side (very good). Some rice to mop it all up with. The total before tip came to just about 60 euros, which is really very good for Dublin.

Talking to our young server after payment, we learned of the existence of the Chinese menu. And so on subsequent visits that was consulted as well. Much of it overlaps with the English menu but there are things on there that are not on the English menu. If, like me, you can’t read Chinese but can look at pictures and point and ask about/for things you’ll be fine. Accordingly, on our second visit we started with the wontons in chilli oil (very good) which are not on the English menu. We also got the pork ribs with cumin (excellent) and the kung pao chicken (very good), which are on both. From the Chinese menu we also got something that was listed on our check as “Burning Noodle” and was in the general dan dan noodles family; it was very good. And the green beans again so that the boys would eat some veg. With the extra dish added on, this meal came to 73 euros before tip. Again, a screaming value in Dublin.

I took a group of half of my students to the third meal (the rest went to Duck with us at the end of the trip). It was the first time eating Sichuan food for all of them. We started with a dish from the Chinese menu that looked likely to be Couple’s Beef and it turned out to be the case. It was quite good. We also got the shredded potatoes with vinegar, which is on both menus and is also very good. The larger dishes included a noodle soup from the Chinese menu that was listed on the check as “Hot and Sour Rice Noodle” (excellent); and the dry-fried chicken with chilli (very good) and the sea bass on hot chilli oil (excellent), which are on both menus. And because you can’t take people to their first Sichuan meal and not feed them ma po tofu, we got that as well. The vegetable delivery was in the form of stir-fried green beans with aubergine (excellent). This, the largest of the three meals, came to just about 96 euros before tip or $12/head for a group of eight, which is just outstanding value in Dublin.

For a look at the restaurant, the menus and what we ate, launch the large slideshow below. Scroll down for thoughts on service and to see what’s coming on the food front before the year comes to an end.

I’ve noted above the difficulties we had with figuring out the nut content of things. That aside, service was very friendly and very present when needed. I will note that the restaurant is effectively cash-only. They’re not supposed to be, and on our first visit there was one very angry patron who left because they would not accept credit cards, even though apparently by law they’re expected to. Their story was that their credit card machine was “not working that day”…but it was also “not working” on any of the other days we visited. With an atm in the convenience store across the street this was not an issue for us. But if you’re going, take cash.

We were to hear later that there are other well-regarded Sichuan restaurants in Dublin as well. This should not be a surprise at this point I guess, as Sichuan food seems to be leading the contemporary Chinese advance in most markets outside China. If we ever go back to Dublin for an extended stay (not for several years at the earliest), we’ll try some of the others as well. But all three of these meals were very good indeed, and being able to do desi and Korean food shopping on the way home (at World of Spices on Talbot St. and Han Sung Market on Strand St. respectively) was a bonus.

Alright, there’s just over a week left in 2023—what do I have left on the restaurant report front? Two reports from New York. I’ll have one of those tomorrow and the other next weekend. One more report from Dublin. I’ll get that up on Thursday. And on Tuesday I should have a report on our last Twin Cities meal of 2023, scheduled for Christmas day.