Thursday, March 31, 2011

Recent Competition Winners


Our latest competition winners! If you want to be like these fantastic winners, then enter our weekly comp here!

Free Lunch for two in Cafe Mao

Clare Sharkey
Fiona Donegan
Garrett O Doherty
Ann Lindsay
Fiona Power


The Wooden Spoon Two Free Lunches!

Sam Anthony

Ben Vadulet

Fiona Doherty

Aifric Saunderson

Unnamed Winner



Lagoona Bar Two free lunches!

Damien Hughes
Maebh Healy
Ian Primrose
Helen Kavanagh
Erin Dylan

Gotham Cafe Free lunch pizzas for two!

Jon McBride
Faela Stafford
Sinead Regan
Caroline Delaney
Sarah Nicholson

Against the Grain Free Lunch!

Jason McCabe
Anne Marie Wallace
Aine McGrath
Jackie M
Unnamed Winner

West Coast Coffee Free Coffee for a Month!

Sharon Thunder








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Be Our Guest Gastronomics!


In the fifth of our guest pieces on The Lunchbox, (1, 2, 3, 4, where does the time go!)we talk to the lovely Rachael, one half of brand new Irish recessionista food and shopping blog gastronomics.ie.

Having started their site at the beginning of the year, gastronomics is truly going from rom strength to strength! Updated twice daily, the site bringis tips and hints on how to cook, eat and drink like a true recessionista, and is a fully independent food and shopping blog!
The mother and daughter team's self stated aim , while catering for six people and two respectively, is to use the site to share their efforts to lower the grocery bills, while keeping the tummies satisfied! So let's let Rach take over and tell you a bit about her lunch loves!

Hi there! My name’s Rachael and I’m the (younger, but sssh!) half of Gastronomics.ie. As stated, we are a mother and daughter team, who used to often ring each other with news of a special offer, early bird or great recipe we’d discovered, so now we just post about it instead! 

Thanks for the intro Rachael, we won't say anything about who's the younger! So tell us a little about your own lunch habits? Is being a true recessionista and food lover might difficult?

No actually! I’m lucky enough to have a microwave in my workplace, so every Sunday, I cook a huge pot of a brown-rice based dish such as curry, Rogan Josh or Madras, and fill five lunchboxes for the whole week. (Can you tell I’m a spice fiend?!) I find having a warm, nourishing lunch really satisfies my hunger and the brown-rice sustains my energy levels for longer than a white bread sambo would.  If I’ve managed to bag a Saturday off I love to enjoy a late alfresco lunch at Las Rada Wine & Tapas Bar, Naas enjoying the sun, a selection of tapas and a cheeky glass of Pinot Grigio.

Some nice tips there, we're all for a homemade lunch now and again! So would you say you're up to a Michelin Star standard on the cookery scale yet?!


I’m no Cordon Bleu chef, and there’s many a time it doesn’t go quite to plan, but I do love to cook.  As my day job involves long hours and crazy cross-country trips, I really enjoy relaxing on a Sunday in the kitchen. I find there’s a lot of peace to be had in the methodical preparing, cooking and arranging of food. The latest Sunday dish that went down a treat in our house was Beef & Guinness pie – comfort food at its best.

Ah, you can't beat a bit of comfort food on a Sunday, when you're feeling a bit delicate! What about a Sunday brunch recommendation then, if we're feeling a bit lazy?


Without a doubt the best Sunday brunch offering I’ve come across in a long time is in The Savoy, Limerick – you can have your pick of a huge selection of breakfast options - including the most delicious omelettes - at this five star hotel, relaxing in the plush surroundings with the papers and never-ending coffee, and it’ll cost you the grand total of €9. Insane value – my Mum’s never out of the place!

Wow, that is a great tip! Any of our Munster users, you know where to go on a Sunday morning now! Speaking of insane value, what are your faves on mylunch.ie? I know you're a Kildare resident, and we'll have lots more down there soon!


I love, love, love GBK, although my ever-expanding waistline hates, hates, hates it – the guys in Whitewater Shopping Centre, Newbridge are fantastic, very professional and always super-friendly. Myself and the boyfriend love to curl up on a Friday with a portion each of the ridiculously gorgeous wings with blue cheese sauce and share a burger – they’re HUGE! With the Mylunch.ie voucher we occasionally indulge in the two although he usually gives me a hand finishing mine! ;)
We can normally eat two GBKs on our own! Is that such a bad thing?!


So as a firmly signed up member of the ever growing Irish foodie spectrum, what are your hopes and dreams for the future of the scene?

 I would really love to see the long-ago mooted idea of a cafe culture in Ireland come to fruition. My favourite thing in life is having a cup of peppermint tea or a glass of wine with friends, enjoying some tasty nibbles, and taking in some sunshine if it’s going - not throwing back over-priced shots in a heaving club, queuing for gross food at 3am and watching people throw up out of a taxi the whole way home!  However, there are very few wine bars in Ireland and the lovely local cafes we do have are being forced out of the market by unfeasibly high rents and rates.  I realise we don’t have the weather our European friends enjoy, so pop-up restaurants and cafes during the summer may be a valid solution, if city landlords and councils want to make even temporary use of the many unfortunately empty lots.

Wow, now that's a suggestion. Are you listening Enda? We here at mylunch completely agree with the attempt to improve our cafe culture.


However, Rach, you can let us in on a little secret...If you do find yourself in a heaving sweaty club throwing back shots (as even the best of us sometimes do!), well, what's the cure for the morning after?

Oh God, there is no stopping me with a hangover, I will eat whatever comes into my poor sore head – it’s almost always some sort of pasta-based dish, the creamier and more calorific the better. I usually toss some smoked ham, chipotle chillies, shallots and garlic into the pan, deglaze with white wine, add crème fraîche and brown pasta, top with cheese and pop in the oven. Cheesy carby bliss requiring minimum effort from my utterly
useless hungover self!


That's a lot more effort than our usual of a Brekkie Roll, and a lot tastier sounding too! Maybe we should be taking notes!
So finally, (and a question that Rachael came up with hereself!) we'd like to know,what would you like to do if you could own a restaurant yourself? How would you run it?



Well firstly, I’d probably be engaged in a permanent row with the local rates authority! But secondly, I’d take a leaf out of the New York foodies’ book and offer some healthy dishes on my menu. It’s not overly expensive to allow customers to choose brown pasta, noodles or rice instead of white, preparing low-fat options for dressings and sauces, or even just to offer them a steamed fish dish alongside the usual butter-laden version. This would definitely tempt more female parties through the door, and God knows we lunching ladies like to make up the calories in our wine, a habit which helps boost the coffers for restaurants. The Milano’s chain of restaurants is the first I’ve seen go this direction, with their low-cal pizzas and habit of serving dressings on the side – myself and my fellow yo-yo dieting girlfriends would love to see more like it!

Nice advice for budding restaurateurs out there!

If you want to check out more of what the lovely Rachael has to say, do pop over to gastronomics.ie right now, and have a look at their myriad of delicious recipes, restaurant reviews, meal ideas, and advice on staying recession friendly, while still enjoying your food! You can also join them on Facebook too!





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The Best Mother's Day Options in Dublin!


PANIC STATIONS! It's nearing Mother's Day, and you've no idea what to get that special woman in your life, or even what your options are!
Well, never fear, we've always got your ass covered when it comes to daytime eating out, and we've picked out some of the best options for this weekend. All you've got to do is purchase some expensive chocolates, a bouquet of flowers and book it!

Remember, she was the one who fed and clothed you, burped you when you had wind,toilet trained you and other unspeakable acts of love, so make it a good one!

First of all, you could of course win a free meal for four to treat the whole family at Camden Kitchen, in our comp! Just click!


Other great options include:
Roast Restaurant Ballsbridge
Probably the pick of the lot, is Roast in Ballsbridge! New on site,(see what we thought about them her
e!) Roast offers excellent value, and quality food, and to celebrate Mother’s Day in style on Sunday 3rd April, will be providing some special Mother’s Day deals in a warm and welcome family atmosphere! Diners can enjoy 3 courses for €25 or 2 courses for €20 with a special free dessert for all mums on the day! To book, ring 01 6144727, and quote "Mothers Day"! Simples!
Wagamama
What better a way to treat your Mam, than with a Yaki Soba, and a family meal at Wagamama? None we say, and even better when you're getting your mother's meal for free! Do check them out on Facebook too, where you can also get a free dessert offer by heading to their "Offers" tab! Now that's what we call a value Mother's Day offering! Don't forget where you heard it first!
Brasserie Sixty6
Always one to celebrate the special occasion, the team at Brasserie Sixty6 are offering a special 3 course set menu for the day, a special free cocktail to mother dearest, and will also have their epic €10 roast going all day too (with free mimosa and coffee refills!). See here for the Facebook event with all the details! Book on  01 4005878

Captain Americas
The Captain has come up trumps again, and Mums can eat for free in any of the four branches around the country this Sunday (one Cork, three Dublin)! See here for all the info, plus booking numbers!

Seapoint
Monkstown's finest will be serving their great value set lunch menu all day, up until 8.30pm Sunday night, if you reckon your Mum would enjoy some fresh from the sea fare! 2 courses for €22, or three delicious courses for €27! Book now on 01 6638480

Pinocchio Ranelagh
The finest Italian restaurant this side of Sicily, Pinocchio in Ranelagh will transport you and your Mum to Bella Italia for the day, with a special menu designed to give your Mum the "thank you" she deserves! All day long, you can avail of a special  €24.90 Mother's day 3 course menu, with the best of Italian cuisine. Bookings on 01 497011

Koh
The Asian fusion Millenium Walkway spot is offering all Mum's a free cocktail with their meal! Sinking a delicious mojito while feasting on Pad Thai, now that's the way to treat a lady! Bookings on 01 8146777

So there you have it! As we get more info, we will be updating this post, so stay tuned as there are sure to be some more late arrivals! Please state that you are booking through mylunch.ie when you call, and treat that Mam of yours to the day fit for a queen that she deserves!



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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Bulletin



It's been a little bit since we updated you on all the goings on here at our secret mylunch underground lair, so we thought, a lazy Tuesday afternoon, what better chance to let you know where we are at in our world domination  *ahem* mission to improve your lunchtime!


Brand New Exclusive Offers!

So, deep breath, here we go.....
2 for 1 on all Rachel Allen Signature Sandwiches in O Briens Sandwich Bars Cork (3 outlets)

Myo IFSC have a brand new 2 for 1 on site, on all their delicious pies. (or see what they're all about here!)
2 for 1 on all mains at Le Cafe Des Irlandais Georges Street

Buy one, get one half price on all burgers at Gourmet Burger Bistro Cork
Buy one main, get one half price at Roast Ballsbridge (or see what we thought here!)
Buy one roast of the day, get another for half price at Barrys of Douglas

Bloom Brasserie now offer 2 for 1 on all food before 1pm (Mon-Thurs).
Buy one main, get one half price at Pinocchio Italian Restaurant Ranelagh Luas stop.

La Cuveé the fabalously relaxed Franch eatery in IFSC, will give you 25% off your lunch bill with our offer!
2 for 1 on all sig. sambos at The Streat IFSC (after 2pm)


As you can see, we've tons of new mylunch exclusive offers on site in the last week or two! To redeem, well you know the drill, just print it, or show on your phone! Easy! We've also made a big move to Cork in the last few weeks, and there's lots more on the way too! (And do get in touch if you've got a suggestion!)

Remember Remember!
It's also been a while since we told you what we're about, and we'd like to fill any new users in too, so do remember:

Oh, and by the way,  listen out for us on Kildare FM tomorrow morning, as we perfect our radio voice, and did you see us mentioned in The Examiner yesterday? I tells ya, the media is having a field day!



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Make Your Own at MYO IFSC!


Ever wasted an entire lunch break standing in line to buy a soggy sandwich made with too much butter, not enough fillings, with ingredients you don’t like, and then paying a bomb for it? Well, we're avid lunch eaters too, and we certainly have!
In fact, one of the main reasons the site came into being was we were fed up with the choice and value on offer in our area, and wanted to put some time and effort into researching what really good lunch options were available out there! Hey, we all eat it every day, why not make it better?!


Well, MYO IFSC (that's Make Your Own by the way!) had the same thoughts, and they too decided to do something about it! From an initial Australian concept (obviously those Aussies had the same problems as us!), MYO has grown into revolutionary sandwich and salad bar gives its customers the
power to create their own lunch, exactly the way they like it! Simple eh? Simple but effective! Oh, and by the way, they've crackin coffee too!

The M.Y.O. concept is incredibly simple but  ingenious. On entering the store (as I say, one of the perks of the job is we're a lunch eater too!) we grabbed a tray, chose from loads of freshly baked bread and began assembling our sandwich from the 75 fresh gourmet sandwich fillings, including deli-style meats and cheeses, as we worked our way around.
It's soooo easy, soooo simple, and takes away the effort of having to explain that you want no freakin mayo to some scowling deli maiden!

MYO promises no queues, value for money, an easy to use system and most importantly, choice!
For how many of us out there is the good old chicken fillet roll the default option? Grey lettuce, some watered down mayo, a slab of butter big enough
to give an elephant a heart attack, lukewarm chicken and perhaps a little bit
of water dripping tomato. Come on now, raise your hand.

Well, a slap on the wrists for you sir/madam, we've far more than that in Dublin's dining scene, for far better value, and MYO IFSC is the epitome of
that!
Healthy food, high quality filling, detailed nutritional info if you want it, and
most of all, fast efficient service (as long as you're a fast and efficient
person!). It's all too easy!

Give it a go if you're IFSC lunch centered and haven't nipped in yet. We give it the official mylunch.ie seal of approval!

Plus, you can also get 2 for 1 on any of their delicious pies with our exclusive offer!






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lunch
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Watercooler Moments






Here's our weekly round up of all the interesting headlines that will be talked about at lunchtime this week!


Earth Hour
On Saturday evening at around 8.30 p.m., the world celebrated Earth Hour, an hour of darkness organised by the WWF (no not the men in tights!) take a stand against climate change. As always, the event was a huge success, with towns and cities the world over going dark for at least an hour. See here for some amazing pictures of monuments and landmarks the world over (including the Sydney Opera House, and the Roman Colosseum) going dark. In Dublin, the stroke of 8.30pm saw Áras an Uachtaráin, the Four Courts, Leinster House and Government Buildings go lights out, but the Convention Centre, Dublin Eye and Trinity College remained lit up.

Jedward
The terrible twins took on Vincent Browne on Friday night, with hilarious consequences! The lads joined Uncle Vincent on his Friday Late show, and tried to test his knowledge of pop music and the latest additions to the Oxford English Dictionary, LOL, OMG, and WAG! Reports in a Saturday newspaper indicated that the cause of John's hoarseness on the night was a voice problem, and fears (if you can call them that!) that the lads won't be able to sing in the Eurovision were raised.
See here for the full interview!



I demand 75 trillion dollars!
Ever downloaded music from Limewire? Ahem, no neither have we, but the breaking news over the weekend is that the music industry want the sharing service to pay 75 trillion (yes TRILLION!) to them after losing a copyright infringement claim! To put that into context, the GDP of the entire world is around $60 trillion! The presiding judge has called the amount absurd, but the chances of the payment being over a billion at least look very high. Now delete that Destiny's Child album quick!!

Boys in green battle to beat Macedonia
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...Oh sorry, that game on Saturday night must have put us to sleep for an extended period! Trap's lads battled to a hard fought 2-1 victory over the mighty Macedonia (dodgy keeper and all!) on Saturday night at the Aviva. No Earth Hour was respected here, though I'm sure many of the 30,000 odd in attendance wished it had been!
Goals from Keane and McGeady, a late sub appearence for James McCarthy, and the row on the RTE panel afterwards were the highlights of a dour contest. By the way, is it possible that our esteemed manager could actually be getting worse at speaking English?!
In what was a quiet weekend otherwise for sport, England beat Wales 2-0 in the Millenium Stadium, while Brazil beat Scotland by the same scoreline in a game that was played in London for some reason. The big story of that game is the racism allegation emerging today.

Obama locked out!

The world's most influential man found himself locked out of his own home at the weekend, after workers didn't realise he would be returning home early after a conference! See below for the video!

Draw on the internet!
We love these types of things! A new Firefox extension will let you draw all over your favourite website, by simply installing it into your toolbar and dragging and dropping it onto the page! A simple MS Paint format will mean you can be drawing all over rte.ie in no time! Just don't draw anything rude on our homepage, you hear us! (We're already on that!)

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Friday, March 11, 2011

Originally Posted on The Lunchbox


Rustic Roast Lunch in Ballsbridge
(Date:10 March 2011)

Roast logo

One of the many perks of being part of mylunch.ie (as well as being part of the secret group that controls the world and appoints American presid..*ahem*) is that we get to try out the restaurants we feature on site quite frequently!
Now we're no Paolo Tullio, but we're the oracle on lunch, and generally we've found that we like what you like! A burrito here, a gourmet sandwich there, a few free coffees etc. It's all good in the mylunch hood!
So, when we got the offer extended to us to try out Roast in Ballsbridge during a recent exhibition in the RDS we were delira to oblige!Roast Ballsbridge
It was a usual Irish Spring day, blustery, showery, 10 degrees and sporadically sunny, and we were starving from a day traipising around the convention centre! A tasty filling lunch was the order of the day...
So, we decided to nip into Roast and take them up on their kind offer!

Open since late last year, Roast is the new restaurant over the well known Crowe's pub. Freshly re-decorated, Roast, like so many others, proclaims to be fresh, seasonal food done well. The difference between  it and many of the others is, it delivers!
We're strong campaigners here at mylunch for the holy grail of good value + decent food, and Roast certainly performs on that front too,
Myself and my mylunch colleague were starving, and began with two seafood chowers (€6.50), which would probably be enough to fill you up on a normal day! Stuffed with chunks of seafood, it was delicious, and as a bonus it kept my colleague's mouth shut long enough for me to enyoy it. (He had been quarreling with an over zealous salesperson all morning!) A non wine drinker, I opted for a Coke, as did my partner, but we also had a look at the wine list, which comes recommended on the Roast site,  and indeed from what we could make out, it was well formed.

For mains, being the old traditionalist that I am, I opted for the Beef Pie, (and it was needed to soak up what was to come downstairs later on, lets just say the phrase "pints of Guinness" and  "like they were going out of fashion" were involved), which was full of mouth watering meat, lots of veg. and accompanied by a creamy mash, while Steve, the European that he is, went for the Pumpkin Risotto, with shaved parmesan and sage.

This was slightly less filling, though still tasty, but I could see him eyeing up my main with envy!
Overall, a great halftime to the day, and we didn't want to leave to go back across tLamb Shankhe road. Roast is a simple concept, akin to the cracking pub food (grub is the wrong term) you might get across the water in London,which is what we Irish are looking for in this day and age.
It does what it does very very well from our experience. We would like to have seen a bit more options on the lunch menu, but the variety is good, and we will certainly be back for a crack at dinner, and a braised lamb shank that has my name on it. (pictured)
At least we've something to look forward to the next time we're pretending to work in the RDS, plus it gave Steve the necessary chutzpah to go for round two with the salesperson in the afternoon, but that's another story...


Click here for lunch menu

Click here for the exclusive Roast voucher on mylunch.ie

See the "About" section of the Roast page for full dinner menu






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Originally posted on The Lunchbox


A Catchup with Burritos and Blues
(Date:10 March 2011)

Burritos and Blues

Burritos and Blues on the top of Wexford Street is now open 6 months (how time flies eh!) and is an arch commander in the Mexican Revolución which our Capital City seems to be in the throws of!

An obvious favourite of your lunch lovers, we though we'd asked Mr. David Stone, Chief Junior Vice President of Burrito Production at Burritos and Blues (aka Owner!) to have a chat, and grilled him (heh, see what we did there, GRILLED!) on how things were going, why Dubliners seem to love Mexican, his own cookery skills, and his strange love of criticism! Oh, and by the way, did you know that Burrito is translated as "Little Donkey" in Mexican? Now you do!




We asked David to give his thBurritos and Bluesoughts on how things are going at the coalface of the New Mexican Wave (my God, we're on fire today!)

So, 6 months in and what do I think? I reckon Dublin LOVES Burritos (and Quesadilla, Nachos etc!)
I started planning the return of Burritos & Blues back in 2008/09. I used to joke about it and I was always laughed at! As some people already know, Burritos & Blues was operating in Ranelagh up to 2007. I was not part of it, but was lucky enough to have met the guys who were at the coal face, Fahima and the other chefs.
We opened on Wexford Street in August 2010, and I knew that we needed something different! Something Mexican, but more than just burritos!  Fresh, hot, wholesome food, at a good price with top quality meats and in house made recipes. I also wanted people to see what they were getting! I also wanted the place to look casual but friendly. I realise it may look like a crèche with all the colours but I think it compliments our efforts of trying to be a young, fresh and vibrant brand.
And so it began......
We opened on the 4th and ran out of food 2 hours in! We did not expect the crowds that came. Thankfully it opened our eyes and we haven’t ran out of food since then!

The queues running down Wexford Street to get in the door at lunch time, must mean you've come close a few times! Do you do much of the cooking yourself David?

I am not at the counters much. I love food and how it’s made, however my knife skills are not that great although I am learning! I do the day to day things like ensure the staff are happy, ensure the suppliers are giving us what we order and generally talking up the place. I am lucky that we have a great bunch of staff here. Fahima is the head chef, and I am sure you will know her if you have ever had lunch here.
The effort and passion Fahima and the guys put into the food is phenomenal! There is not a morning that I come in and Fahima isn’t complaining that something isn’t 100% right, and we have to fix it ASAP. We want our food to be known for being “Simple, Honest Food, 100% Fresh”.

Burritos and Blues
What is your own favourite option on the menu?

My own fav is the Chicken Burrito with #1 salsa, as I am not a spice man myself! A little secret is to ask for some grilled veg in it as well! It’s delish! The Guac is also awesome!
We don’t just limit ourselves to Burritos. We have an extensive menu with options to suit everyone. From Nachos, to Quesadillas, and our Sexy Salsa Fries to Burrito Bowls, we try to cater for everyone. We also have several options for the Veggie’s out there.

From being a regular in store, it seems that Burritos and Blues' enthusiasm knows no bounds David! Would I be right in saying that all of this really excites you?

I love the way business works. I love the problems, the highs, the lows (the robbery, the extraction system breaking down on a Friday night etc). The model we have is quite unique in Dublin. Only ourselves and Boojum (the enemy! Only Joking!) are doing Burritos using a “Subway-esque” method and I think it works. “100% Customised, 100% Fresh”

Some of our more mature users may have fond memories of the old Burritos and Blues in Ranelagh, was it difficult to get the business going again?

Reviving Burritos & Blues was a big challenge! I am a baby faced 28 year old, and whenever I explained what I was doing, the older business people around would often sneer and immediately try to deflate me with some sort of negative statement like “The Recession” etc. In fact I think the recession has had a positive impact on us starting up! I think that people now are more savvy and do not expect to be paying top dollar for sub standard product and more importantly “scabby portions”.  Our prices range from €2.50 for our cheesy cubes to 8 euro for our Big Ass Nachos. Burritos range from €5.95 for the Silver Bullet to €7 for a huge Steak Burrito.
I do believe and hope that we serve a great product, at a very good price with a substantial amount of top quality food Burritos and Blues Missionin it, with a smile.

You guys also open late to tickle the tastebuds of the, eh, late night lunchers, shall we say!

We are open till 4 am on Friday & Saturday nights and this takes its toll on everyone, however we are slowly carving out a niche night time market on a very vibrant and loud Wexford Street!

With burritos being a relatively new thing to the generally rich tapestry of food in Dublin, you must get a lot of people asking questions about what to have?

Yes, and I love people asking questions about the food! I love people saying positive things about the place and I REALLY love the critics! People and business cannot be at their best at all times.
Criticism and feedback is key in trying to be the best at what we do! I love feedback, as long as it’s constructive! There is no place for vicious criticism in Dublin. It’s too small and vicious feedback can actually close places down! I think that review sites, and other forums like that should allow the customer actively express their views, be it positive or negative, BUT allow the business owners have an opinion and react to the feedback.
At Burritos & Blues we try to be as interactive with our customers as possible. Be it in the ordering process, where you are in constant contact with the server, or through our online and social media presence. We have a very active Twitter account (due to me being addicted to the bloody thing!), @burritosblues and a Facebook page that we are working on. Our website www.burritos.ie is quite well used, and allows customers recommend any funky Blues Music that they want to hear on the speakers in Wexford Street.
We also spread a viral video in March. You can see it on YouTube under TNT Salsa. It is just another way we try to communicate with our customers and prospective customers!
All in all it has been a great 6-7 months. The food has been flying out the door and I pray that it continues!

Sounds good! What are the plans for the future then? A full scale Burrito Revolution?

Well, in May we will hopefully start to introduce our Salsas and marinade rub into the public domain. These will be available through the Wexford Street unit and hopefully in a few stores around Dublin.
We plan on opening a smaller location on Stephen Street in April and are talking to a few guys about another possible location near Grafton Street. I don’t want to rush things however. We have to be brilliant at what we do in Wexford Street first. Viva La BURRITO!!

Viva the "Little Donkey" indeed! Some very interesting thoughts there, from a very interesting eatery! Do drop in and give David a smile, (or some feedback) if you're around Wexford St!

You can view Burritos + Blues mylunch page here
Click here for the Burritos and Blues Menu
View their exclusive mylunch offer here
Or interact with David directly via their Twitter account (Yes, he really is addicted!)




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Originally Posted on The Lunchbox


Be Our Guest Johnny Cool
(Date:03 March 2011)

Johnny Cool Recommends

Ah the Irish! Since the olden times, when we went around only eating spuds, wearing sheep skins and generally being converted to Christianity, we've been a nosy bunch! Theres even a rumour that hedge schools were only invented so a next door neighbour could look over the hedge!
But hey, that's no bad thing, and as you can see from our sites popularity, word of mouth is fantastic when it comes to spreading news!
Anyway, we decided that since there were loads of cool people talking on the internet about things which you lunchies would love, so why not bring them to you, ask them a bit about their lunch habits, and what they do! This will be a regular spot on The Lunchbox, and we're consistently looking for peeps to come and talk to us (we're the nosiest of them all!), so do get in touch if you want to!
For the first of these pieces, we've brought in the coolest of the cool, the man with all the insider knowledge, and the best moustache this side of Tom Selleck, Johnny Cool! If you haven't heard, Johnny is a man with his finger on the pulse, and his main objective in life is to find + recommend cool things (music, books, games, websites, presents deals etc) before anyone else. Let's let him take over, and we firstly asked him to tell us a bit about what he does...
"Well, I’m fairly new to blogging, currently concentrating on recommending cool new products, places, café’s, restaurants, websites through my Facebook and Twitter page. I'm planning to launch the blog soon, so do follow me on facebook and twitter to stay updated!"

I'm a food fan, and depending on what I'm up to, lunch can be from cooking for one at home to meeting some friends for a catchup, and a debate over what new to recommend. This changes daily.

When out I mainly go to Food Room or Bay in Clontarf and the odd trip to Espresso off Baggot St if i’m in the area. With my line of work, I also like to try somewhere new every week.  If you’ve missed breakfast and need a something filling I’d recommend going to Bay and asking for a porridge, it’s the best porridge in town and it’ll get you through the afternoon, do ask nicely though!"
Johnny says he's also a mean cook, so any ladies out there, pay attention! "I love cooking, I feel I’ve taken Jamie Oliver’s 30 mins meals to the next level, 15 mins meals! You’d be amazed what can be done in 15 minutes." Having tried Jamie's meals out, we're a bit skeptical, but our momma's always told us to never doubt a man with a moustache!
He's also a fan of tech sites on the web, and of course being the first to break cool new things takes a lot of research. Johnny mentions that he spends a good bit of time checking mylunch.ie to get good value for lunch, and interestingly, he’d like to see us "grow our listings and offers even bigger, especially outside the main city centre, as there are a lot  of restaurants out there with great lunch specials". Good timing Johnny, cos we're looking to do that as we speak, and we've hit him up for some recommendations, so stay tuned for those newbies on site soon!
However, it's not always coffee in town and meals out with friends for our JC, oh no! We asked him what his food vice/hangover cure was, and though he generally only drinks crystal clear mountain spring water which Nepalese goats have bathed in, he said he occasionaly likes to "devour a Marks and Sparks pepperoni pizza with a cadburys dairymilk and a cornetto", hopefully not all in the one go!
So there you have it, even the coolest of us have our off days, but hey, we forgive you Johnny!
All you lunch lovers out there, we've got you sorted for the latest lunch news, why not join Johnny, and let him sort you out for his recommendations on the rest of the coolest things around!
As we say, we'll have regular contributors to The Lunchbox in the next while,  foodies, value hunters, general carachters, some of our on site venues, and the occasional user or two, so if there's anyone you'd like to see talk to us, of if you yourself have an interesting lunch story to tell, do get in touch!


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Originally posted on The Lunchbox


Pancake Tuesday
(Date:07 March 2011)

Picture of Pancakes

What with it being Shrove Tuesday tomorrow, we thought we'd give fill you in on the best pancake related news we've heard today!

 

What is Shrove Tuesday?
Pancake Day (also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the last day before the period which Christians call Lent. It is traditional on this day to eat pancakes, as Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. Shrove Tuesday was traditionally the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent. We eat Pancakes on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent.


Free Pancakes you say?
To help get your Shrove Tuesday off to a good start, Aviva Stadium chefs will be setting up a pancake station outside the stadium on tomorrow, Tuesday, 8th March.  People passing by will be treated to some delicious pancakes, cooked fresh on site and served with a choice of fillings, including chocolate, syrup, and lemon zest. The chefs will be there from 7.30-9.30am. All the Info here! Spread the word, e'ryone loves free pancakes!

Forgive us if we say NYOM NYOM NYOM!

 
How to?
If you're a bit of a novice in the kitchen, but don't want the day to pass you by, for an easy quick guide to delicious pancakes from Board Bia, do see here!

Want to try something different?
Well, what about glow in the dark pancakes?


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 The Bulletin
(Date:03 March 2011)

Breast Milk Ice Cream
Originally posted on The Lunchbox





The second of our posts on the best of the lunch related news we've found on the web this week!
When we're not securing lunch deals, we tend to surf around quite a lot and always find interesting tidbits, so we're passing them on to you!

Breast Milk Ice Cream goes on sale in London
Picture the scene, it's a hot Spring day, you're having a long lazy lunch in the tourist paradise that is London's Covent Garden, and suddenly, you get a craving for something sweet, yet cooling. Ah, a perfect time for an ice cream eh?
Well, just be careful...
The fact a serving cost 14 quid, and is called "Baby Gaga", makes it even more weird!
I wonder does it vary from person to person?

Cupcakes rampage in Cardiff
As we posted on the old Facebook, a woman with a serious sweet tooth has gone on the rampage in Cardiff, and caused around £400 worth of damage to a cupcake shop, after they sold out of her favourite. Sugarswirlz Cake Shop is relatively new to the dangerous Cardiff cupcake scene, and the woman, who was looking for a "Sweet Toothfairy Cupcake" is still on the loose, presumed armed and ravenous. Watch out Lolly and Cooks!
Now we know some of us like something sweet post lunch, but that's a bit far!

Sweet site!
Speaking of Lolly and Cooks, have you seen their new site? It's a beauty! If only that mother had used their delivery option eh?

Pizza and books- A great combo?
In Madrid, a new store has opened combining the two! Called La Pizzateca, the store offers a wide range of artisanal pizzas and calzones, but is also a book store! Offers available include a slice of pizza and a book for just a fiver, a bargain for all you hungry book worms out there. I wonder do they sell cheesy novels? (Oh, that was awful!)
If you have any recommendations for stories we should feature, other than our own random web finds, then do get in touch!

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