This post has been a long time coming. Anytime anyone asks me for a recommendation for food one of my first questions is “Have you been to Fade St. Social yet?”. If they haven’t been, I tell them to go. I don’t think I can put into words how much I love this place. It’s always my go-to place if I want a good meal/night out. I’ve been roughly 10-12 times if not more. Every time I plan to go I say “I’ll go to the restaurant this time” but I never do. I just love the Gastro Tapas Bar so much. Have you ever listened to a band’s first album and loved it so much you don’t want to listen to their second one because you’re afraid it’ll turn you off them? Well as stupid as that sounds, that’s how I feel about the restaurant.
I’m pretty sure I’ve tried almost every dish on the menu. Anytime I go I get my old reliables and then a ‘new’ dish. On Monday’s they do €5 mojitos and have a selection of their dishes on a €5 menu as well. They recommend 3 dishes per person.
I usually get 4-5. First I get The Lobster Hotdog (Which is on the 5e menu).
Lobster meat bound in bearnaise and melted hazelnut butter on a brioche roll. Considering you’d usually pay €10-15 for a lobster roll in Dublin (that wouldn’t be hugely bigger than this one) I think this is brilliant value. I had a pretty bad experience with lobster last year in another restaurant in Dublin (Which you can read about here) but this roll didn’t disappoint. Even though it’s small, it’s quite filling. The brioche roll is soft and there’s lashing of bearnaise sauce.
The next dish I tried was a new dish that I hadn’t tried before.
Duck with warm foie gras mousse, white beans, onion smoked bacon and truffle. I don’t know if this is a new dish to the menu or if it’s just a dish I hadn’t noticed before. I’m on an ‘if it’s got foie gras’ order it buzz lately so it might be just that I’m only noticing it now. I enjoyed it, I probably wouldn’t order it again but that’s not to say that there was anything wrong with it. There’s just a lot of other things on the menu that I prefer. Like the next one: Chargrilled leeks with shaved parmesan, duck egg, and hazelnut mayonnaise.
I’ve attempted to make this next dish at home as it’s my favourite on the menu. The version I make myself is nice but hasn’t a patch on this one. I should point out that a lot of the dishes here have parmesan and truffle. They can make the dishes without both but one of the main reasons I go here is for the utterly glorious amount of parmesan and truffle.
Ironically, even though it’s my favourite dish I had never eaten it properly until my latest visit. The last time I was in Fade St. Social I was still afraid of egg yolks (I know, I know, shut up about the egg yolk trauma) so I had never eaten the dish fully. It was like a whole new world! Nah I’m joking. I’m not that much of a loser but needless to say I obviously had been missing out by not eating the egg yolks. It’s still my favourite dish.
Normally if I’m ordering the duck eggs and leek I don’t order another vegetarian dish. Last time, however, I didn’t order either of these dishes and regretted it so I ordered both this time to make up for it. Truffle pasta with charred asparagus and parmesan. As I’ve mentioned before there’s a lot of truffle and parmesan on the dishes here. If you don’t like either then I wouldn’t bother ordering this dish. I love it and always use the excess to dip my chips into.
I always get the Skinny fries with grated parmesan, smoked bacon and brown onion puree. I don’t even really see this as a main dish, more of a side dish and a lot of people share a portion between them. Well actually, it’s tapas so you’re supposed to share everything but I had my eating pants on and chips are not something I share.
I don’t usually get dessert here. If I want dessert I usually walk down to Murphy’s and get some ice cream afterwards. Not that there’s anything wrong with the desserts. I just like to take a break and walk off some of the food I’ve already eaten. Maria (who was with me, Hi Maria!) got the Baby Banoffi, banana puree, caramel jelly, condensed milk caramel with banana sorbet and biscuit crunch – so basically, a fancy banoffi.
If you’re a fan of banoffi then I’d say you’d love this. Me personally I just don’t really like bananas so it’s just not my thing.
Other things I’ve ordered and recommend are:
- Point end steak with rosemary and bone marrow butter (I had planned on ordering this if I could fit more in).
- Prawn tempura on charred crusty bread with pesto, tomato, herbs, lemon puree and good olives.
- Charcoal roasted great Irish sirloin with a parmesan, chestnut and mushroom tart.
- Bacon and cabbage burger, fried pork belly in balsamic, smoked pudding, crispy cabbage, peppered bacon, lyonnaise and a milk bun.
- Potatoes cooked in beef dripping topped with hollandaise & herbs (I wouldn’t order these if I was getting skinny fries as well)
- Baby crab toasties with melted cheese, duck egg hollandaise, skinny fries and truffle mayonnaise.
There’s only one thing on the menu that I would definitely not order again and that’s the popcorn chicken. Salted popcorn with crispy free-range chicken cooked in tapioca flour, rolled in sumac with truffle butter. I just don’t get it. I can’t enjoy popcorn as a savoury dish. It’s not that it doesn’t taste nice, it’s lovely, I just think it’s weird.
Would I go back to Fade St. Social? That’s a stupid question. Of course, I’d go back.
What did I not like? There’s only one dish I wouldn’t order again and that wouldn’t put me off not going back or someone not going there.
