Dublin has now joined the list of other major cities such as London, Paris, Sydney, Melbourne and Tokyo to embrace naked dining. Irish Naturists in association with The House of Salads restaurant in Portobello combined forces for this maiden experience.
When this was first surfaced a year ago with talks of 45,000 people on the waiting list in London, talk did turn more locally and the question was raised: could such an idea work in Ireland?
After attending the INA supported premiere, I can confirm that the answer is a resounding “Yes !”
For the inaugural event which was restricted to members of Irish Naturist Association, demand far outstripped capacity and the event was sold out 6 weeks in advance. So what was it like I hear you say ?
Considering the name of the restaurant, I was expecting a plateful of rabbit food for starters, followed by two platefuls of rabbit food for mains… Boy, did I get it wrong!!… The food was delicious!
On the fixed menu: starters consisted of Vegetarian Paella, Spanish Omelette and Mixed Salad with extra Virgin Olive Oil infused in pepper.
The mains were three different Arepas (a Venezuelan Corn Bun): one of cheese, one of chicken with the final one being pulled pork together with a Tegueño (cheese stick Venezuelan style).
Being honest, if I had been offered these as choices on a more extensive European style menu, I would have been ending up choosing the soup for starters and the chicken or beef for mains; sometimes not having a choice is a good thing!! I broadened my culinary taste buds and can confirm that it was nutritious, healthy, tasty and filling.
To finish up for dessert we had Neapolitan Ice Cream and Golfeado (a Venezuelan type sticky bun glazed with non processed sugar and aniseed) Again it was just Yummy!!
You will have gathered from the above review that I am not a big foodie type of person but what I do know is when something tastes divine, when it is presented well, with excellent service in a venue with a wonderful ambiance, people will return time and time again.
To prove that this is the case their next dining experience is on September 21st but you best hurry before all those tickets are gone as well!!
Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention it: all the customers were dining au naturel, surprisingly that was the most uneventful aspect of the entire evening!
