The Bull & Castle

We went to the Bull & Castle, Lord Edward Street on a fairly-quiet-around-town Wednesday. It bills itself as a gastropub, a term I most strongly associate with the food pages of the Sunday Times style suppliment. But don't let that put you off, I found it all very normal and unpretentious!

There are two parts to the Bull & Castle: downstairs, which is the food-y bit, and upstairs, which is a beer hall. When we arrived, at about 8 on a very quiet Wednesday night, there was a 15 minute wait for a table (its one of those wait-here-to-be-seated places) and the very nice hostess took our phone number and reccommended that we go upstairs for a drink while we waited. Now a more cynical person might point out that it didn't seem that busy, and that this was possibly a ploy to get us to buy extra drinks, but we were curious about the whole place and would have done it anyway.

Anyhoo, upstairs we ventured. Its kinda dark and wood panel-y upstairs, with wooden tables and benches (mostly big, possibly good for groups). The selection of beers was pretty impressive. All your usuals, a big selection of bottled and some interesting things on tap that you don't usually get, for example, McArdles Red which I tried, and would recommend. There also seems to be a whiskey focus, with a rather clever 3 sampler tray available which seems to me like an interesting way to branch out and try new stuff without the worry of random bad choices robbing your euros. Seeing as it was a quiet night, service at the bar was prompt, but this strikes me as a place that's going to be jammers on a weekend night (yes, we do plan to go back for further study in this regard).

One problem I did have was that there wasn't a handy definitive guide to what they had on offer. There were menus on the tables, which had a few beers on them, the wine list plus food that could be ordered at the bar. There were big chalkboards with lists of available beers. There were signs over the bar advertising particular things. But while there was some crossover, none of them had everything on. If you looked at only one, you'd miss out on lots of choices, and I could see stuff (well, my beloved Quak at least) in bottles behind the bar that wasn't on any menu. While I get that their inventory might be ever changing, it just seemed a bit slapdash.

At the appointed 15 minute interval, we were called for our table, so we gathered our drinks and headed back downstairs. Our order was taken pretty promptly, but the food did take its time arriving. The menu has a pretty good selection, quite a few steak options (this is an FXB production....), nothing too flash but I think you'd easily find something to interest you. I went for the burger (I'd just donated blood and needed red meat to offset the iron loss) which came with chips. Burger was a bit on the small side (perhaps I've been to Jo Burger too many times and my perceptions are becoming skewed) and perfectly edible but nothing to write home about. Downstairs is a bit brighter, with a lovely open fire. I think the key would be to go early for food, charm your way to the tables by the fire and bunker in til closing.

Music was slightly odd mix of irish alternative and funk (dueling staff mp3 players perhaps?) but at a reasonable volume, so not impinging on conversation. Always a bonus. Toilets were clean, if a bit small -downstairs there were only 3 cubicles (4 sinks though....). All in all, I like the Bull & Castle and am curious to go back.