Searching for The Best Steak in Dublin
Since moving to Ireland I have been in search of the best steak in Dublin, which unfortunately is hard to do. They have great quality meat but most chefs and cooks don’t know how to prepare it. Most of the time it is overcooked, dry, chewy, and probably better suited for a stew. They say the quality of the beef in Dublin is high quality, due to the cows being allowed to range openly and eat grass versus the crap that is pumped into the beef in the mass-produced food of the US. My experience so far has not been able to confirm that. The reason for this is even though they might have higher quality beef, they don’t know how to cook it. Most every time I try to get a steak it turns out to be chewy and overcooked.
In the US you can find the lowest quality mass produced meat available, but you can also find a quality steak that is so tender you can cut it with a fork and drool just thinking about it. So far the best steak I’ve had in the US is in a steakhouse in Texas where the steak was raised nearby, and I’ve had a few steaks that were damn good in Seattle and elsewhere in the US. Say what you will about our low-quality meat, but when you find a good quality cut of meat and someone who knows how to cook it, it is hard to find a better steak than what you can get in many places in the US.
But, having said that, I want to prove my statement wrong and find a top-notch steak in Dublin. So I’ve searched the web, spoken with friends, and used online reviews to try to find the best steak in Dublin. I am going to rate each steak on a 0 to 5 scale, with 0 being inedible to 5 being the best.
I’m also going to try not to let the service and restaurant itself impact my review and focus only on the quality of the meat. These reviews will also be limited to Dublin and I will update this page as I eat more meat.
The Chophouse
Cut: Striploin
Ordered: Medium
Cost: 36.00
Rating: 4 out of 5
The steak itself seasoned perfectly and had a nice grill on the outside while still not overcooking the interior. The size of the cut was excellent and overall a very nice steak. The reason they are only getting 4 instead of 5 stars, especially for Irish standards, is it was a little overcooked probably leaning towards medium-well instead of medium and it was a bit chewy. Overall though an excellent steak and I will definitely be back to try a different cut and probably medium-rare on the cooking. The fries were delicious by the way.
The Bull and Castle (FX Buckley)
Cut:28 days dry aged 10oz rib eye steak
Ordered: Medium
Cost: 28.50
Rating: 4 out of 5
This steak actually came cooked medium which is very nice and unusual in Dublin. It’s amazing how a steak with a bit of red in it tastes. It was a bit chewy which is common for Irish beef but overall very nice. Did I mention that it was cooked properly? I know I did but want to call it out again as it is so unusual to get a properly juicy delicious steak.
Napper Tandy’s
Cut: 10oz Striploin Steak
Ordered: Medium Rare
Cost: 25.95
Rating: 4 out of 5
This was a pleasant surprise. We stopped in thinking this was a typical pub serving pub grub, but this steak turned out to be really tasty. With it, they included some nice and healthy fries, onion rings, and pepper sauce to dip it all in.
L’Gueuleton
Cut: 10oz Ribeye Steak
Ordered: Medium
Cost 26.50
Rating: 3 out of 5
It doesn’t look great but I was very impressed and the steak was surprisingly good that seemed a little larger than a standard 10oz. I went here for a work function and wasn’t expecting much better than a mass-produced cut of meat. The flavor was nice and the meat wasn’t super chewy like you get with the standard Irish beef. They could have offered a bit more for the sides as it only came with some lettuce the Béarnaise sauce that came with it was pretty good as well.
Di Luca
Cut: 10 oz a striploin cooked medium.
Ordered: Medium
Cost: 28.95
Rating: 3 out of 5
Even though this is not a steak restaurant, if they are going to offer it, I will give it a try. I would say that it was cooked properly and the side of roasted potatoes and pepper sauce was nice. But, overall I would say it was an unimpressive cut of meat. It was chewy and just not good enough for the price which was a bit high for a slice of lower quality meat.
Rating: 2 out of 5
I want to give them a better review because I really like the venue but the steak was so chewy that my jaw got tired eating it. It was cooked very well, and by well I don’t mean well as in good but well as in it was cooked for a very long time. I went as part of an event so my theory is that they were doing a lot at once and that impacted the preparation. I intend to visit again and give them another try and see if it just happened to be a bad night. And, I will get a picture of it.
The dining experience didn’t start out well when they mixed up our reservation thinking it was for the previous night. But, they had a table and sat us. Normally I wouldn’t think of this as a steak restaurant. Normally, I just think of it as a place for drinks but they had it on the menu so I figured I would give it a try. The picture of the meal should answer the question as to why I am giving it a 0 rating, as it tasted about as good as it looks. I ordered it medium and I actually think that is what I received, but it was so bland and ugly it was hard to tell. They offered some pepper sauce that I was hoping would make it taste better but that somehow managed to make it taste worse.
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