A Nice Little Spot Among the Trees

After breakfast at Tang, my wife and I ventured out into Dublin for a bit of touristing. The task on the agenda that day was to see Dublin’s Phoenix Park, a massive park in the city that is just off of the city’s center, and covers over 2.7 square miles of land. Obviously we didn’t walk the whole thing, but we did venture inwards to see the grounds, wander a few paths, and look around at nature. The park is pitched as the place “where Dublin goes to breathe,” and I can see why. It’s one of the largest parks in a city center in all of Europe, and it’s just massive.

Naturally there are eateries within the park, for those looking to grab a bite before they continue wandering along, and my wife and I stopped off in one such place, the Phoenix Park Tea Room. This was a little building off to one side from a main path, with only a handful of tables inside and out for parkgoers to eat at. We went in, made a few selections, and were lucky enough to get a table inside the tiny restaurant where we could see, eat, and relax.

My wife and I shared a bowl of roasted veggie soup, a lovely, smoothly blended soup made up of rich, root veggies. Unfortunately I can’t give a specific accounting of what was actually in the soup as the menus for the park’s cafes aren’t posted online, and the board inside the little eatery was written in chalk and simply said, “veggie soup,” so we have to just go off memories and pictures. Still, the soup was amazing.

Outside of that awful seafood chowder I had at Lennan’s Yard, so far Dublin has proven that the city folk know how to do soup. The blended soup my wife and I shared at Balfes was delicious, and this soup from the tea room was honestly nearly as good. Rich and hearty, the soup itself was nice and smooth, with a delicious stock that, despite its yellowy color, didn’t taste too harshly of carrot. It had a freshness to it, with a thick stock, and just enough salt to it to taste really good. I really miss the soups from Dublin, and this is one of the reasons why.

The brown bread served on the side was delicious as well. It was thick and hearty, with a good crumb, but the flavor wasn’t too starchy or harsh. A hint of sweetness, a nice bit of bite from the whole grains, brought this bread together. Plus it was really good when dipped in the soup, which I did during the whole eating experience. It even gave me enough at the end to wipe up the last bits of broth, which I absolutely wasn’t going to waste. The pairing, bread and soup, was utterly brilliant.

For dessert my wife and I shared a chocolate croissant. I think if we’d just had this with tea it would have been excellent, but compared to the soup it was just okay. The croissant was flaky, but maybe a little too dry. It needed to be more buttery. And the chocolate was there but it wasn’t as prominent as I would have liked. The thing would have been great with coffee, dipped in and snacked on, but for the selection of items we got it didn’t really get a chance to shine. It was just a fine bit of pastry.

Still, the overall experience was good. This is the kind of place that you’re only going to get to if you are in Phoenix Park, in Dublin, and decide to stop for a bite to eat. But I appreciated that unlike American cafes in parks, this place served real, hearty food that you wanted to eat (as opposed to warmed over burgers, hot dogs, and burritos like at most American park cafes). This food was fantastic, and it speaks well to Dublin and its culture.