Shaka Poké in Dublin

30/03/2025: This was the second graduation dinner we had here in the past few years. The previous time was much better for vegans with an entire dedicated menu. Our group size this time meant we had to take a set menu which is fair. We warned about 2 vegans when booking but there was no vegan starter on the menu. Can some chef please explain to me how you construct a menu with vegan options for some courses but not for others? What's the logic there? Anyway, an Asian salad was offered which I accepted. When ordering the vegan main, I was asked what side I wanted. I picked broccoli. So my meal consisted of a starter with broccoli, a main course with broccoli and a side of, you guessed it, broccoli. All perfectly tasty, but come on, try harder. Other vegetables exist. The non vegans all enjoyed the food very much. The vegan dessert was superb. Service was excellent and friendly except for the long wait to pay. Glasses of Sauvignon Blanc were hilariously expensive. Something odd is happening with vegan options in Irish restaurants. Things are definitely going backwards. I'd love to know why. I don't want to over complain. It's an excellent restaurant that seems to know its client base well. Update March 2025: In the Ivy again for a private breakfast event. All three breakfast "mains" had eggs. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Can I introduce Irish chefs to an ingredient called tofu? Hundreds of millions of people eat it. There's even an Irish one now. Try harder.

30/03/2025: Our 3 family members just had a fabulous Mother’s Day brunch at the Ivy Dawson. We are regular customers and had inadvertently arrived an hour after our scheduled booking time. Managers Evasia and Mark went above and beyond to get us a table despite being very busy and fully booked, within 15 minutes of our late arrival! We are vegetarians, plenty of options on the menu and Mark even asked the chef to modify one of the regular dishes at my wife’s request. Our server Ivy (that’s her name coincidentally) was excellent also. All in all, an exceptional Mother’s Day meal in terms of atmosphere, food and service! Highly recommend.