Eli was on the hunt for some tennis shoes so we headed to Dundrum Town Centre this morning. Or rather, we blew all the way to Dundrum Town Centre this morning. It's extremely windy here at times - today being one of those times. I had to hold my headband to the top of my head for fear the wind would snatch it away. I'm going to have to pull my hair back into a ponytail or something because looking like Cousin Itt isn't great when you're trying to navigate stairs.
We journeyed to three or four different stores inside the mall but had no success. For whatever reason, it's very difficult to find wide-width shoes in stores here. Eli and I both got some winter gloves, and I found a raincoat. It may shock you to learn that it rains here in Ireland. A lot. And I didn't have a medium-weight, waterproof coat so it was nice to remedy that today.
Holiday shopping is in full swing so the mall was full of people and noise and lights. Not my idea of a swell time, by any stretch of the imagination. I managed to pass by the bookstore without being drawn in by its siren song. Please clap for me.
We tried a new restaurant for lunch - one I had suggested. I know - shocking! I tend to stick with the tried-and-true places so for me to both be willing to try something new and to have been the one to suggest it was a pretty big deal.
The bells of the church down the street had just rung 12, so I was afraid that the place might be full. Happily, we walked in and there were only a couple people there. It probably helped that the restaurant is in a little alley a block or two from the mall entrance so they probably don't have a lot of foot traffic. Or at least they didn't today. Business did pick up a few minutes after we arrived.
Nando's is a South African multinational fast casual chain that specializes in Portuguese flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken (description from their Wikipedia page). If you know me, you know that about the only word I'm comfortable/familiar with in that sentence - culinarily speaking - is chicken.
Not knowing if we should wait or seat ourselves, we stood by the door and the hostess approached with a smile. She asked if we'd been there before and, when we said we hadn't, explained how to order (either using a QR code or going up to the counter), pointed out where the drink station was, and also asked if we had any food allergies.
Eli ordered a mushroom and halloumi pitta with sides of broccoli and chips (aka fries) along with a hard cider; he also had an appetizer of spiced olives. I got chicken butterfly (grilled chicken breast) with sides of mac/cheese and garlic bread along with a bottomless glass of Coke. And it was soooooo good! The garlic bread was soft on the bottom/middle but crispy on top and had a great garlic flavor. The mac/cheese was very thick and creamy. The chicken was tender and coated with peri-peri sauce, which tasted to me like a sweet BBQ sauce.
We didn't save room for dessert but if we had, I was eyeing the bottomless tub of soft-serve vanilla ice cream. Doesn't that sound wonderful??
The staff came over multiple times to ask if we needed anything else, always with a smile and always so pleasant. There was music playing but it wasn't so loud and obnoxious that we couldn't hold a conversation.
All in all, it was a really good meal and good experience.
I will leave you with a few more bits and bobs of random stuff:
- Rather than stocking stuffers, these items are called stocking fillers.
- You do your grocery shop or Christmas shop - not shopping.
- Underwear is called knickers.
- A basket is a hamper - so a gift basket would be a gift hamper.
- Sweaters are jumpers - e.g. I'm wearing my ugly Christmas jumper.
No comments:
Post a Comment