Searson's

42-44 Upper Baggot Street, Dublin 2
www.searsons.ie

This morning, I got into work at 08:45. I saw Cian come in at 09:00 on the dot. By the look of him, it was impressive he made it at all. By 09:30, I could see it was high time he needed a trip to Starbucks. That was where we saw Sam stagger through the door, craving caffeine. Same symptoms, same cause. It was going to be one of those days, and an outside lunch would be called for.

Searson’s is a long-established pub on Upper Baggot Street, right at the junction with Waterloo Road. Niamh’s father used to own it or manage it or something some years ago, but since then, ownership has passed to the Thomas Read Group. It shows: the décor is dark wood, there are yellow lightshades – like Ron Black’s or The Bailey – and I like the familiarity. The lunchtime offering is dealt out from behind a carvery-type counter, located at the back of the long bar, and just before the exit to the patio. Being the only one not suffering, I knew I would make the best choice of the lot.

The menu is standard fare for lunchtime pub grub in upmarket bars: alongside soup and salads, main courses include curry, pasta and chicken breasts. Real sort of secretary food: you’d imagine the Bridget Joneses of Baggot Street eating here, protesting that they couldn’t possible manage any more than a small salad, before they stop off at the Spar for a mega-size Dairy Milk and a box of Cornettos. I saw people carrying something I wanted, and so went for the burger. It wasn’t exactly what I expected. It was a good and substantial beef patty, 5 inches across and over an inch deep, and I had it covered with some sort of sauce and got vegetables on the side. But it wasn’t what I’d been eyeing up earlier.

I returned to the table, to see Sam half-way through a bap, containing numerous slices of roast rib of beef and a horse radish cream. She had my dinner! To make things worse, it came with a choice of two side salads, whereas I just got the standard side veg. No, hold on: worse even than that, was that Crawford arrived at the table, followed by Cian, with the “burgers” – so they all had the same thing, and they all had what I wanted. All of them. Except me. To top it all off, I had just paid €2.50 more for the burger than I would have for the roast beef bap.

Now, my own mis-selection was actually really nice: good, juicy beef with a smooth, creamy tomato sauce and well-cooked potatoes and carrots. It would have been fine if I had chosen it as my first choice for real, and it would have scored well. I guess I just disappointed myself.

There was a special offer on at the bar, where you could buy soft drinks for €1 with any main course. I took a bottle of Lucozade, but decided Cian needed the sugar more than I did. Lunch lasted more than an hour – making up for all those twenty-minute lunches we seem to have had recently – and my co-diners eased into recovery mode as they wolfed down their definition-worthy burgers. The others might not even remember what they had to eat today; but at least I’ll know better next time.

Oh, and finally: thanks to Cian and Sam for the prandial entertainment: painful hangovers are always hilarious when they’re suffered by someone other than yourself. I haven’t laughed so much in ages. It nearly stopped me crying over my missed burger.

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The Damage (EUR)

• 10.95 Irish Beef Burger with potatoes and vegetables

Drinks

• 1.00 Lucozade (300ml)
• 0.00 Water
  

Total 11.95
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The Score
3.0 Food and Drink
3.0 Service
4.5 Décor
3.5 Ambience
3.0 Value
3.5 Overall Rating