In looking at the menu I was keen take advantage of early bird (2 course €21.50 or 3 courses €24.50) – however there just wasn’t quite enough choice of starters on it for me.  There was a soup (rarely a starter choice of mine), a salad (hmmm – I’ve had enough salads recently) and only one other option.  Add onto that the fact that I had read a review that said the chicken wings might rival the Elephant and Castle, so really I had no choice in that and they weren’t on the early bird.
 
My man however did manage to choose from the early bird menu and had a pear, blue cheese and candied walnut salad.  This seemed to go down well, but more pear would have helped a lot.

My chicken wings (€8) were actually very, very good.  Indeed, they probably were better than the wings I had at the Elephant and Castle, however as previously discussed I think I caught the Elephant and Castle on a bad day so don’t hold me to that – I’ll have to go back and reconfirm!

Back to The Whitefriar Grill, their wings are definitely worth checking out – the meat was moist and you could get a really satisfying mouthful from each one.  The sauce had the appropriate sharp and tangy burst – in fact it was so sharp that the vapours hurt my nose when it first came out.  That can sometimes be a bad thing but not in this case – it was just right.  The wings were served with the appropriate blue cheese and celery (is there any other way?) – the blue cheese really came through in the sauce as well, as it should.  Big tick on the starter.

I had a few deliberations on choosing my main – there was rabbit on the menu which I’ve been craving for some reason, a duck shepherd’s pie and a monkfish disk with clams, mussels and lemongrass.  I went for the duck shepherd’s pie with parsnip gratin (€18).  Sad to say it didn’t quite work for me – I felt the parsnip completely overpowered the duck.  The balance of the dish probably exacerbated that problem as well, I think there was a lot more topping than filling.  When I picked around in the dish and piled up some duck it was lovely, rich and homely.

My man went for the rabbit – rabbit in a white wine and mustard sauce with mash.  It had a gentle and subtle flavour which we both enjoyed, however it could have done with a different texture on the plate.  The rabbit fell off the bone and the mash was very soft - add the sauce and it was all a little mushy.

Another odd observation was the temperature of all of the food that we had.  I would be the first to complain if something was cold I appreciate that, but there’s also a balance in that I don’t want to burn the roof off my mouth either.  Absolutely everything here was of the latter persuasion – unusually hot.

Overall it was a nice enough dinner. The atmosphere was good, and the staff were friendly.  The lighting was a bit too dim (candles on the tables at least would help), and the service a little too swift for my liking.  The food for me had a terrific high and then a bit of a low.  We spent €61.50 for 2 courses each, 2 glasses of red wine and an espresso.  Not bad value at all.  I would go back, but I won’t be rushing (unless someone suggests going to share some wings) and I’m afraid to say it wouldn’t make #2 restaurant in Dublin for me.