Sunday Lunch at Bon Appetit

With four young children, it's not often that we indulge in family meals in restaurants. There are a few reasons for this, a meal for six at a restaurant can be expensive, if it's a busy restaurant, service can be under pressure, so naturally there will be long waits, which isn't always ideal with children. More often the family meal out of choice is the ever popular Sunday lunch, which can often be less than exciting to ones palate. In my experience a restaurant that upholds an impressive evening meal doesn't always deliver the same standards to their Sunday lunch. Naturally this will deter me from returning for an evening meal and frankly I don't think it's good enough that a restaurant will offer a lower standard of food, for times when they are guaranteed a good foot fall. I'm sure the issue of money really comes into play for restaurateurs and hoteliers, and if they're to offer a lunch, at a competitive price, it can be difficult to maintain standards comparable to their evening dining. I understand this and would never expect the evening meal equivalent at lunch prices but how difficult is it to offer a few simple yet tasty options? The portion sizes don't need to be huge - this is lunch after all and not dinner. I can easily cook meals at home that are cost effective and still perfectly delicious, if I do say so myself, so why can't restaurants and hotels offer the same to their Sunday lunch goers? However saying all that, I have been to different establishment, around the country, that offer a perfectly good Sunday lunch, that won't break the bank, and these really need to be commended for this.

 A recent visit to Bon Appetit Malahide broke all the boundaries to the notion of the standard Sunday lunch. It's a restaurant that has been on my 'to visit' list for some time, so when I received an invite to try out their new Sunday lunch package, I jumped at the opportunity. Bon Appetit is run by Ireland's youngest Michelin Star chef, Oliver Dunne, who took over the restaurant in 2006. Dunne is highly regarded in the culinary world and Bon Appetit receives a significant amount of positive press. Even though  it's a rare occurrence, my children really love the treat of eating in a nice restaurant, so much so that Jack chose a dinner date with his Mammy, at the lovely Wineport Lodge, over a party with his friends for his Communion celebration. There was great excitement about heading to Dublin especially for lunch, but poor Fionn was sick so he, Diarmuid and Millie had to stay at home. My good friend Noreen and her daughter Annalise{who's also one of Jack's best friends} came with us instead, so we had lovely company for our afternoon in Dublin.

At first glance I was taken by the beautiful building, that is home to Bon Appetit. The interior is very alluring with lots of natural stone and wood themed throughout the restaurant, and the walls are filled with stunning artwork. The staff were very pleasant and ever vigilant to what the children might need. Activity and colouring pages, with a few bowls of crayons, provided plenty of entertainment, during the brief intervals between courses. The thoughts of eating in a high end restaurant, with children in tow, is often something to be avoided, as sometimes the pressure to keep everyone on a whisper can be a fairly daunting task. However there was a very warm atmosphere in Bon Appetit, that was friendly and receptive to the children. I was glad to see that there were plenty of other families in the restaurant with children of all ages, enjoying their lunch.

There was a choice of six starters, six mains and four desserts. There was also the option of a 'children's menu' but the children could avail of a half portion of the main menu, if they prefered. All the food is prepared from scratch, in line with the Kids Size Me nutrition initiative, which the restaurant supports. This initiate encourages healthy restaurant meals for children, in place of the standard kids options of chips & sausages/nuggets. Here is what the three children chose from the menu and I was well impressed that each plateful was completely gobbled up. For starters, Jack had the Vegetable Soup with Basil Oil & Pistou Croutons, Tiarnan and Annalise had Garlic Bread. For Mains, Jack had Mascarpone Polenta Cakes, Sweet Red Peppers & Basil Pesto, Tiarnan had the Penne Pasta in Tomao & Basil Sauce and Annalise had Confit Duck Leg, Red Cabbage, Pomme Fondant & Pumpkin puree. After all that they actually had a little room for dessert and each had the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Fresh Strawberries & Coulis. So, as you can see, by all means, it was not a typical children's Sunday lunch. Both myself and Noreen were also spoilt for choice and deliberated hard over what to select. We all thoroughly enjoyed every bite of our meal and we were so relaxed that we could of quite happily sat sipping coffee and lemonade for the afternoon, if we hadn't the long journey home ahead of us. Bon Appetit is located in the heart of Malahide and with the marina just a stone's throw away a brisk walk, after lunch, topped off a perfect family afternoon. 

Apart from the amazing standard of food, one of the most impressive points to Sunday lunch at Bon Appetit is the price.  The three course lunch menus, served from 12.30pm to 8pm, are priced €23.95 for adults and €15 for children under 12, and for each adult that dines, a child eats for free. It's simply unbelievable that for under €50 a family of four can avail of such an exclusive three course Sunday lunch. And for larger groups, every extra paying adult means another complimentary lunch for a child. 
I'd like to thank Oliver and his staff for a wonderful afternoon and I'm looking forward to returning with the rest of the family.


Bon Appetit

            +353 (1) 845 0314      

info@bonappetit.ie

Nine James Terrace

Malahide, Co. Dublin

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