Avenue Cafe & Restaurant, Maynooth

I love . love . love my food and I don't know about you, but when I stumble across chic little eateries, it makes me a very happy bunny. 

Last week I had a bit of an impromptu trip to Maynooth with himself for golf purposes. Long story short, it was 9 o' clock, we were hungry and didn't know where to go for dinner but it wasn't long before we were told we HAD TO check out Avenue Cafe & Restaurant on Main Street, Maynooth. 

So off we went...

Taking into account that our visit was on a miserable Thursday evening (weather wise), I didn't think it was gonna be overly busy, but in I walked to a buzzing little cafe.

We were seated on the ground floor of the quaint two story restaurant in warm, candle lit surroundings. It reminds me of the kind of place you'd go for a chilled evening with your other half or for a relaxed night out with a group of your girlfriends.

The best way that I could describe their menu is 'modern Irish'. They use top notch, local produce and it is really translated in the quality of their food. Before we even got there, we were pretty much told by our advisors that we had to order chicken wings and steak. That's exactly what B ordered (no menu necessary). I opted for the chicken wings and a chicken Caesar salad but there was far more on the menu that I would love to have tried out - their linguine and risotto for starters (but that will have to wait until after Lent).

Starters

When the wings came out for our starters, I think we both had a minor heart attack - the size of the portions were HUGE. Definitely could have done with sharing one between us. Despite that, they were mouth-wateringly tasty! (Craving them as I type). They reminded me of the wings my Mom's restaurant served and I havn't had wings like that in awhile - needless to say, they went down a treat on both sides of the table regardless of the portion size. This seems to be thee place to go for the best wings in town.

Mains

The mains certainly didn't fail in living up to the standards of the starters. B's steak was cooked perfectly and came with a choice of sauces, crispy fried onions and creamy champ, which he devoured. My Caesar salad was delish. I always judge a restaurant on how good their Caesar salad is because so many get it so, so wrong but they passed with flying colours. The dressing is always a deal breaker for me, people either smother their salads in a really thick dressing or pretty much leave it dry in a thin, watery sauce but this was straight up really, really good. I also ordered a portion of their skinny fries which were really tasty, if only they made you thin too. haha. 

Here's a few pictures of some of the other mains they have to offer - prepare yourself to salivate...

Unfortunately, neither of us were in a position to order desserts as we were just too full. I was kicking myself because I'm not a big dessert person but I'd seen sticky toffee pudding on the menu at the start of the evening and REALLY wanted to try it out - it's my favourite! I'd also seen numerous desserts fly past me en route to the table, but I thought I best not attempt to make room for more. 

It's only a small thing, but I really appreciated that they provided bottles of their filtered water. It's all in the detail! 

The prices are extremely reasonable for size of the portions and the quality of the food that you get, so I'd totally recommend taking a trip if you're in the area!

Here are all of the links to Avenue Cafe & Restaurant if you wanna know more!

- Website

- Facebook

As it was a bit of an impromptu trip, I hadn't got my camera in my handbag but I'm sure the photos from Avenue Cafe themselves are more than enough to tempt you to take a visit.

XO, G.