So hello from Ireland.
We are here in Dublin and it is lunchtime so we've tracked down the oldest pub in the
whole country.
We are here at the Brazen Head which apparently dates back to 1198.
That's like what 900 hundred years or so that this place has been around.
But I mean obviously not the whole structure is authentic.
It is probably just a few bricks and stones.
But anyways it is the oldest in the country and we're here for lunch.
So Sam is having his Guinness and I'm going for a nice pot of tea.
Got to stay warm in the city.
teetotaller.
Owe that burns.
Oh my gosh.
Hahaha.
Wow.
That is hot.
Careful over there.
Be careful.
I've seriously been waiting for this for a long time.
Of course I've tried Guinness before but this is my first pint of Guinness in Ireland and
I'm ecstatic because it is basically my favorite beer in the whole world.
Ooh.
An extra special beer today.
Oh, so fresh.
So tasty.
You know what, I could drink this literally as a meal.
It's that good.
So it is a cold day here in Dublin so I've gone for a cream of vegetable which isn't
a very typical Irish dish but I think it is going to keep me warm.
Mmmmm.
Tasty?
Very.
So you've gone for something a little bit more hearty.
Yeah, like this burger is enormous.
It's one of the biggest looking burgers I've had in a while.
Oh la lah.
And these fries.
These are the thickest cut of fries.
Look they're thicker than my finger.
I hope you're planning to share.
Hahahaha.
I don't know about that.
Time to try one of these bad boys.
It's hot.
Yeah, they're done really nicely.
Really crispy on the inside and mushy in the middle.
Like that.
Ready to devour that monster burger of yours?
Alright, this thing is so massive I'm barely able to hold it here.
Wow.
Can you chew and describe it at the same time?
That was such a big bite.
So I got a bit of everything in that bite.
Bacon, the meat, the vegetables and the lettuce and the patty.
That's a really good burger.
It's thick, the meat is juicy and the cheese is fresh and delicious.
Let's have a little bit of a travel update.
What are we going to be doing over the next few weeks?
So, over the next two weeks first we're going to be spending one week in Dublin just checking
out the city, visiting some of the main attractions, eating lots of Irish food and seeing what
that is all about.
And then our second week in Ireland we're actually parting ways.
Sam and I will be doing our own thing.
I'm doing a girls road trip with my two sisters.
You sound really happy about that.
Yes!
But yeah, I'm doing a girls road trip for a whole week and my sisters and two of my
friends are flying over from Canada.
So this is just going to be the five of us.
That will be lots of fun and no boys allowed.
And I guess Sam, you're going to be hanging out here watching football.
All by my lonesome huh?
Mmm hmmmm.
That's the plan.
So it is not all doom and gloom over here.
Even though I'm by myself I'm planning a trip up to Kerry and I'm going to be coming back
to Dublin and I'm going to watch some Gaelic football.
I don't know a lot about the sport but they're having a really huge event happening and I
want to take it in.
Well that was a really neat bar.
What kind of makes it unique, aside from it being the oldest pub in all of Ireland of
course, is that there is all of these different kinds of rooms.
You can eat outside, you can eat inside a bar and there is a second level up top.
And so we checked out most of it.
I'm really excited about lunch today.
I'm trying something for the first time called Irish Stew.
And that consists of mutton, potatoes and onions.
And it is considered to be sort of a peasant type of meal.
But considering how cold it is outside.
It has been hovering around the 15 degree mark and it has been raining a lot.
This is the perfect kind of food to help warm us up.
So like Sam was saying the main ingredients in an Irish Stew are usually mutton, potatoes
and onions but you can get a little bit fancy with the recipe and start adding different
vegetables.
So what I have here actually has carrots, celery and a few different herbs and spices.
So I can't wait to try that.
I'm really hungry.
Mmmm.
Oh my gosh.
That is really nice.
Like it is actually really cold outside.
It's been raining all day so it is really nice to be inside, sitting in a pub and enjoying
my stew.
Wearing your new sweater.
Grab some meat over there.
Yeah, this is just the kind of meal I'm craving on this type of day.
So we've already talked a bit about the ingredients that you'll find in an Irish Stew.
And something that is really cool is that sometimes they add Guinness to it.
So what else can you tell us about stew?
Well, I've actually almost finished my plate so it is delicious.
Also the meat was very soft and tender so I imagine it has been boiled and simmered
for a couple of hours.
And yeah, it is just a really great dish if you find yourself in Ireland try it out.
So give us a price point for Irish Stew.
So at the place we're eating here we picked it up for 9 Euro at a lunch special.
But keep in mind this is the city centre of Dublin and I'm guessing in the countryside
it is considerably cheaper.
So this afternoon we're doing a battle of the drinks.
We are ordering two different spiked coffees.
Sam is getting the Irish Coffee and I'm getting the Baileys Coffee.
And we're going to see which one is the tastiest.
So I've known for a while I've wanted to do an Irish Coffee taste test video but of course
I didn't know where to go.
While walking around the streets of Dublin we found a place that said: "This has got
the best Irish Coffee in the city."
So we're looking forward to trying it and seeing if it is the best.
What is in your Irish Whiskey?
Tell us.
Alright, so if you take a look over here you'll notice that there is cream on the top.
And then this is normal coffee which has been enhanced with sugar.
And the secret ingredient here is Jameson Whiskey.
Oh, yeah!
Time to take a sip.
That must be good because you're chugging it.
That is so good.
I mean I got a big gulp of cream because it is the first sip but I also really tasted
a lot of the whiskey and of course there is a really strong coffee flavor.
And the sugar.
It is like basically having a dessert.
So I got a bit more of a feminine drink instead of whisky.
This one has Baileys cream liqueur.
So let's try it.
Ooh, you can definitely still taste the alcohol in that.
Mmmmm.
Yeah, this is nice.
And it is really sweet.
Like Sam said about his it is almost like a dessert in a cup.
And it is really nice on a cold day.
So I'm just going to keep sipping.
So basically it is the same as an Irish Coffee the only difference being that there is Baileys
instead of the Jameson Whiskey.
Yeah.
We're switching drinks here for a second.
The girly drink.
The Baileys.
That's really good.
I actually prefer Baileys to Whiskey so I'm going to say the Baileys wins out on the Irish
Coffee.
So I guess it is time for me to try yours.
I have a feeling I'm not going to like it as much because I'm not a big whiskey fan.
But here we go.
You have cream on your lips.
I like mine better for sure.
Mine is sweeter.
This one is a lot stronger.
It's got a kick to it.
And I feel like if I drank this whole thing I would tumbling by the time I walked out.
So Baileys for the win?
Baileys for the win.
So you enjoyed those?
Yeah, I think we're all done here.
So in terms of price point you're looking at about 4.95 Euro per drink.
That's how much we paid over here.
And I think what really makes an Irish Coffee taste good is there is two main components.
The first is that they don't skimp out on the Whiskey or Baileys.
That they put in you know a generous amount of that.
And the other thing has to do with the quality of the coffee.
And both were excellent here.
So I can give this place a really good score.
Breakfast time in Belfast!
So since we've been in Ireland my favorite meal has been breakfast.
And it's been a full Irish breakfast.
We're now in Belfast and over here it is called an Ulster Fry.
It's slightly different from an Irish breakfast which we'll explain later.
But it is a very complete breakfast, it has a lot of different things including bacon,
sausage, eggs, potatoes, tomatoes and a whole bunch of other stuff which we'll show you
in a bit.
It is time for a grand tour of the meal.
Breakfast has arrived.
So we've got soda and potato bread over here.
We've got our fried egg.
We've got something that resembles a hash-brown.
We've got our sausage, our bacon and of course our beans.
So that is a very complete meal.
Yeah.
I hope you're hungry.
Yeah, we sure are.
So what I find really unique about the Ulster Fry is that you get potato bread and soda
bread which are breads that I've never really tried before.
But they are quite nice and compact.
Very heavy.
You know, you're getting your carbs in early in the morning.
It looks quite thin but it is really heavy.
Starchy.
And then this is the soda bread.
I'm not really sure if you're supposed to put butter and jam on it since it is more
of a savory bread but it is really good on its own.
So my favorite part is the sausage.
And what I like to do is dip it in with the beans.
And I think they call them rashers here.
Yeah, they are called rashers.
Sam eating rashers.
Mmmm.
How are they?
That's awesome.
Mmmmmm.
Something that I love about the Ulster Fry and Irish Breakfast is that you can pick it
up almost any time of day.
We typically have it for breakfast but if you get a craving for it at night you can
pop into a restaurant that specializes in the dish and you can have yourself some.
And to wrap things up how about the price point?
Okay, so we got this breakfast in downtown Belfast and paid 4 Pounds and 50 Pence which
I think is pretty decent.
And I imagine if you get it out in the suburbs it might be a little bit cheaper because this
does look like a really popular place.
So today we're up in Belfast and we're trying a traditional Irish and Northern Irish dish.
This is called Boxty.
And it is basically made with grated potato that is mixed with mashed potatoes and fried
in a pan.
So Sam and I have ordered to different varieties and we're going to be digging into those because
they just arrived and we're so hungry.
So I got boxty with ham, cheese and an egg.
A fried egg on top.
So let's have a taste of this.
It's still steaming.
Mmmm.
Oh!
Hahaha.
You silly goose.
It tastes like fried mashed potatoes.
So if I had to compare this dish to anything from back home in North America I would say
it is kind of similar to a hash brown except it is a lot thicker and potato is a bit softer.
But I mean it is still fried, mashed and grated potatoes.
So it's good.
Heavy on the carbs, pretty tasty.
I like that is comes with different toppings and I could honestly eat this for breakfast,
lunch or dinner.
So it works anytime of day.
Alright, and what do you have over here?
So mine is the pulled pork with an apple sauce.
Apple chutney.
What do you think?
It's so good.
I love that.
I love any kind of potato dish that is fried and then you add some pulled pork to that.
Yum!
Magic!
So there is a little rhyme that goes along with Boxty and it goes a little something
like this.
Boxty on the griddle, boxty on the pan.
If you can't make boxty you can't get a man.
I don't know how to make boxty but I somehow landed Sam.
So.
I must have low standards huh?
Uh!
So if you take a look at my pint over here you might be thinking I'm having Guinness.
It does look a lot like Guinness but in fact it is Belfast Black.
And I have to say it tastes just as good if not better.
What do we have for dessert?
Well, well we couldn't resist getting a Baileys coffee.
I think they it the creme cafe.
Mmmm.
I think I got mostly cream in that sip.
You've got a whipped cream mustache over there.
That's hot.
I keep burning myself today.
One more sip.
You're taking all of the cream.
You're a cream thief.
Cream thief!
Your turn.
I'll share.
So what is your dessert?
And what we've got down here is an Irish Whiskey chocolate truffle.
Oh la lah.
The question is does it taste like Whiskey?
A bit.
Oh my gosh that is so decadent.
That's as thick of a piece of pie you're ever going to have.
It does look decadent.
One more shot because it is just so beautiful.
Look at that.
Look at that cake.
Alright guys, sticky toffee pudding with ice cream.
Ice cream.
Because we're epic pigs.
No?
Mmmm.
That is nice.
Could you get used to that?
So it's a nice fluffy warm cake and I think it is fresh right out of the oven.
To wrap things up we ate a lot of food but we're just going to focus on the price of
the Boxty which was six pounds each.
Pretty decent value unless you convert it into Canadian dollars.
But other than that it was a really good pub meal.
When you're in Ireland or in Northern Ireland try your boxty.