Hanley’s Cornish Pasties
You must have Javascript enabled to view this map.
Location:
32A Dawson St
Visited:
about 1 year ago
Reviewed by:
Martin McKenna
Rating:
One result of us all realising that we didn’t have any money was that rents plummeted and various small food outlets have cropped up that I reckon we wouldn’t have seen before—like Californian Burritos that opened on Baggot St a few weeks ago, Irish Barista Champion Colin Harmon’s pop-up Third Floor Espresso in the Twisted Pepper or the markets colonising Coppinger Row, Curved St and Royal Hibernian Way on weekends.
One such improbable business is Hanley’s Cornish Pasties who sell a dozen or so varieties of Cornish pasties and not much else (just a few hot and cold drinks, in fact—it’s €5 for any pastie and a drink). There’s two locations so far, on Dawson St and under Merchant’s Arch in Temple Bar. The pasties really are Cornish, too: they’re baked there and flown over, and expatriates have given them the Cornish seal of approval.
In the English tradition, they’re over-seasoned and overcooked. Glutinous swede and turnip is layered with long-cooked hunks of beef and ensconced in pastry with the unmistakeable flakiness that comes from suet or dripping or whatever other euphemism the Brits are now using for rendered animal fat as a legitimate ingredient. This is food to go mining on. After my first, I made the mistake of going to the library instead of the coalface and suffered the inevitable food coma as a result.
But somehow this didn’t prevent me from going back. During a cold snap, one of these great lumps of food really hits the spot if you’re hungry. They’re ready-made and served instantly, which works in this case—the turnover is quick enough that you get a crisp crust and piping hot filling. On a bright day, they actually make a chilly quick lunch in Stephen’s Green quite a restorative prospect.
More power to Hanley’s Cornish Pasties, I say—they’re bringing a diversity to Dublin’s food scene the likes of which we haven’t seen before.
