The Chameleon turns 20!
Monday 03 November 2014
The Chameleon turns 20!
A 20th birthday deserves a decent bash. Co-owners Carol Walsh and Kevin O’Toole are marking
The Chameleon’s two decades of business in Temple Bar with four weeks of celebrations,
culminating in a one-day lunchtime menu on Thursday 6th November, 12.30pm–2.30pm, when the
birthday lunch platter for just
€9 will feature Gado Gado (Indonesian salad); Soto Ayam (spicy chicken soup); and Perkedel (potato and chickpea cake).
To kick-start the celebrations, The Chameleon Pop-Up Kitchen are offering 20 customers a FREE
LUNCH, including the first 10 customers to wish them a Happy 20th Birthday on Twitter or
Facebook, followed by the first 10 customers to wish them a Happy 20th Birthday at the birthday
lunch itself.
The month-long celebrations will also include lunchtime and post-work ‘flash tastings’ (where we
offer 20 free tasters from our Spice Bar menu to unsuspecting Temple Bar passersby) and weekly
social media competitions to win restaurant vouchers (see @ChameleonFood and
www.facebook.com/ChameleonRestaurantfor details).
THE BACK STORY:
Remember when Temple Bar was but a glint in a property developer’s eye?
In the late 1980’s, Carol Walsh signed herself a lease in a tall, narrow building on a cobbled Temple
Bar side street surrounded by artist’s studios, record stores and comic shops. Downstairs she ran a
vegetarian café, The Cellary, and upstairs, a dance and aerobics studio (in a mirror-walled
space that would later moonlight as an underground night-club in Dublin’s clubbing heydays).
Soon enough the Temple Bar area underwent enormous changes. While a neighbouring building
was being transformed into what is now Temple Bar Gallery, Carol took the opportunity to go
travelling. She found herself in Indonesia, where she fell in love with the heady spice combinations
of their culinary approach. In 1994, she opened The Chameleon restaurant in that same tall, narrow
building. For 20 years, The Chameleon has remained an enduring presence on the Dublin food scene. The restaurant was named Irish Restaurant Awards Best World Cuisine 2013 and listed in the McKenna Guides 100 Best Restaurants and Lucinda O’Sullivan’s Great Places to Eat. Inspired by Indonesian culinary culture and showcasing great Irish
ingredients, everything is made from scratch, from pastes to desserts. The versatile offering now includes a tapas-style menu in downstairs’ Spice Bar, where small dishes from the much-loved
Rijst-Tafel menus can be ordered individually by diners looking for a quick bite before a nearby
movie, gig or theatre show, washed down by a craft beer or glass of wine.
For more information, see
www.chameleonrestaurant.com
or contact Kevin or Carol on
book@chameleonrestaurant.com
or at 01 671 0362.
Press Release