Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

About The Restaurant

I remember years ago finding great authentic Asian and South East Asian restaurants in Amsterdam and London that were simple in style and décor, but were relaxed and friendly, and where good food and fun were King.   Diwali reminds me of these places of happy memory.  The name itself Diwali is derived from the Indian Festival of Light, and it is located in what is now known as the Creative Quarter of Dublin,  which has become the hot hot place to eat with restaurants popping up all over the place.  However, Diwali was there before any of them ever thought of opening up in this area, and it has a loyal following of locals as well as visitors to the city.  

Not only do they do Indian food at Diwali, but they have a great range of Nepalese dishes also – which makes it even more interesting as we have very few Nepalese restaurants in Ireland.   The menu is extensive and includes all of your favourite Indian and Nepalese dishes and then some.  Starters include the ever popular vegetable Samosas, Pakoras, and onion Bhajis but that is just the start.  Here you can also get the famous Nepalese Mo Mo’s which are delicious steamed dumplings stuffed with minced chicken mixed with ginger and garlic paste and served with a special sauce - a starter for two people.  ‘Lamb chop’ has marinated rack of lamb chop marinated overnight in tandoori sauce before being chargrilled, whilst Kathmandu Ko Sekuwa has slices of either lamb or chicken – your choice - tossed with ginger and garlic paste, peppers and subtle spices before being cooked.  Prawn cake has warm water Tiger prawns mixed with ginger, garlic, scallions, and coriander, then battered and deep fried.  A good idea is to opt for the Diwali vegetarian or meat platter for two, which gives an interesting variety to try. 

Mains include ‘The Everest Tandoori Specialties’, ‘Chef’s Specialties’, and ‘All Time Favourites’.   Tandoori specialties include a number of ‘Sizzlers’ – served on a sizzling hot plate.   The special seafood sizzler includes Tandoori King prawns, scallops, crab, mussels and grilled fillet of fish, whilst Kathmandu Tandoori prawns sizzler has jumbo King prawns marinated in yogurt, Nepalese spice and herbs.   Fewatal scallops sizzlers has the molluscs tossed with garlic chilli sauce, onion, and bell peppers, whilst vegetarians are well catered for with Gorkhali Sag Pat Sizzler which has lightly marinated mushroom, aubergine, onion, capsicum, courgette, potatoes, cottage cheese with Himalayan spice cooked in a clay oven and served on sizzling hot plate.  Again, if you want to try a variety of things go for the Diwali special mixed sizzler which has King prawns, Tandoori chicken, chicken Tikka and Gulafi kebab flavoured with Brandy – they promise you will feel like you are at base in Himalaya!

They do a delicious traditional Sherpa Himalayan curry – you can have it with chicken, prawn, lamb or vegetables, and another great dish is LedoBedo which is a Nepalese curry cooked with a creamy sauce, brown onion and tomato.   Chicken and Prawn TakaTak is another delicious Indian dish from the coastal region, which is also flavoured with white rum!  There is such a great range of food at Diwali but if you like your usual dish every time you go out – they will have that also – Bhuna, Madras, Pasanda, Korma…..they are all there……and delicious Biryani’s too.

By the way, they do a great value lunch on weekdays and they change the menu half way through the week - so Monday to Wednesday one menu, Thursday and Friday another selection. On top of that on Saturdays and Sundays they do a Lunchtime Feast from 1 pm to 7 pm - as well as a Sunday lunch special from 1 p.m. to 4 pm.

Go and enjoy.


 
 

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