Gloria, Dublin

I really like the Big Mamma group. I like that I can be in most places in Europe and know what I’m getting. I like that I can book under my name and they’ll be a negroni waiting for me, and I like that the privilege doesn’t just extend to piss poor food bloggers like me but also regulars like my mother-in-law who very much enjoys the treatment she gets whether in Birmingham, London, or quite recently, two days running in Madrid. I like how they understand that service is as important as food for a nice night out, and I like how they stepped in and saved dessert at our wedding on two weeks’ notice and charged us hardly anything to do so. By and large you can be in any Big Mamma restaurant and the menu will be roughly the same stylistically and the food of a similar quality. Apart from Gloria in Dublin, that is. There is something special about the food coming out of the kitchen in Gloria. We arrived straight from a taxi to Gloria, fresh from a rather dreamy morning laid on at Guinness…