In 2009, when Kevin Arundel opened The Chophouse on the corner of Shelbourne Road and Bath Avenue, the property crash was smouldering and cranes stood frozen like a modern Pompeii. It seemed reckless. And yet, it worked.
Fast-forward to now: Arundel stepped back in 2024 and The Moran Group took over the space. Joe Doohan, the general manager, is still there, working the room and greeting every table. It’s a restaurant, rather than a gastropub in the way the Chophouse was, but one that has retained the same broad, crowd-friendly approach.
Refurbished and rebranded this year as The Cow Pub & Kitchen – soft green paint, floors sanded back, new furniture, shelves of bottles, the occasional framed cow – it works for a pre-match pint or a three-course dinner. The menu sets out its stall fast: not a steakhouse, despite the name, but you can spend like you’re in one.
Starters stick to the template – soup, goat’s cheese salad, pork belly, crab, scallops, gnocchi. Mains tick the boxes: fish and chips, chicken, cod, lamb and a dry-aged steak; with a 1kg cote de boeuf for two with all the trimmings (€125), pan-roasted halibut (€38), and Dexter prime beef burger (€25) featuring on the specials board. Desserts are panna cotta, sticky toffee pudding and Basque cheesecake. The wine list is pitched safely at the middle market, with an escalating price range for by-the-glass options.
There is quite a bit of cocktail action going on at the bar, so we start with a very good Margarita (€14) and a maple old-fashioned (€14), followed with a glass of El Escoes Albarino (€12) and a pint of Rye River (€7.50).
The crab salad (€17) is exactly as the menu describes: Castletownbere white crab meat, neat on a tangle of frisée, with avocado, grapefruit and a few radish slices. A tasty starter. As are the Kilmore Quay king scallops (€18). Three arrive glistening with a thin caramelised crust, the onion purée is smooth and crispy pancetta adds salt.
For mains, fish and chips (€22) is one large piece of haddock, flaking beautifully inside a golden batter, chips are thick-cut, served in a steel bucket, with mushy peas and a sharp tartare sauce. But there’s nothing grilled on the bone, nothing to reflect superior skill in the kitchen.
The Dexter beef burger is a thick patty, well browned on the outside, with cheddar melted over and two strips of streaky bacon laid across. There’s mayonnaise under the lid, lettuce underneath, more of those thick-cut chips piled into a bucket. It’s substantial, but structurally straight down the line – nothing pickled or punchy, no sauce with ambition beyond lubricating the bun.
Dessert is panna cotta (€10). It’s set evenly with an impressive wobble, a handful of raspberries and a small pool of honey. Restrained and well handled, it feels more summery than sticky toffee pudding or burnt Basque cheesecake – but the list sits firmly in safe territory, with nothing that lingers in the mind after the bill.
That’s the thing – everything at The Cow works, but it lacks impact. Elsewhere, ambition has sharpened; here it has stayed the same. Since The Chophouse’s heyday, others have gone further – grilling over live flames, and extending ageing times.
At €18 for scallops, €17 for crab salad, €42 for the only beef steak on the menu (apart from the cote de boeuf special), you can’t just aim for competence and call it a day. The restaurants that last in this bracket now are the ones that manage to slip a couple of genuine surprises into the middle of the safe bets.
And no, not arancini – Dublin is drowning in them. Not burrata-with-something-sweet, or bao buns smuggled into a “bar snacks” section. Those are as predictable as a dressed-leaf salad with a blob of warm goat’s cheese. But there’s room here for a dish or two with more intent – a cut of meat or sauce you don’t see coming, a vegetable plate that could stand as a main.
[ Sofra restaurant review: I’ll be back to work through the rest of this menuOpens in new window ]
The Cow is good, but it could be better. Not by chasing trends or bolting on gimmicks, but by making sure that if you’re charging premium prices – and it is – there’s something you couldn’t have ordered here in 2009. The squeeze works both ways: diners are choosier about where they spend, and when they do, and they want to leave feeling they’ve been somewhere different.
In 2009, opening here was a gamble when nobody else would. In 2024 the bigger gamble is playing it safe.
Dinner for two with two cocktails, a glass of wine and a pint was €139.50.
The verdict: The Cow plays it safe.
Food provenance: Scallops, Mourne Seafood; beef, Musgraves; La Rousse free-range chicken; Kish Fish; and vegetables from Doyles.
Vegetarian options: Limited. Poke bowl, open flatbread sandwich with butterbean mash, goat’s cheese salad; and daily vegetarian option.
Wheelchair access: Fully accessible with an accessible toilet.
Music: Billy Joel and similar.
