During the 90s a lot of celebrity restaurants popped up around the world, the first (actually founded in 1971) and the only one that has survived is the chain of 140 Hard Rock Cafés in 40 countries. Ireland got its one and only in 2004 and it’s been quietly packing in the customers since.

I hadn’t been to the Hard Rock in years and, as these things happen, it turned out that I ended up going twice in two weeks for various reasons.

The thing I learnt on my first visit and put into action on my second is this: order less than you think you’ll eat. The portions are huge; as in obese American huge. With this thought firmly tucked into the brain off I popped to Temple Bar.

Hard Rock is a place you will expect to be hopping and full of energy but, and I don’t know if this is because of the recession or because we were there at 7.30pm, both times it was only the music that was thumping. The atmosphere is much quieter than the proprietors would like you to think. The place was busy, but with couples and pals, but no groups of hyper young people. Lord I sound so old!

The menu is vast, with all sorts of Tex-Mex food with some good veggie options. One word of warning, if you don’t like cheese avoid this place. Melted cheese is running over the edges of pretty much everything on the menu.

For starters the four of us went for nachos to share. It was a good-sized portion for four, even though it was the smaller size, with crispy nachos some nice salsa and a good dollop of sour cream. No guacamole though – this had to be purchased extra, €2.75 for a tablespoon full.

For mains my partner went for the starter portion of potato skins, minus the meat. They were more potato than skin, but delicious and filling nonetheless, dripping with cheese. I went for the starter portion of chicken quesadillas, which were a revelation. Who knew they could be so tasty? I’m one of those folk who cringes at the thought of pineapple on pizza (it’s just wrong ok?), but there were the tiniest pieces of pineapple in the salsa here and it was the perfect contrast to the spicy sauce, just cooling your mouth down without taking away any flavour.

As with everything, there was too much and I could only finish 3/4 of it, but it was so good, I kept giving it the evil eye and trying to convince myself that the bloated feeling would be worth it. I must say I was most impressed with my resistance.

Our mates went for a burger which was demolished with aplomb and her partner went for his usual. Now this cannot be over-stated, this young man loves this meal and was salivating for days beforehand in anticipation, so I have to give its full rundown:

Grilled Hawaiian Chicken

A semi-boneless half-chicken marinated for 12 hours in a fresh ginger soy marinade, then slowly oven roasted. The chicken is then finished on the fire grill, basted & topped with diced grilled pineapple and green onions. Served with White Cheddar smashed potatoes and fresh vegetables.

There was no talking to him as he happily ate every morsel. Apparently, the chicken is moist and succulent, the mash spot-on and the meal an absolute must. Don’t blame me if it isn’t, he knocked away any attempted tastings.

After all that, we laughed at the question of dessert. Then after a few minutes one of us chose the Hot Fudge Brownie. To call this a ‘brownie’ is ridiculous. It was a bowl of ice-cream, melting over a warm sticky brownie, surrounded in toffee dressing. A heavy, chocolaty dream of a dessert, but not for the faint-hearted; especially after a dinner of this size.

All in all, The Hard Rock Café is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin; big rock and roll sound as you tuck into big food. It’s not going to win any gastro awards, but it’ll keep many a belly happy.

For the four of us, including a couple of rounds of drinks, the bill came to the bones of €145, so it ain’t cheap. However, you won’t eat for a couple of days afterwards.

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