klaw

the best shellfish andoystersin dublin. we always visit klaw when in the city (sometimes we come down just to eat). the staff are super helpful and know their stuff. the hole in the wall has a super laid back feel and be prepared to wait and sit very close to complete strangers but sure, this is all adds to it's charm. klaw is a must visit in my book

we went here for lunch, the place were very busy. lucky us we got the seat even though the seating wasn't very good. it's uncomfortable i would say. we were waiting quiet long time to get the waiters came to ask us. finally they came and ask what would we eat. we said we don't know what food they have. waiters said it says on the board which i think it's very confusing, not informative, there is no explanation about the dishes etc (for example on the board it only says "jamaican runover"). the waiters weren't helpful at all so we decided to just order fresh oysters. i think it's a bit pricey, 2.60€ peroystersand i would say nothing special about it. service was poor, even to get us bill and machine to pay. wouldn't come back. just don't understand such a long line up to get into the restaurant. wasn't worth it in my opinion.

stopped in to klaw today for a quick lunch. the menu comprises a large blackboard detailing firstly different varieties ofoystersand then the numerous crab, salmon and lobster dishes available. needless to say it makes for a very tough decision.

both my girlfriend and i choose the smoked salmon plate. the dish was presented served very simply with a sprinkling of onion and chives on top and a wedge of lemon on the side. the salmon itself was utterly melt in your mouth delicious and didn't need anything further added to it. the dish was served with a small bowl of toast which complimented it well.

the room itself is tiny and at a rough guess would only seat about twenty. the service is casual and extremely friendly and fits the atmosphere of the place perfectly. klaw is the perfect spot to stop in to for a different type of quick lunch i.e. one that doesn't involve a sandwich or salad bowl!

lunch for two with a water and diet coke came to €24.00 which was great value for the quality of ingredients presented. important to note they don't take cards but there is an atm just outside the door.

finally the sea comes to the center of the city!!

first i need to thanks zomato for the voucher that took me to klaw. this is such a great place for seafood. finally i felt like i was living in an island. it's not easy at all to find good seafood in dublin which is very strange in my opinion. got half a lobster and 6 oysters, downcastle, waterford and galway. the lobster was very good but thoseoysterswere like the ocean, so great!
the service was great as well and in my case it was quick!!

i was gonna give a 4 to this one, but thoseoysters... 4.5!!

best place in the city for seafood. small and cosey inside. super friendly staff, explain the menu in detail- i hadn't a clue what dressedoysterswere or how to eat crab claws they were super helpful and great teachers. the lobster rolls and chowder are to die for!! 10/10 they are super popular and busy but worth the wait for sure!!

visited here today. it's a tiny little place but we still managed to get a table, which i couldn't believe, on a saturday this close to xmas! anyway we had a voucher for lobster rolls and prosecco and also got twooysterswith nam jim dressing. everything was so fresh and tasty. lobster rolls were particularly amazing. homemade pickles lovely and service with a smile. will definitely be back!

i rarely give somewhere a 5, but klaw is more than deserving....
a seafood shack has found its way onto the cobbled streets of temple bar. let us rejoice! it was all far too shellfish, where previously these little shacks were kept far from the city, reserved only for those dwelling by the sea.
located on crown alley, klaw is the latest venture by niall sabongi, chef/entrepreneur behind rock lobster at dundrum town centre. klaw is here to bring us landlubbers fantastic oysters, lobster, crab and prawns in a relaxed, fun and casual setting.visiting klaw on a wet tuesday evening, i brought along a friend as my date armed with thetaste.ie vouchers; promising a lobster roll and a glass of prosecco each. when we arrived we immediately found klaw homely – its size is small but welcoming and cosy. it’s long and narrow, no bigger than a fisherman’s quarters (i realise that makes no sense in terms of size – don’t mind me, i’m keeping with my marine theme and questionable puns) although it’s cosy, the place doesn’t feel crowded. the décor is simple with subdued lighting, marine accents, customer doodles and large bottles of tabasco sauce.
sabongi definitely knows how to maximise space, as every corner of klaw is utilised, complete with open kitchen for all to see; which is something i really love. in fact, if you would like to use the bathroom, prepare to pass by the kitchen staff and say hello on your way there.
the staff were very cool and really seem to enjoy working there. soraiya in particular looked after us really well and made sure to have a chat with everyone.we started with torched oysters; one with slivers of bacon, the other with spinach and parmesan. they were delicious, and something i had never tried before. the most i’ve had are raw or grilled but torching them creates a different taste. if you’re new tooystersit’s good to start with the torched instead of diving right in. next up we had the crowning glory of crown alley – the klaw lobster roll. a soft brioche bun packed with succulent lobster meat dressed in yuzu mayo served with a pickle (or gherkin, whatever’s your style.)
every bite was as good as the last! the standard price for the roll is €14, which some may find steep, but if you’re eating a sandwich with top notch ingredients in the centre of a touristy area in dublin, i don’t see an issue with shelling out the cash! ha! puns.
after the lobster roll, the good times kept rolling. we shared a half pint glass of fresh juicy prawns, served with marie rose, toasted garlic bread and doused everything in lemon juice. i thoroughly enjoyed getting messy and pulling puny prawns apart while soraiya ran to my aid with a fresh pile of klaw napkins. ready for more oysters, we ordered two pints of guiness and achill oysters, dressed in bloody mary sauce and nam jim dressing. klaw offers a couple of different kinds ofoystersdepending on your taste, and prices start from €2. there is also a handsome looking seafood platter so you can try everything, crab dishes and a small selection of desserts.
the bloody mary ones are good, and the salsa has a bite to it, but the nam jim style is the real winner here. fresh asian flavours with plenty of coriander/cilantro made things light, fresh and tangy. i’m currently in the states and started in boston where i had some amazing lobster, but a return visit to klaw is on the cards when i return. looking for weekend eats inspiration? why not grab a shellfish loving pal, get down and dirty and work your way through the menu in one of dublin’s buzziest areas. try the lobster roll and the nam jim oysters!

i've been dying to try this place since it opened as i'm a big fan of its sister restaurant rock lobster! so we went here for dinner on friday night and i have to say we were blown away at how good it was. firstly, when i tried to book (lucinda o'sullivan for the irish independent life magazine did a small review on it last week and gave the owners mobile number) niall the owner informed me that it was walk ins only. when we rocked up at about half 8 there were no seats but gladly we were informed by two female diners that they were about to leave. be warned the restaurant only seats 12 people in total and much of this seating is along a bench on the left hand side wall. our waitress lauren was super friendly and informed us that we could have a drink outside, at a small table which sat on the footpath. when our drinks arrived i noticed a sign on the door that said no cards, so you will need to bring cash with you.
when we went inside and took our seats, lauren informed us of their two daily specials; one of which was cockles, i can't remember the other one. then she showed us the huge black board menu that adorns nearly the entire right hand side wall. the choices were plentiful and nearly every type of fish was on offer here. the menu displayed on this site does not represent even a third of what's on offer in klaw. with three different types of oysters: galway, waterford and achill island. each are priced at around€2-2.50 per oyster. theoysterscome raw or cooked with different toppings of your choice. we tried two with the bloody mary topping, which were good but i still prefer to have them natural, so we had 16 natural oysters. they also do a special which they call the "torpedo" this is an oyster with bacon pieces on it and then torched. my boyfriend had that and it seemed to be a nice twist on the old classic, because technically the oyster beneath is still raw. they torched it right infront of us, which added a bit of drama to the dish. further, they didn't charge for this oyster it was just offered by the waiter as we were chatting to him about the up coming oyster festival in galway . their seafood chowder seemed to be a hit, which comes in a tin can and many locals seemed to pop in to take it away with them. the staff have a lovely way about them, as one lady popped in to grab a can of chowder on her way home, they offered her an oyster as she was waiting. it was small things like this that constantly went on while we were here that added to the whole buzz and yet relaxed atmosphere of the restaurant. they have lobster rolls (€16) , crab blt, mussels, crab claws, half lobster (€16), a full lobster (€32), prawns, whole crab at €12 and smoked salmon. which the owner niall smokes himself and uses gin to wash and re-wash it during the smoking process. they said he was already taking orders for christmas, as the smoked salmon was so popular and many people seemed to be buying it to take home with them. i went for the whole crab which was amazing, at €12 it's insanely good value! the crab itself was huge and my boyfriend had to finish it for me. he got the lobster roll which came with a cucumber stick and some crisps on the side. all dishes come with brown bread on the side. for drinks they had a variety of flavours from the san pelligrino lemonade collection, sierra nevada, pale ale and house red or white wine. i had a few glasses of the white which was a picpoul wine, this was a perfect wine to go with fish. for desert they had cannoli and a desert they have titled "whoopee", it comes in a multitude of different flavours: carrot cake, salted caramel, vanilla, chocolate etc. my boyfriend went for the carrot cake and it arrived chilled straight from the fridge infront of us, with a little wrapper around it. i had a bite of it and it tasted sort of like a flap jack with a sweet cream cheese centre. they gave us a sample of their smoked salmon and it was delicious, the best i've tasted yet. the addition of chives really added to it and i'll be stocking up on this for christmas day brunch. there were approximately 4 staff in the kitchen, all dressed in nautical stripped tops. they all seemed to love their job and they had a real sense of enthusiasm about the food. each of them served us at some point during our meal and they were great at explaining where the food came from and how to eat the food. this bit of education came in particularly handy when figuring out how to eat the crab. niall the owner, sources the fish all himself. with a little white van he gets up in the early hours of the morning to buy fish from the fishermen just coming off their boats. lauren told us that his enthusiasm was infectious and all the staff seemed to have caught the bug!

you can now order for delivery from here off the deliveroo website. i loved every bit of this place and i love their ethos that fish should be for all and not just a stuffy affair. after all we are an island nation. other places have tried todo this sort of thing such as fish shop in smithfield, klaw far surpasses those places. i can't wait to go back!

i visited klaw with a friend of mine to check out their crab shack offerings and shovel someoystersin my face and i wasn't let down. huge portions of "klaws", a smashing variety of oysters, which were excellent and then the jewel in the crown... the lobster roll. half a lobster bound in a light yuzu mayo with some herbs in a fluffy brioche roll.

i'll be klawing my way back here very soon