Jake O’Brien visits the new steakhouse on Temple Bar and leaves feeling self-important, but satisfied…

Being treated like a punter is one thing, but royalty is another thing altogether. My night in Frankie’s of Temple Bar began as the staff cunningly discovered that yours truly was present in the guise of the dreaded food critic. With this notion in hand I was led to my private seat and walked through the menu step-by-step. Thus, it must be stated that Frankie’s Steakhouse and Bar retains a magnificent and reasonably contemporary Set Menu for thirty euro.

This menu is compiled of three courses and the standard tea and coffee to finish. Delightful. However, one chose to launch an outrageous attack on their main menu, compiling any and all possibilities of gastronomic possibility.

After being waited on every three minutes, for a time it certainly became evident that the staff were now fully aware of my position, and had been given strict and obvious orders to hold my table in the highest regard as priority number one. While this was indeed a progressively irritating (albeit slightly embarrassing) situation, I discovered a darkly egocentric thrill emanating from the overall experience. But enough about me: let’s talk about food.

The Caesar Salad was fancifully standard and brilliantly fresh, while the Spicy Buffalo Wings were fresh but nothing out of the ordinary. As a sequel to this bout of starter we ordered the Spaghetti and Pork Meatballs and the New York Style Burger with fried egg, cheese, and bacon. The pasta was magnificently al dente and the sauce was… well: imagine someone took a chunk directly out of Italy and smashed it into a juicer. It was incredible. As tomato based pasta sauces go, this one takes the cake (or sauce, as it were).

The burger was delicately assembled ingeniously with the cheese sealing the bacon and egg to the meat, which was brilliantly rare. Bloody as hell, that is exactly what Willis was talking about.

Definitely a great meal, and I’m sure the service isn’t quite as intrusive when you’re not reviewing it for a paper.

Frankie’s Italian Bar & Grill, 42 Temple Bar Square, Dublin 2. Tel (01) 6790445 www.frankies.ie