Irelands best dining guide as reviewed by you Bec ome a mem ber ww w.menupage s.ie Eat Out 4 Free! Make every meal a great one...y ...look before you book With over 50,000 restaurant reviews on MenuPages.ie, from all over Ireland, you can be sure your steak wont be tough as old boots! Avoid that dinner disaster and log onto MenuPages.ie today metro Arts & Entertainment Local Natives In Town Tonight New band crush alert! This LA quintet are often compared to Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes but their vocal harmonies and lush arrangements are very much their own Tonight, The Academy, 57 Middle Abbey Street D1, 7.30pm, 13.50. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.myspace.com/localnatives KAMP Puppet theatre with a difference, the atrocities of Auschwitz come to life in this dialogue-free show comprising 8cm-high hand-made figures in a sprawling model of the camp Tonight until Sun, Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College D2, 7.30pm (Sat & Sun mat 3pm), 22 to 33. Tel: (01) 677 8439. www.dublintheatrefestival.com Louis MacNeice life Restaurant Review East Korean Grill Going Out Food & Drink A taste of the What Id taken as quirky, oversize stools are, in fact, tables and the handy ash-trays in their centre are actually open barbecues Whod have thought that a modest school choir from inner city Dublin would one day end up sharing the stage with James Brown, Damien Rice, Rod Stewart, Paddy Casey and The Chieftains? Since they formed in 1996, theyve been fortunate enough to intersperse low-key gigs across the countrys churches with stadium-size audiences at Croke Park and even enjoyed an audience of 35million when they appeared on BBCs Songs Of Praise. This autumn/winter, DGC will hit the road again before going back into the studio to record a new album. Prepare to be uplifted. Nov 7, TriPod, PoD, Harcourt Street D2, 7.30pm, 20 to 25. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.dublingospelchoir.com BOOK NOW Dublin Gospel Choir 12 metrolife Tuesday, September 29, 2009 have to admit, my first visit to East Korean Grill last winter was pretty inauspicious. Having tagged along to a late-night private party at the venue following a boozy evening in a club on nearby Dame Street my sense of spatial reasoning and powers of deduction may have been a little impaired. Returning at a more respectable hour to avail of their food menu I find, to my shock, that what Id taken as quirky, oversize stools are, in fact, tables and that the handy ash-trays in their centre are actually open barbecues. Worse still, an elaborate coat rack, replete with a leafy green topping, transpires to be a purely decorative bamboo tree. Whoops. This time round the atmosphere is far more sedate: Chet Baker wafts soothingly from the speakers and we are, for most of the meal, the only customers. The interior is elegant in a downtown Manhattan kind of way: comfy leather booths run alongside an exposed brick wall while glossy Verner Panton-style chairs, that look a little like red blobs of industrial plastic touched up with lip gloss, bring a welcome splash of colour. Easts biggest problem is probably its location. Crane Lane may be in Temple Bar but footfall is negligible compared to neighbouring streets and many of those who do pass through probably have vices other than food on their mind (a gay sauna and a lap-dancing club complete the lanes commercial line-up). The wine list is, unfortunately, hardly a sommeliers dream extending, were informed, to red or white so we settle for saki and very good, complimentary Korean tea (our waiter is so unobtrusive he manages to refill our glasses twice without my realising). Were certainly very much on track with starters. Sushi with poached prawns are nicely presented with an ample supply of zingy ginger and tear- inducing wasabi, while my friends silken tofu and seafood hotpot is wholesome, piping hot and filled with enough marine life to make it interesting. She chooses a Buddhist bibimbap (similar to a standard bibimbap but devoid of minced beef) for her main and though she doesnt quite find enlightenment she does uncover a wealth of winning sauted vegetables, perfectly cooked white rice and a generous supply of gochujang (chili pepper paste), with which to bind it all together. This time round, I use the barbecue for its intended purpose to grill slivers of marinated beef (bulgogi). Im not disappointed: the meat is lean, flawless and lightly sweetened, served with a crisp green salad in a superb, Asian-tinged dressing. The only disappointment is diner number threes pot seafood rice which really should have been titled pot rice with three dejected prawns. Each main comes with a hodgepodge of cold veg, most of it very good indeed. Pickled radish is thinly-shaved and tart, lotus roots are pleasantly crunchy and flavour- filled but the kimchi, a dish I love, is not as nicely dressed as it could be. T wo of us chose from the early bird menu which would have been good value at 19.95 had East not run out of dessert. Id been looking forward to the New York cheesecake but the only alternatives are sorbet or ice-cream, neither of which foment I A lecture by professor John Kerrigan entitled Louis MacNeice Among The Islands, namely the poets (pictured) trip to the Outer Hebrides as documented in his little-known 1938 book, I Crossed The Minch Tonight, Robert Emmet Theatre, Trinity College D2, 7pm, free. Tel: (01) 896 1000. www.tcd.ie THE HOTTEST TICKETS IN TOWN We have two pairs of tickets to see DUBLIN GOSPEL CHOIR Nov 7 at TriPod, 7.30pm For a chance to win, e-mail your answer to the question below to life@metroireland.ie by noon today with Hot Tickets in the subject line. With your answer please include your name, address and a contact number. One entry per person, over 18s only. Q. Dublin Gospel Choir collaborated with which Irish troubadour for a cover of Blackstreets hit No Diggity? A. Richie Egan B. Paddy Casey index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html