Irish Times - twice in a day!

While in Victoria, we decided to check out one of the many pubs in the area. Irish Times looked appealing so we gave it a shot. I am a fan of cool quotes and I really liked this one. Words to live by, boys and girls.

 

Since I was on holidays, I decided to start with a cocktail. This is called the Crooked Nose, and it's a blend of Blueberry Vodka with Galiano, muddled mint, raspberry and elderflower water. It was very refreshing and the fresh raspberries were a great addition, despite making it a bit hard to sip through a straw.
For my lunch, i decided on the Irish Bacon and Brie Burger. A gluten free bun option was available so I decided to give it a try. Served with a side salad, I figured this was fairly healthy. The salad had a light dressing and I really liked the addition of sliced apples too.
The burger had an all beef patty, fresh, not frozen, and was topped by some bacon as well as a good amount of brie, which melted perfectly into the burger. I took out the red onions though, I find them too strong inside a burger, especially raw. The burger was good but my choice of the gluten free bread was not my best idea. The bun bottom was a little too moist for me and it seemed too weak for the hefty burger and its toppings.
We also tried the Irish Stew, loaded with braised lamb, diced yukon gold potatoes, onions & carrots. The sauce was rich and creamy, very hearty and a perfect base for the stew. The rosemary dumplings sitting on top was plump and crispy on the outside but moist and soft on the inside. And in case there wasn't enough carbs in the bowl, they gave you a few pieces of bread as well. the lamb was very tender but I wish there was more of it. The sauce was well-seasoned and we used the bread and dumplings to soak it all up. 
While we were there for lunch, we noticed that they had a Happy Hour special (Sunday-Thursday) where all their appetizers were half priced. One of the items we had been hunting for in Vancouver was Nachos with ground beef. And they had that here, actually you could add spicy chicken or pulled pork too. So we made plans to return that same day jsut for that. We weren't disappointed, the nachos would have been $24 with the addition of the beef, and totally not worth it at that price, but because of the deal, we only paid $12, and that was well worth it!
Looking for more Victoria ideas? Here you go!