Bia Beatha

This night was the ultimate night of magic and delicious food — I just had the best time ever here, and am still thinking about it now.
It’s a wonderful way of enjoying some Irish history, poetry and music with delicious food. I knew we were in for an amazing night from Emily C’s review but I was still totally blown away. Sure, the building itself is a little old and run down, but once we were seated and enjoying the food and wine, that didn’t matter.
Our host for the evening was awesome, lots of banter and amazing stories. It was really captivating and enjoyable hearing him speak, since and recite poems between courses. Everything was linked back to the food which was just as amazing — traditional Irish scran but served up a bit fancier than normal. Kind of like if your Mum went to a class to learn how to plate her Sunday meals in a nice way? I really enjoyed the food and only the main needed more sauce but they happily delivered us some. Yum.
What a fabulous evening, this was a beautiful way to experience Dublin in all its glory.

Inmersión en la cultura irlandesa por todas partes… no sólo en lo gastronómico.
Visitamos este lugar en una cena organizada de trabajo y he de reconocer, que la experiencia fue cuanto menos, curiosa.
Para comenzar, el lugar… situado en una casa, que ya nos costó encontrarla y al acceder a su interior… toma decoración vintage… pero vintage de no haberla cambiado en años, no de estos sitios modernos que copian el estilo abuelita que tanto se llevan ahora… El lugar es total: techos altos, lámparas de cristal, largos cortinajes… todo total, hasta el olor… ese olor a casa de abuelos, y no lo digo en tono despectivo, sino en plan añoranza…
El menú consistió en un desfile de platos típicos irlandeses:
— Brotchan Roy Soup of Chicken: es una tradicional sopa de pollo con muchos tropezones. No soy muy fan de las sopas, pero esta, al llevar comidica para masticar, no me disgustó.
— Baked Atlantic Cod, Savoy Cabbage and Steaky Bacon: Bacalao al horno con col estilo savoy con bacon. Cualquier plato con bacon está bueno, eso es así… Tl vez el bacalao algo seco para mi gusto, pero eso ya son apreciaciones sobre cómo me gusta comer el pescado.
— Slow Roast Shoulder of Irish Pork with Champ Potato: Asado Lento de hombro de cerdo irlandés con Champ de patatas (un plato típico consistente en puré de patata y cebolleta picada con mantequilla y leche). ¿Has comido asado malo alguna vez? Es complicado hacerlo mal, así que este no iba a ser la excepción. El puré me gustó bastante.
— Traditional Porter Cake with Blackberry Fool: Pastel de cerveza negra con Fool de moras de zarza (El Fool es una especie de natillas con compota densa de alguna fruta). El pastel era denso pero con mucho sabor. El fool me impactó, no se parece a nada que hubiese probado anteriormente, con una textura entre aérea y chiclosa y un sabor a mora muy potente.
— Irish Coffee: Esto no necesita traducción. Tremendo… no coment…
Durante la cena, además pudímos disfrutar de charlas entre plato y plato que nos descubrieron parte de la cultura irlandesa. Conocimos sus tradiciones, su cocina, la base de su economía, sus cuentos y fábulas, sus canciones típicas e incluso disfrutamos de un mini concierto de flauta.
Cómo dato interesante, me hizo gracia saber que no sólo es típico tener al tío abuelo que canta jotas aquí en cada fiesta familiar, que allí tienen su equivalente para todo tipo de festividad y ceremonia…
¿Que si volveré? Pues no es una mala experiencia, pero creo que con una vez basta ya que hay miles de sitios super interesantes para conocer en Dublin una vez que ya has visitado este.

What a night! Great food, great wine, wonderful people AND the most amazing host!!!
We were truly immersed into the Irish history and traditions from the minute we stepped in the United Arts Club to the minute we left.
First off, the building. It’s like walking into your grandmas decadent old house. It smells a bit like that too but you definitely throw your head back and gasp at its vintage charm.
Now, to the food! We had a wonderful 4 course meal starting with Brotchan Roy Soup of chicken which was a very thin soup with stringy onions — you could really taste the chicken within — simple but delicious.
Next was the fish dish — baked cod with savoy cabbage and bacon. The fish was cooked to perfection. I never usually order fish in a restaurant — more of a meat lady BUT if every fish dish tasted like this, I would order it. The bacon complimented the fish but didn’t over power it and every mouthful was a taste sensation. NOM!
The main was slow roast Irish pork with champ potatoes. Sadly I wasn’t a massive fan of this dish as I felt the pork was slightly dry and their definitely wasn’t enough gravy. But I think the fish and the entertainment throughout the evening made than made up for a little bit of dried pork.
The dessert was Porter Cake with blackberry fool — which is a traditional Irish fruit cake with a strong flavour of ginger. Usually I don’t like fruit cake but actually enjoyed this. It was like ginger bread cake — it was delicious.
Now to the main event! Our host was absolutely amazing — traditional to the core and so proud of his Irish routes. In between every course he would speak to us about old folk tales, information on the food heritage and he even sang us a couple of songs which was a personal highlight. I genuinely couldn’t speak higher of him and for me, he made the entire evening.
Fantastic!

Ja was soll ich dazu sagen-​was man hier zelebriert ist mehr als nur essen. Der Gastgeber versorgt einem zwischen jedem Gang mit einer netten Anekdote einem selbst gesungen irischen Lied oder einfach nur ein kleiner Witz aus der Vergangenheit.
Das Essen war super lecker, keine Frage, aber das Highlight ist und bleibt dieser leidenschaftliche Gastgeber der von A bis Z hier alles durchplant.
Ich musste herzhaft lachen als man schon nach dem vierten Gang schon sehr sehr müde waren und eigentlich nur ins Bett wollten, als wir mit einer neuen erneuten Zugang beglückt wurden.
Werde es besondere Abend es mit einer größeren Gruppe sucht sollte ja definitiv buchen. Martin und sein netter Ort hier scheint sehr beliebt zu sein. Man hat wirklich das Gefühl ein Stück Irland mit nach Hause zu nehmen. Ganz klar fünf Sterne, oder vielleicht bald sogar schon sechs Sterne?;-)

Wow, was für ein toller Abend! Hier geht man nicht einfach nur essen, hier bekommt man 1A Entertainment noch dazu. Der Gastgeber lässt es sich nicht nehmen, über Irland und vor allem die meist etwas stiefmütterlich behandelte irische Küche aufzuklären und so lernt man durch Gedichte und Songs, dass Irland doch mehr als Fish & Chips zu bieten hat.
Und wenn das nicht überzeugt, dann spätestens das Essen. Ich weiß zwar nicht, was jetzt typisch Irisch ist, aber wenn das alles so schmeckt, dann bin ich Fan. Besonders der Fisch hat mir echt gut geschmeckt, aber auch sonst passt das Gesamtpaket: Suppe, Fisch, Fleisch & Dessert.
Alles in allem ein echt schöner Abend, der rundum super organisiert war. Der Service wusste, was er tat, war super freundlich und auf dem Trockenen musste auch keiner sitzen. Mein Fazit vom Abend: ich muss Irland unbedingt besser kennen lernen!

What a beautiful event!
i’ve noticed events like this creep up in popularity around Dublin and isn’t it a richer place for it. I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s nights like this that instill in you a pride in being Irish, and a pride in our past, present and future. Honestly there were some parts that gave me goosebumps, the type I get every now and again when I’m wandering around the city and realise that after eight years away, I can honestly say there is no place in the world I would rather live right now.
It’s hard to decide what the highlight is. I won’t go into massive detail as those before have, but allow me to point out the bones of what makes this into such a gorgeous way to spend a Saturday;
— The setting. Old Georgian wooden stairs that are worn down in the middle by hundreds of years of stepping on them, the old crumbling cornicing, the candle lit old antique tables.
— The food. Each course was a perfect size, and the perfect representation of modern x traditional Irish cuisine. Quality ingredients, beautifully presented
— The talks in between courses by food historian Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire. Funny, informative, nostalgic, and funny again.
If you didn’t pick up on it already, I would highly recommend this as a night out. For any age, those who live here and are visiting, those who grew up here and those that are now making Ireland their home.

If you looking for seriously good food and an entertaining night Bia Beatha is for you. Loved loved loved it.
Bia Beatha is a kind of food club that they are running once a month where the set up a seasonal Irish themed menu and also have a dinner speaker the goes through the history of Irish food an food culture. A foodies dream! It’s held in The United Arts Club which makes it unusual as you just turn up to this blue door of a Georgian house what you knock on. Your brought up to a sort of waiting room where they have a pipe player and drink on arrival. After a while you brought upstairs to this gorgeous room with 3 tables of 8 places and name cards for each guest.
The food is top class really tasty every course was a treat. Inbetween courses they have a guest speaker come out and talk a bit, which I found super interesting, a really bright charismatic guy and lecturer who done his Phd on food in Dublin so you know he is to be listened to. They also have the flute player come out between a course and play two songs which was great. The night it topped off with the choice of an Irish coffee of whiskey after which your left to finish off your drinks before leaving for the night
It’s a great experience I really enjoyed it food was fantastic the entertainment was great. Loved the whole underground food club kinda vibe through the whole night, very highly recomeneded

I hadn’t heard of the United Arts Club, nor this event before so I went along with a complete blank canvas, not knowing what to expect and open for anything. And oh my what an interesting and unusual evening this was!
It started off with a casual drinks reception in this beautiful old Georgian mansion. Well okay it is an old Georgian house but from the moment I stepped in I wondered whether I was under-​dressed so that justifies me calling it a mansion.
The exquisite 3 course dinner was served in another room with 3 large tables set up for all diners. A short talk/​anecdote/​poem about Irish food was delivered after every course by an exceptionally engaging speaker who’s name I unfortunately forgot. A talk after every course may sound a bit meh but honestly, it was interesting, light and funny and if you are looking to do something a little bit different on a Saturday evening, I highly recommend Bia Beatha. You won’t be disappointed!

This place does actually deserve 5 stars… I can’t believe I haven’t heard of it before.
What a lovely concept, talking to people about Irish cuisine and the history of it while serving contemporary Irish food. I must say I have learned a lot of things about Irish cuisine that night, things that surprised me! I realised how little people actually knew about the rich culinary past of Ireland.
Brilliant menu and amazing generous hosts. The atmosphere is seriously cozy that you actually feel like you’re having dinner in someone’s house.
This should definitely become a must dublin experience.

I accompanied my wife to this recently and having gone with no idea of what to expect was pleasantly surprised at what an immensely enjoyable evening it turned out to be. We arrived just after the drinks reception had begun and had a complimentary drink and a chat with some of the other guests before being brought up to the main room for dinner. The food, across the board, was great, but I particularly found the lamb to be worthy of special praise. Between each course a speaker gave a talk on food in Ireland, the country’s culinary history, it’s relationship with the foods to which it’s inextricably linked and a few other topics. I found all of these talks to be really interesting and was really taken with how informative and engaging the speaker actually was. Having lived in Dublin all my life I like to think I’ve a pretty good knowledge of venues around the city, but this is one I hadn’t heard of, let alone been in, before coming along to this supper club. It could certainly be considered a little quirky or maybe old-​worldy but that’s not something I found diminished the evening one bit, if anything it only added to the atmosphere. Couldn’t recommend this night enough. Haven’t experienced anything quite like it in Dublin before.

Spent a lovely evening at Bia Beatha, the event was well organised and the food was delicious. I really enjoyed the traditional Irish music and the informative dinner talk. The setting was ideal, in a beautiful grand Georgian building in the centre of town. Would definitely recommend this super club with a twist to anyone looking for something different on a night out!

Had an absolutely fantastic night at Bia Beatha recently. An evening full of delicious Irish food, drinks, interesting history and music all in the surrounds of a stunning and quirky old Georgian mansion in the heart of Dublin. Was delighted to spend it in the company of really pleasant table mates too. An all ’round perfect evening. Highly recommend if you’re looking for something fun, tasty and out of the ordinary.