Ireland's only kosher restaurant has opened its doors in Dublin this month.
Deli 613 in Rathmines, which operates as a restaurant, store, and deli, is a fantastic one-stop shop for all your kosher needs. The deli offers a tantalising variety of delicious food and some of the nicest oat milk latte we've had.
Co-owner Rifky Lent told Dublin Live: "My husband and I run the Chabad Jewish Centre and we just recently opened up a deli." Rifky, who is originally from London but moved to Dublin in 2000, explained what makes certain foods kosher.
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She said: "The Jewish people have the Torah in which there are a number of laws related to what we are and aren't allowed to eat. Certain animals would be kosher - for example, animals with split hooves and chew the cud to be kosher would be okay to eat. Certain birds are kosher.
"We don't mix meat and milk. For any processed food for example pastry, we'd have to make sure it's not made with lard or anything coming from an animal.
"Kosher meat needs to be salted in a certain way. We'll have to buy meat from a specific kosher butcher."
The deli is run by culinary director and head chef Robbie Burns who recommended the salt beef sandwich and the chopped liver. Robbie, who isn't Jewish, said: "I have learned so many new things since I joined.
"The main things were the rules of breaking down the parve, the meat products, and the dairy products. The way you can't have a crossover at all.
"Even with the equipment, you can't use the same pots and pans. We have two different fryers. One is a meat fryer, the other is a parve fryer.
"We have totally excluded dairy from the kitchen here."
Speaking about his favourite Jewish delicacies, Robbie said: "You have to go for salt beef. The chopped liver is another Jewish classic.
"We put our own spin on the latkes. Ours are big and crispy rather than thin and crispy. They'd be three of the really popular foods in the Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine."
As recommended, we got the salt beef sandwich and the chopped livers. The salf beef sandwich was absolute perfection.
The soft and tender meat was sandwiched between two delicious slices of rye bread. The chopped livers were served with soda bread, raw onion slices, and sour pickles.
The sharpness of the raw onions cut through the buttery richness of the liver. The sour pickled added a lovely tang to the meal.
Deli 613 is located at 89 Rathmines Road Upper and is open from 8.30am to 6pm on Mondays to Thursdays, 8.30am to 3pm on Fridays, and 10am to 2pm on Sundays. The deli will be closed for Passover from Sunday, April 2 to Monday, April 1. The shop itself will remain open until Tuesday April 4 so people can buy kosher meat.
You can follow Deli 613 on Instagram here.
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