A couple who stayed at a Wetherspoons hotel in Dublin got the chance to sample a beloved Irish dish - and came away thoroughly impressed with their choice.
Wetherspoons is a pub brand firmly associated with the UK, yet this pair of YouTubers had no idea the chain had expanded across the Irish Sea - let alone that some of its venues came complete with hotels.
In fact, there are eight Wetherspoons located across Ireland, two of which offer hotel accommodation.
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YouTube travel duo Ash and Kels regularly keep their 73,000 subscribers up to date with their latest adventures. A recent trip brought them to Dublin, where they checked into Keavan's Port Hotel on Camden Street.
After settling into their room, the pair headed downstairs to the pub to explore the food menu. While they had been hoping to find some more traditional Irish fare on offer, Kels ended up ordering a dish that has developed quite the cult following in Ireland, reports Dublin Live.
She began by saying: "This is a really unique Wetherspoons. It's nice in here. I was hoping for an Irish stew, or like a steak and Guinness pie.
Kels eventually ordered a spice bag, a dish most commonly sold in Chinese takeaways in Ireland and normally costing of deep fried chips, crispy shredded chicken, stir fried onions and bell peppers. It is normally served with curry sauce..
Kels ultimately went for a spice bag - a dish most commonly found in Chinese takeaways across Ireland, typically consisting of deep fried chips, crispy shredded chicken, stir fried onions and bell peppers, and usually served alongside curry sauce.
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Kels said: "Look at that. Now i got a spice bag. I thought spice bag was Irish so I Googled it, apparently it is quite popular in Ireland. They do them in the Chineses where you've got chicken, chips, some red onions, chillies and it's all seasoned with Chinese spices and it comes with the curry sauce.
"So I thought while we're in Ireland it's a fitting fast food to have."
She kicked things off by dunking the chips into the curry sauce, declaring the pairing was "yummy".
By the time she'd polished off the meal, Kels was thoroughly won over by what she'd tucked into: "I would say this is probably one of the best meals I've had in Wetherspoons, I'm not going to lie."
The spice bag rose to prominence during the 2010s when Chinese takeaways across Ireland began adding it to their menus, and a Facebook group set up in its honour has since amassed over 17,000 members.
While it's a firm favourite amongst Irish people after a night out, as Ash noted, it has also earned a reputation as a 'hangover cure'.
It was further crowned 'Ireland's Favourite Takeaway Dish' at the 2020 Just Eat National Takeaway Awards in Ireland, and in 2021 Deliveroo Ireland launched a petition calling for an official "National Spice Bag Day".
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Ash also took a moment to compare drink prices to Wetherspoons back in the UK, and while they were marginally pricier, they still compared quite favourably to Dublin's notoriously steep bar prices in general.
He explained: "I've done a bit of a price comparison when it comes to drinks. I've just ordered a Guinness and it was €5.45, which is about £4.70. In the Spoons back home it's £3.80 so it is a little bit more pricey here but that it pretty good for Dublin because Dublin is notoriously expensive."
