There’s just something about a hotel stay in the city that gets me going.
The closeness, the novelty, the chance to discover your own neighbourhood with new eyes.
For me, this is a rare occurrence (I live in Dublin, need I say more?). Staying in a local hotel would generally mean forking out a couple of hundred euro for a room smaller than my own, probably not as nice as my own, and leave me craving the home comforts I had for some reason left behind.
All that said, a night in a hotel is a treat, and when The Hendrick invited myself and my partner for a night stay to rediscover Smithfield and its delicious food and art scene, I was hardly going to say no.
The Hendrick is Ireland’s first street art hotel, and if you don’t know what that means, don’t worry – I was right there with you.
It actually means that the hotel houses over 270 works from renowned Irish and international street artists, including James Earley, Fiona Power, Maser, James Kirwan, and Conor Harrington, and that during your stay you get to enjoy them all.
There’s even a 45 minute self-guided tour throughout the hotel, so you can indulge in some modern culture at your leisure, diving into the evolution of Ireland’s street art.
I checked into the hotel early enough to get a bit more work done and sip on a little gin tipple (Hendricks, obviously) before getting ready for dinner.
The rooms themselves are very modern, and very cosy. If you were hoping for a sprawling hotel space where you can lounge to your heart’s content, this is not the hotel for you. But for a city break where you’re going to be spending most of your time exploring, it’s absolutely perfect.
It’s also incredibly reasonably priced for a city centre(ish) hotel – especially mid-week.
That evening, we met the rest of our group in the Hendrick lobby for a few drinks and nibbles before heading to dinner around the corner in Sister7.
Living only a 15 minute walk away, I’d been dying to try Sister7 for a while. The Chinese small plates restaurant is part of Fidelity, a new enough bar that opened in Smithfield last year and has been dominating the pub scene since. Try their basil marg. Honestly.
In Sister7 we were treated to a tasting menu of their most delicious dishes, and lads, the food just kept coming. The prawn toast, koo bao, scamorza wontons, and corn ribs were personal favs.
The staff were also extremely helpful when it came to dietary requirements, making sure that myself and my partner had all the veggie and pescatarian food we needed, while the rest of the group indulged in sticky ribs, chicken dumplings, and a pork neck fillet that looked genuinely incredible.
After filling our bellies (and I mean filling), we took the short stroll back to the Hendrick for some light jazz and a cocktail before bed.
The hotel has a solid event space in the lobby that can be booked free of charge for local events, exhibitions, and performances. With Dublin’s extreme surplus of hotels right now, actually giving something back to the community rather than simply taking up space is important… even if it won’t solve the housing crisis.
If I wasn’t working the next day, I would’ve taken myself to a few more of my favourite Smithfield spots – Urbanity for a Vietnamese iced coffee, Social Fabric for an oyster mushroom toastie (okay, that’s technically Stoneybatter, but whatever), and of course, The Lighthouse cinema for a sneaky showing.
But Thursday morning called, so we took ourselves to bed and mildly worried about just how hungover we were going to be in the morning.
It turned out very, but nothing that a latte and three pastries couldn’t fix.
This writer was invited on a press stay in exchange for a fair and honest review.
