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outdoor seating vegetarian kid-friendly full bar
wi-fi booking recommended red luas line green luas line Boss Stop John Zhu – owner How has it been going at Boss Stop since you opened last year? We lost money between Mar-Jun. However, from July onwards it started getting better and better. We have gained lots of loyal fans, as we can see from our Google reviews and Instagram. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you ended up setting up Boss Stop? In November 2004, I came alone to Dublin to study Hospitality Management. Over the past 20 years, I achieved and learned a lot, but also lost and suffered a lot. The primary reason I opened Boss Stop was to change people’s common perception that Chinese food and takeaway had a bad reputation for being cheap and of poor quality. Instead, I wanted to present truly authentic Chinese food, along with other Asian Cuisine. In addition, I would like to make it innovative, based on the traditional authentic. Lots of so-called Chinese chefs here are not real chefs. They were not welltrained or educated in China. They just learned some cooking experience here in restaurants and only have a few years of kitchen experience. The chefs I hired are literally different. Four of them, including my partners, are aged 45-60 and started their careers as a chef in their early 20s. My business partner is a well-educated and trained chef as well. Any house specialities you think our readers should know about when they visit? I want to recommend for the House Speciality: Roast Duck; Char Siu Pork; Mei Cai Kou Rou. Our restaurant critic Conor Stevens said, your “house-made pork and chive dumplings are stellar, the crimped wrappers are delicate and tender, the filling moist and flavourful.” How important are reviews and feedback to you? I have read loads of reviews and feedback over the past 13 years for the restaurant business. I have replied to lots of them myself because I take it very seriously. It’s inspiring to hear good feedback and that encourages me to keep up the good work and strive to keep making things better. However, I have my own way of judging the bad reviews based on my experience. I keep reading and thinking about every single bad review when I get it. I try to put myself in their shoes and identify where I potentially went wrong and look at it as a growth opportunity. What do you think of the food scene in the city at the moment? If you had one wish for the year ahead what would it be? The food scene in the city now is fantastic and is developing in a good direction, in my opinion. More and more restaurants are trying to be creative and innovative to stand out. We must be unique. It’s a shame to copy the same thing from others. At least, I don’t want to do that. I have the same wish about the business every year; people would love what I provide in the restaurant: food, beverages, service, and vibe. Whenever possible, I like to help others and contribute to society which I feel makes my life a bit more meaningful.