Wanderlust is owned by the Mak family, who are well known Asian restaurateurs in Dublin. Rodney Mak ran one of the city's best Chinese restaurants, Furama, for many years and hiis sons Ricky and Julian Mak have since carried on the family tradition - firstly at Ranelagh's Mak at D6 and, more recently, Wanderlust in the heart of Dalkey.
Behind a smart frontage with twin spires of box handsomely flanking the entrance, Wanderlust offers a range of dishes beyond a strictly Asian menu.
This is crowd-pleasing food but does not set the culinary bar high, but it's a joyously unpretentious offering that will solve a lot of problems for groups of friends and family heading out together and having trouble getting everyone to agree on the kind of food that they want to eat.
Expect a menu that offers everyone's favourite dishes, from burgers and steaks to meatballs and pasta, to Asian ribs and five spice squid plus a few crazy fusion dishes, such as the talking point cheeseburger spring rolls.
Service is great, striking exactly the right balance between friendliness and professionalism, and often giving perfect recommendations for dishes that you might not have considered ordering - it could take some persuasion to try the cheeseburger spring rolls with ketchup and mustard dips, for example, but you will probably be glad that you did.
Wines are appropriate for the menu, but the speciality is cocktails and the wide selection offered includes several based on small production Irish spirits.
You may feel that prices are on the high side for the type of food, especially considering the lack of provenance information, but they are in keeping with comparable rates in Dalkey.
