A DUBLIN restaurant has gone viral after appearing to take the concept of a mince pie a little too literally.
Professor Darryl Jones from the School of English at Trinity College Dublin took to social media after discovering he had been served a mince pie containing actual beef mincemeat.
A festive favourite dating back to the 13th century, mince pies traditionally contain dried fruits and spices.
However, it this instance, the pie had been made using minced beef slices served alongside onion, jam, cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon.
Taking to Twitter, Professor Jones shared a pictured of the offending dessert/savoury treat describing it as a “new twist” on the Christmas classic.
He also revealed that after complaining about the culinary creation, the restaurant manager initially tried to pass it off as if nothing was wrong, asking: “Does somebody not like beef?”
Though he refused to divulge the name of the Dublin restaurant where the pastry-based mishap had occurred, the story did have a happy ending, of sorts.
Dublin yet again at the forefront of cuisine as the School of English Christmas Dinner climaxes with a new twist on the mince pie: Dunnes Stores mince beef and onion slices served with jam and cream. (I am not making this up.) pic.twitter.com/TCocQwW7lJ
— Darryl Jones (@ProfDarrylJones) December 5, 2019
It was eventually revealed that the restaurant had run out of minces pies and, while in a rush, minced beef slices had been purchased by mistake.
Despite realising a serious error had been made, the chef at the restaurant went ahead and created a meat-filled version of the festive pastry favourite hoping no one would notice.
Thankfully the sweet/savoury treat went down a storm with at least one of Professor Jones’s colleagues who finished nearly half of his mince pie.
That said, the restaurant has no plans to create another batch of the meat-based mince pies.
The incident is reminiscent of the scene in the hit sitcom Friends when Jennifer Aniston’s character Rachel cooks up a trifle containing custard, jam and cream alongside beef mince and peas.
