Abrakebabra - It's like eating a burrito in the Louvre.

This review was written for oxygen.ie. You can see it there by clicking here

Everyone wants to get away because experiencing foreign cultures is a good thing. Broadens the mind. And there's generally cheep beer and a good chance of casual sex with foreign birds and/or blokes. Thing is it costs so much. Between plane journeys and accomodation and visas and all it always ends up setting you back a fair whack. Campus banks are jammers at the moment with people trying to wheedle loans. All this is hassle. Luckily there is an easier way to get the whole world in your hands.

The more quick witted of you will already know where this is heading. There is only one place that combines the aromas of Latin America, the tastes of Asia Minor, the glamour of the USA and the sex appeal of mainland Europe. Oh yes, it's Abrakebabra. Abra offers tacos and burritos, kebabs both Shish and Doner, burgers, baguettes, curry fries. You get all the good bits about visiting Mexico, Turkey, the US, France and India. Without most of the debilitating diseases. And the menu is in English, even if the staff don't pronounce it very well, which makes everything handier.

It's not the cheapest fast food in the world, but if you want a sensual multi-cultural experience you have to prepared to pay the price. I'll admit that Abra has a bad rep. It's not the kind of place you bring that special person on a first date. And some of that rep may be fair enough. But it all depends what you're looking for in your fast food restaurant.

Eating at Abra is an experience. It may be famous for late night brawls, dodgy looking food, incomprehensible, violent staff and dirty, dirty toilets, but then that's pretty much what you get from on a summer waiting tables at a tourist resort in New Jersey. It should be noted that not all Abras can be tarred with the same brush.

My favourite is Posh Nabra, which is in Dublin around where the Ha'penny Bridge used to be. Posh Nabra differs from the others not in the quality of food or cleanliness of toilet, but in the decor. This must be the only fast food restaurant in Ireland with a Kandinsky on the wall. No other place in the world offers a similar experience. It's like eating a burrito in the Louvre.

There will always be the doubters and naysayers who'll use words like 'furren food', 'diahorrea' and 'flick-knife''. And there were those rumours that the O'Connell Bridge Abra had to be re-fitted cause the jacks were being used for extra curricular activities. But if you think about it Abrakebabra is a national institution to be treasured. Well at least it's better than Supermacs.

Why shell out on plane tickets and hotel rooms and the like when you only have to head into your nearest abrakebabra and all the flavours of the world are right there behind the dirty counter? It's obvious really. When you think about it. Like the ingenious advertising slogan says, the whole world is in your hands. Are you willing to open them?