The idea for menucosm came about while walking through Dublin City one day, not really knowing what I wanted to eat but that I didn't want to go far. The incumbent restaurant listings sites at the time (I won't mention names!) had an incredibly slow map search, to the point of being useless, so that was out. I was in Temple Bar at the time, so I decided instead to think about what was near me that might be ok and go directly to that restaurant's website to check their menus. Time after time I had to download a ~5MB PDF and try to navigate around this giant document on a relatively small screen. Having been a web developer for a few years at that point, and having written daft.ie's map search, I knew I could do better, which is what this site aims to be.
So, the main reason this site exists is to help people find somewhere to eat. You know roughly where you want to go and when, this site will help. You might be talking on the phone to a friend so you need the information quickly, this site will help. You might be on your mobile phone's internet and want to read the information easily, this site will help. You.... get the idea!
The name itself is a mish-mash of microcosm and menu, as in we're a microcosm of menus! It's hard coming up with available dotcoms that roughly make sense with what you're trying to do!
It's still early days, while we try to build up the content and a user base. At the moment we're just going through Dublin and there's ALOT to get through! In future we'll be looking to expand to other cities. Even based on what we have so far, I genuinely think it's a great site, I often get lost browsing from one restaurant to another. I'd love to hear from you via the Contact Us page with any suggestions, improvements or even problems you might have.
Thanks,
David