Chapter One - Michelin dining in Dublin

This weekend is a Bank Holiday here in Ireland so we decided to visit Chapter One for lunch.  Located next door to the Hugh Lane Gallery we popped in for a visit before lunch.   I love looking at Francis Bacon's pieces on view here.  I find them hideously fascinating.

As we walked down the steps to the restaurant we both commented how nice it was and that we were in for a treat.

We chose the tasting menu and and also decided to have the wine pairings. 

Fresh cherry tomato jelly with salted cherries, sweet basil yogurt and cherry blossom vinegar.  This first dish was very surprising and an amazing entry way in to our meal.  However, I felt it was let down by the plate ware - I think a white dish would have been better to see the food and it also would have looked more appetizing.  A rosé wine was served with this dish.

Seared Blue Fin Tuna with black olive, green tomato, caper sprouts and pickled quail egg with onion and mustard dressing.  I thought this was a delicious dish but didn't eat the olive as I am not a fan.

Wood Pigeon Terrine with salted radish salad, fermented horseradish cream and foie gras parfait.  This was a controversial dish for us!  I loved the earthy pigeon and foie gras parfait but was not a fan of the radish salad.  Ciaran didn't like his food at all so I ate it for him!

John Dory with sprouting broccoli and pickled anchovy, shallot and mustard dressing, cured pink jowl.  Yum! Yum! Yum!  This was quite possibly my favourite plate.

Roast Salt March Duck Breast with burnt lemon puree, caramelised bonito flavoured sesame seeds and buttered leaf spinach.  The duck was extremely tasty and I think it was at this point that they finally served red wine which I was very much anticipating.

Gin palate cleanser - this was a big hit with both of us!!

Fresh Irish Strawberries with buttermilk ice cream, caramelised soda bread crumb, strawberry and apple balsamic vinegar gel and elderflower cream soda all served with a sparkling rosé wine.

So what's going on here?

Well it's only the server flambéing an Irish Coffee for the table behind us!

Pros:  Perfect amount of food was served - we were not hungry when we left.  The wine servings were extremely generous.  The time given to our meal meant that we had a very leisurely afternoon in the restaurant.
Cons: The smell of the heater from the flambé set up overpowers the area it is in and is quite unpleasant - they should consider an alternative heat source to what is currently being used.

A reader left a comment below where they ask would we go back and the answer is a definite Yes!  But not until we have tried a few more of the other top restaurants in Dublin!!

Fade Street Social

We were meant to go to Dylan McGrath's Fade Street Social a few weeks ago. However our friend who was organizing the night couldn't get a reservation so we ended up eating elsewhere.

Today was such a nice day we cycled in to town (me on my bike, Ciaran on a Dublin Bike). After sauntering around for a bit we went to Fade Street Social for lunch. We ate at the bar which was buzzy and fun. It was tapas in this part of the restaurant (the Gastro bar) - the restaurant proper opens later. I was disappointed to hear that they were out of both lobster (there was a lobster hot dog that sounded great) and cod - a busy weekend obviously!

Some of the pics below are of what we had. Ciaran ordered what was called a burger on the menu but when it came out it was really a slider - he wasn't surprised as for €9 it was all he was expecting. However, I do think they should consider amending the menu.

We also had Chinese pork belly with peanut brittle - this was way too fatty - I wouldn't order it again even though the flavours were good.

I had a charred tuna loin. Amazing! Cooked perfectly rare with what I thought was artichoke (I think) and dill.

Ciaran had chicken with caramelised onions with parma ham. And we also ordered skinny fries with onion purée and Parmesan truffles.

The chips were disapointingly frozen chips.

We had a carafe of Malbec which was very tasty and made a good pairing with the food.

I'll let the pictures do further talking.

Rigbys

Last night we went to Rigbys on Leeson Street for dinner.  Ciaran and I joke that we are like old people because we like to eat early.  When I called looking for a reservation for 7pm, I was told that it was no problem but that they would need the table back by 9.30pm.  9.30pm!!! Who eats that late?!

Rigbys is a little strange in that there are no menus and there are only limited dinner options. For starters, we had a choice of chicken or salmon and then for mains the choice was beef or hake.  There was a further special choice of lobster for dinner for a bargain price of €15.95 for a half and €26.95 for a full lobster.

Ciaran had  a chicken ballotine to start - this was lovely and I would order it again.  My flaked salmon and cucumber salad was also very good.

I chose the beef for main while Ciaran selected the lobster.  However, after one bite of his meal he decided he wanted to switch out his lobster for my beef.  I was happy enough to do this!

Dessert options was a cheese plate or a dessert trio. We decided to split the dessert trio which consisted of a chocolate biscotti, a slice of coffee and chocolate terrine served with brown bread ice cream.  Delicious!

The atmosphere in this place is great.  It's small and casual.  However, the best thing about Rigbys is that it is BYOB.  It is situated right next door to a very good wine shop who give you 10% off any purchases when you tell them you are dining next door.

We finished off a great night with a few after dinner drinks in Birchalls in Ranelagh.