Dublin: Full Irish with a bite
THERE was a time, not so long ago, when the very notion of an ‘Irish cuisine’ would have had gourmands choking on their amuse-bouches.
Back then, Irish cooking was firmly locked into the meat-and-two-vegetables matrix. It could be very tasty, but basically food was about fuel. Dinner was about dinner. For an island nation, we were strangely suspicious of seafood. With a few notable exceptions, the idea of turning Irish ingredients into fine dining just didn’t compute.
Well, all has changed. And just how utterly was rammed home to me in three simple words printed at the bottom of Dylan McGrath’s newest menu: ‘An Irish Restaurant’.
Back in the age of Angel Delight, ambitious Dublin restaurants pandered to French cuisine. Today, the sheer logic, inevitability and obviousness of Fade Street Social’s celebration of Irish food (and Irish ways of cooking it) marks nothing less than a coming-of-age for Irish cuisine.
It’s not that this is a great restaurant. But its abundance of, belief in, and adventurous combinations of Irish ingredients and culinary heritage certainly is. Starters on the a la carte menu include white pudding and cabbage soup, smoked salmon with Irish trout caviar, and a breadcrumbed scallop served in its shell with colcannon and egg butter mousse.
Desserts include wry takes on trifle, banoffi, and bread and butter pudding. Mains include riffs on braised rabbit legs, and a beef and Guinness stew. There is wild salmon, Wexford sirloin, beef rump with parsley and butter sauce. Side dishes include colcannon, a cauliflower fondant, sprouts with chestnut and bacon and good, old-fashioned ‘spuds’.
It’s the most complete vote of confidence that I’ve seen in Irish fare.
The fact that it comes in such a big and brash new setting, and with a clientele that on a Wednesday night ranges from 20-something girlfriends to an older lady savouring a solo meal, makes it all the more extraordinary. In this moment, Irish cuisine has gone mainstream.
The meal itself isn’t as impressive as what it represents, unfortunately. My scallop is beautifully presented in its shell, with a sharp injection of egg mousse. A wood-fired flatbread topped with pumpkin, pulled pork and chestnut shavings is sweet and filling — spiced up with Irish mozzarella and fried mushroom, and available either as a starter (€9) or main course (€17).
The beef and Guinness stew arrives in a black skillet, reminiscent of the charred vessels that once hung above Agas all over the country. The beef is stringy and well-braised, and the sauce has a soft, comforting texture. Surprisingly, it’s topped with an oyster cream, which lends both a layer of fishy sharpness, and the appearance of a flattened pint of stout, to the dish.
My fillet of blossom disappoints, however. Pollock is a sumptuous and under-rated fish, but this piece is badly overcooked. The flesh is chewy and dry, doing little justice to the fish or its chervil and lettuce sauce. Cod and pollock are easy to cook, but even easier to overcook. At €24, this is the kind of slip-up that would earn you the top toe on MasterChef.
All of this is presented in a loungey, retro-hip, theatrical sequence of spaces. I’m sure I’m not the only diner beginning to tire of retro interiors and exposed brick, but the mustard banquettes, bog oak, and elevated, wide-open kitchen (with a spaceship of a wood-fired oven at its heart) combine to atmospheric effect. Like Rustic Stone, McGrath’s other Dublin restaurant, Fade Street Social feels more like a franchise-in-the making than a once-off, individual adventure.
That said, its fresh-from-the-packet feel, its celebrity stardust and its location in Dublin’s creative quarter make it a bloody exciting place to hang out. Tapas-style dishes in the gastro bar are inventive, you can order wine by the shot, glass, caraffe or bottle, and there’s a ‘Wintergarden’ upstairs.
Irish cuisine is here to stay.
