Restaurant review: Bites by Kwanghi will make you feel like you're dining in Singapore

None of us are going on too many flights but Bites is a hugely enjoyable and transporting experience

Sun, 16 Jan, 2022 - 14:00

Leslie Williams

Like most people, I haven’t been out of Ireland since you know what hit the country. I miss wine regions, but I also miss cheap food in foreign cities from the tapas in Spanish bars to the sandwiches in Italian Coffee Shops, to the casual Asian food in cities such as Paris and New York.

If you are missing the latter you need to head to Bites by Kwanghi at the back of the Fresh supermarket in Dublin’s Docklands, on the south side of the river opposite the 3 Arena. The restaurant is modern and inviting and when you add in the rather surreal atmosphere of the brightly lit high-rise buildings filled with investment banks and tech firms, you will definitely feel like you have been transported to somewhere exotic like Singapore or Hong Kong — the location behind a supermarket is absolutely part of the charm.

Chef-owner, Kwanghi Chan, is well known to Dublin diners and I last reviewed him for Bowls by Kwanghi on Parnell Street, was one of the many victims of the 2020 Covid lockdown. Kwanghi is also a familiar face on TV and recently won RTÉ’s Battle of the Food Trucks — one of the best RTÉ food programmes of the last couple of years (check it out on the RTÉ Player). The Bites food trucks are taking a break for a few months but Kwanghi is hoping to open another branch of Bites in the Camden Street branch of Fresh — fingers crossed.

Bites’ menu is short and accessible with a mix of everyone’s favourite Asian street food dishes with some fusion touches and a few “Irish-Asian” influences — we ordered almost everything. Kwanghi’s famed spice-bag mix made an appearance in the Spice Bag Chicken Bao Buns (€10) which had crispy chicken and some pleasing heat and just a touch of lip tingle.

Steamed Pork Dumplings (€9) in a pungent soy and chilli sauce were fought over with duelling chopsticks as were fried chicken dumplings (8 for €8) — the former tasting silky and meaty and the latter crispy and punchy.

Korean Chicken Fillet Brioche Sambo was a large breaded fried chicken breast in a brioche bun with tangy kimchi slaw and spicy mayonnaise — the sweet tender chicken and spices all in harmony; while Tom Yum flavoured Mayonnaise livened up some crisp chips (likely not homemade but we didn’t care in the slightest).

Asian Style Tacos were a useful fusion of corn tortilla and chipotle flavoured fried chicken pieces (we could also have chosen pork or tofu), and Katsu Chicken Rice Bowl had classic soft rice and curry flavours but proved too much for us so was bagged up to be consumed the following day for lunch with a side of kimchi.

The drinks list is just two red wines and our Costadoro Marche Rosso (€26) was fruity and fresh, but better still was the bottle of Palha Canas from the Fresh wine shop. Bites is blessed to have a fully stocked off-licence beside them where you can pick anything you fancy and simply add €7 to a bottle of wine or €2 to a bottle of beer. Craft Beers on offer included Dot Brew and Kinnegar and wines ranged from Champagne to Chablis and Gran Reserva Rioja to Grüner Veltliner.

Palha Canas from Portugal cost €23.50 (€16.50 plus €7 corkage). The ripe soft fruits in the wine were a good foil for the aromatics and spice flavours in the food and the ridiculously low mark-up made this the cheapest bottle of wine I’ve ordered in an Irish restaurant, likely ever.

For dessert, there was just one option, a chocolate chip cookie ice-cream sandwich (€4.50) — a tasty, crumbly cookie and decent quality ice-cream, and a pleasant finish to our meal. More desserts are due to be introduced soon.

On a bleak January day with the wind whipping down the riverfront and 'January blues' in full effect, Bites was a hugely enjoyable and transporting experience — one to be repeated.

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