Restaurant review: Dining at Le Perroquet, we fooled ourselves into thinking we were in Paris
Le Perroquet @leperroquetdublin restaurant review leslie williams
Yes, I know that 2019 is not that long ago, but doesn't it seem longer? I visited Paris in the summer of 2019 and Burgundy the following November — it feels like a decade ago.
Le Perroquet describes themselves as “a little taste of Paris in Dublin”, so it sounded like a fine place to spend a cool January afternoon in the company of the Physicist and a visiting friend from Montréal. The menu and décor do mimic many a French Bistro and with Yves Montand and Juliette Gréco providing a soothing soundscape, we did manage to fool ourselves a little.
Inside looked cosy and atmospheric, but we decided to recreate the Parisian outside dining experience — Dublin traffic nixed that idea, but we were fairly comfy thanks to excellent heaters and blankets.
Le Perroquet is part of the Townhouse Leisure Group which includes Grand Social, Green Hen and Farrier & Draper/La Cucina. I’ve visited all of these venues and they are shiny and inviting but Le Perroquet has by far the best food. The menu is short with three starters and four mains but this felt entirely appropriate as everything sounded good.
Confit Duck Leg Rillette (€12) was silky-textured and meaty and we slathered it onto crusty baguette slices — adding pickled baby pickled mushrooms, candied walnuts and a delightful crunchy sage and brown butter crumb for extra texture and flavour. Pea-shoots, a burnt apple purée and an apple dressing lifted the flavours further — this rillette is reason to visit on its own. Dressed Crab (€14) was equally good: pickled squash, shaved fennel and Linseed crackers aiding and abetting, and a lemon and dill dressing adding anise and herbal notes while Goatsbridge Trout Roe added briny zing.
A Parisian Bistro would have served these starters in a considerably simpler style but all those extra flavours and textures had been properly thought out and they properly enhanced both dishes — they were practically faultless.
Sadly, our main courses were not quite so successful. Braised Lamb Shoulder (€36) had good meaty rich mushrooms and decent saucing but the meat had been cooked until it was mush and ‘fried potato gratin’ had also dried out badly thanks to over-frying. Fried seaweed potatoes (€5) tasted salty and seaweedy, but lacked crunch and tasted slightly burnt.
Baked Cod (€27) was also a touch over-cooked but the mussels cooked in buttermilk on the side were excellent. The best main of the three was Roast Chicken Supreme (€29) with correctly cooked chicken, a charming confit chicken leg croquette, juicy charred sweetcorn to add sweetness and a rich meaty chicken jus to add heft.
After the somewhat disappointing main courses the desserts saved the day with a rich Chocolate and Blackberry Tart (€9) on a crunchy chocolate crumble and a tangy pickled blackberries and blackberry sorbet on the side. Apple Tart Tatin (€9) was just as you would want — caramelised apple, good pastry, a candied hazelnut crumble and salted caramel sauce to round out the flavours.
The wine list is exclusively French with prices beginning at €35 for Pays d’Oc, and moving up to some interesting Bordeaux and Burgundy. A major omission on the list are vintages — it’s impossible to judge if €350 for a magnum of Château Phélan-Ségur is a fair price without knowing the year.
Our bottle of Jean-Luc Mader Alsace Riesling (€51) was a little expensive perhaps, but it was gorgeous so I didn’t mind: textured ripe white fruits and fine balancing acidity that were a perfect match for our starters and even coped with the braised lamb shoulder.
It is too easy in a review to focus on negatives — dishes that do not entirely work will always linger longer in the mind. However, despite a couple of fluffs, this was overall a positive dining experience with excellent attentive service, a charming atmosphere and a kitchen that is clearly trying its hardest to present classic French dishes in creative new ways.
Dinner for three including two shared starters, three main courses, two desserts, sparkling water, a bottle of Alsace Riesling and two post-dinner drinks cost €215.50
9am - 11.30pm Tuesday-Saturday
Food: 7.5/10
Wine: 8.5/10
Service: 9/10
Ambience: 9/10
Value: 7.5/10
Le Perroquet is a solid attempt at recreating a French Bistro with modern takes on classic French dishes and a kitchen that is trying hard — not everything works, but what does is excellent.
- Le Perroquet, 133 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4.
- Tel: 01-6771223
- leperroquet.ie
- Instagram: @leperroquetdublin
