Restaurant review: The Green Man in Dublin is exactly what a wine bar should be

The Green Man, Dublin 6

• Green Man Wine Bar
• 3 Terenure Road North, Dublin 6
• 01-5594234
• greenmanwines.ie/pages/wine-bar
• Thursday to Saturday: 4pm-10pm

Having extolled the virtues of neighbourhood restaurants recently I thought I should check out my own neighbourhood.

Green Man Wines will be familiar to anyone who reads this paper’s wine column, but the shop converts to a wine bar at weekends — or did until the pandemic. Green Man’s owner Dave Gallagher has only just this month reopened the wine bar after a long hiatus.

A chance conversation on chef shortages with a regular customer led to her introducing Dave to her husband, Dan Smith, who had previously worked in Airfield House and other produce-focused restaurants. Dan understood exactly what Dave wanted, and I think this might be the best iteration of the wine bar since it opened.

The Green Man, Dublin 6

It was a bright, sunny, late afternoon in early May when we visited and the outdoor seats were already full. The room is bright and airy, the new chairs are comfy, and it felt good to be back.

The Engineer and the Physicist began with a white port and tonic (€9), the classic cocktail of Porto which balances the rich sweetness of white port with the bitter citrus zing of tonic.

I would love to see this cocktail offered by more restaurants, and the same could be said for my glass of bitter-sweet Lacuesto Blanco vermut (€7) from Spain which was served over ice with a wedge of lemon and a salty olive.

Padron peppers (€5), smoked almonds (€6) and marinated olives (€4) were a good beginning and a fine match for our aperitifs. The peppers had been charred and one had a hit of chilli heat, but mostly the pleasure was in the tang of bitter green fruit contrasted with the char of the skin, contrasted with my bitter-sweet vermut.

The wine list is short with a selection of 12 wines and a pét-nat fizz, all by the glass or by the bottle. Wines start at €7 (for a Sicilian Nero D’Avola) and there were four options at €8 — such low pricing is exceedingly rare these days. In the end, I took a bottle of Uvio Pet Nat Rosé from the fridge which cost €25 plus €10 corkage. The joy of Green Man wines is that I could have picked any of the hundreds of wines on the shelves around us and paid the same €10 corkage, a considerable saving over standard restaurant wine prices.

Gubbeen croquettes

Smoked Gubbeen croquettes (€8) had a crisp panko crumb on the outside and melting creamy smoky cheese and béchamel flavours inside, and a dip of pungent garlic aïoli and strands of spicy-salty fermented chilli cut through the richness nicely. We ordered a second portion.

Roast Courgette

Roast courgette with bagna cauda miso, cured egg and garlic crumbs (€12) was as layered and interesting as it sounds with the crisp courgette lifted and given zing by the salty bagna cauda dressing and the garlicky crispy crumbs, with some savoury earthy notes from the cured egg.

Smoked Trout Rilette

Hot smoked Goatsbridge Trout rillette (€13) had been topped with sliced radish and cut through with dill to give it some herbal earthy notes — creamy, smoky and rich tasting but balanced by some acidity and the dill and our pét-nat rosé also cut through the richness perfectly.

Hake and confit fennel

Pan-fried hake (€20) was three fillets of hake sitting atop some crunchy confit fennel which added anise-flavoured crunch to contrast with the sweet (perfectly cooked) translucent flakes of fish. A preserved lemon and capers chimichurri meanwhile provided background punchy lemon and herbal flavours — as complex a dish as many I’ve had in Michelin-star restaurants.

Basque Cheesecake

We finished with a large slice of Basque cheesecake (€6) to share — creamy and seductive with a touch of savoury cream cheese that was ably balanced by some sweet blackberry compote.

We lingered over extra glasses of Celler del Roure Vermell Garnacha-Monastrell (€8) and a Meinklang Grüner Veltliner (€9) and reflected on how rare it is to find such pitch-perfect food in a wine bar. Small plates of creative flavourful food to match perfectly with exciting cutting edge wines — Green Man is wine bar heaven.

The Tab:

A selection of snacks and small plates for three hungry people cost €180.50, less greedy/thirsty people will spend less.

The Verdict:

• Food: 9/10
• Wine: 9.5/10
• Service: 9/10
• Ambiance: 9/10
• Value: 9/10
• In a Sentence: Exactly what a wine bar should be: a brilliant selection of wine at fair prices, flavourful tasty food and a buzzy atmosphere.