Restaurant Review: Italian food at its best in Dublin's Osteria Lucio

The interior of Dublin's Osteria Lucio

• The Malting Tower, Clanwilliam Terrace, Grand Canal Quay, Dublin 2
• Tel: [phone]
• osterialucio.com
• How To: Dinner - Wednesday-Sunday: 17.00-21.30; Lunch - Thursday: 12.30-14.30
• The Tab: Lunch for three including snacks, starters, mains, dessert and a bottle of excellent Rosso di Montepulciano cost €232

LIKE most of the useful things in our civilisation like sanitation, running water, bridges and roads, the Italians probably did it first (or best). The oldest Italian osteria (like the oldest university) is in Bologna where Osteria Cappella has been operating since 1375. The tradition of local wine, simple tasty food, and a convivial atmosphere is a noble one, and the rash of wine bars all around Ireland shows it can work anywhere.

Osteria Lucio was opened by Ross Lewis in 2016 and is more of a restaurant than a wine bar but osteria accurately describes the atmosphere and the food. If you’ve read this column before you may have noticed mention of The Physicist, one of my regular dining companions; well he can officially call himself that now having just graduated. Michelin Star restaurants be damned, for his celebration lunch he chose Osteria Lucio and it was a fine choice.

Osteria Lucio may tilt at casual but when the owner (and chef behind the pass) is Ross Lewis you know you are never going to be served anything ordinary. Ross retained Chapter One’s Michelin Star for 15 years (no mean feat) before he passed the baton to Mickael Viljanen, in part so he could concentrate on developing his osteria. The Chapter One connection has proven useful I’ve discovered on past visits when you might find off-cuts of wild seabass or black sole in your spaghetti al scoglio, bits that weren’t the right shape for Chapter One’s impeccable plating.

Jumbo Prawns at Osteria Lucio

I began with gambero al forno (€23), three enormous fat prawns as thick as a baby’s arm. Baked in the pizza oven with spiced garlic butter and ’nduja they were luscious, sweet, and creamy. Would sweet langoustine caught in the Irish Sea have been tastier? Possibly, but remember this is not Chapter One but an osteria under a railway bridge and they felt entirely appropriate. I soaked up all the buttery liquor from the dish with the textured sourdough and licked my fingers clean.

Bruschetta al carpaccio (€15) had spiced beef, red onion, rocket and taleggio, more flavours than a bruschetta needs but all worked in harmony. Burrata (€15) came with oven roast black figs and rocket pesto and filled the senses with its flavours and scents.

Suckling pork belly (€32) had been slow cooked overnight and then crisped in the pizza oven to give a firm crunch to the skin — meaty and tender with a small hit of chilli on the skin. On the side were some crunchy roast herbed potatoes, apple sauce like your mammy used to make but enlivened with horseradish, roasted olives to add salt and fruit notes, and deep fried sage leaves for a tang of herbal freshness

Spaghetti chitarra allo scoglio (€27) is an osteria classic: clams, squid, mussels, and morsels of sweet fresh monkfish in a tomato and shellfish sauce with of extra flavour from chilli, ginger and basil. Rigatoni ’nduja (€23) had oven roasted aubergine and stracciatella burrata cheese to add creamy notes and spicy ’nduja to add character.

The wine list is entirely Italian (no bad thing in my book) with solid examples from north and south covering all the major wine regions and all from small producers. Prices begin at €35 for lightly fragrant dry white from the Veneto (Cantina di Custoza) followed by a bright fruity red from Sicily, Borgo Selene (€36), and move up into three figures for older vintages of classic wines including the legendary Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino 2019 for a very fair €210.

As this was a celebratory lunch I pushed the boat out a little and ordered Avignonesi Rosso di Montepulciano, packed with those classic weighty dark fruits this Tuscan village always offers (at a significantly lower cost than nearby Montalcino); served in Riedel glasses of course.

For dessert we shared two, a properly rich tiramisiu and an open cannoli with extra creamy ricotta and plums poached in Vermouth and extra flavours from coffee gel, roasted pistachio nuts and a pistachio gelato with a hint of orange chocolate from confit orange skins and cacao nibs.

Osteria Lucia is Italian dining at its best, piles of flavour, charming staff and a warm atmosphere.

The Verdict:

• Food: 8.5/10
• Wine: 9/10
• Service: 9.5/10
• Ambiance: 9/10
• Value: 7.5/10
• In a Sentence: Classic Italian cooking with excellent ingredients in a warm atmosphere.