Restaurant review: Dublin's Michelin-starred D'Olier Street doesn't exactly shine

"Staff were welcoming and tolerated our questions about processes and ingredients admirably and I liked the choice of old-school blues music, which added emotion into the room."

Sun, 07 Jul, 2024 - 11:50

Leslie Williams

D’Olier Street Restaurant
D’olier Chambers, Dublin 2
Dolierstreetrestaurant.ie
How To: Dinner: Tuesday-Saturday 5-11.30pm; Lunch: Friday, 12-4pm
The Bill: €308 for two 13-course tasting menus (€118 each) plus a bottle of wine

I love dining out for the simple reason that it brings me joy. I love being fed, I love the ceremony and I love being surprised by new flavours.

D’Olier Street was awarded a Michelin star last February, with the inspector noting the “global” influences and “beautifully composed dishes” – it sounded like my kind of restaurant.

Our meal began well with a comté and smoked onion filled pastry topped with fresh peas – bright salty creamy flavours to waken up our palates.

Next came a Japanese takoyaki ‘dumpling’ with octopus and fermented sweetcorn topped with a slice of summer truffle. Truffle scent was noticeable when the dish arrived but, sadly, any truffle, corn or octopus flavours were rather overwhelmed by a topping of vadouvan curry sauce.

As an aside, I have never understood the reverence given to vadouvan curry as France is the last place on earth I would look to for spice expertise. I’d be looking to Ireland’s vibrant Indian and Pakistani community instead.

Next, a sweetbread on a skewer, one of my favourite things to eat. Unfortunately, all of this precious morsel’s creamy delicate flavour had been obliterated by togarashi spice.

Foie gras custard had a feather-light texture and good flavours – once I had scraped off an intense and overly sweetened pineapple jelly, that is…

A bread course of piping-hot poppy seed pretzels was paired with a traditional Bavarian obatzda cream cheese dip. The pretzels were outstanding – crusty, fluffy and delectable – but both of us were rather nonplussed by the obatzda cream dip and would have preferred butter. So far, so disappointing.

Things picked up considerably, however, with the fish course – black sole and lobster in a foamed and spiced lobster bisque. Thankfully the spice was an accent rather than a flavour (my guess would be piment d’Espelette) and worked nicely with the pristinely cooked pieces of fish.

Lamb had been slow cooked at low temperature so that it remained pink and was served with an old-school lamb jus, charred apricot, leeks, black garlic sauce and a square of crispy lamb belly with a rich anchovy-influenced sauce.

The elements of this dish all worked well except, crucially, the lamb. Lamb responds brilliantly to browning, the maillard reaction creating sweet rich flavours. This piece of lamb was pallid, lacked flavour and had hard gristly fat.

D’Olier Street’s wine list is a long list of 150+ wines with no descriptions but boasts an eclectic and diverse selection with lots of famed producers and rising stars; just don’t expect bargains.

Prices start at €50 per bottle, with the same wines offered by the glass at €12 – the wines in question were a Portuguese white or a Navarra red, both of which retail at about €20.

The Champagne list is on trend with only top-quality grower Champagnes listed, a worthy idea, but I see no reason why some of the better-value grower Champagnes couldn’t have been included. Prices start at €160 and a glass of JM Sélèque Champagne costs €27.

I chose a bottle of Louro do Bolo Godello, from Valdeorras in Galicia, made by Rafael Palacios, one of Spain’s great winemakers, for €72 – more than 2.5 times the retail price of €28.

I had no regrets, however, as it was as delicious as ever, textured and poised with admirable complexity and layers of floral notes mixed with herb-scented stone fruits.

The series of dessert courses received our highest marks overall, with the winner being our pre-dessert of crème diplomat with raspberry granita, raspberry sauce and liquorice jellies, an expertly balanced dessert tasting creamy and zingy, tart and sweet.

Second best was a mandarin tartlet and third came an ovaltine malt cream encased in white chocolate with a chicha (fermented corn) ice cream.

Some tiny diced mango pieces felt like an afterthought and more would have been welcome, especially as every halal shop in the country is overflowing with ripe Kesar, Anwar Ratol and honey mangoes.

A caramel and mango alfajor biscuit left an odd ‘soapy’ flavour in my guest’s mouth, although I liked its dulce de leche richness well enough.

So I can see why D’Olier Street has a star given the technical prowess of the kitchen but I would question 80% of the dishes.

Staff were welcoming and tolerated our questions about processes and ingredients admirably and I liked the choice of old-school blues music, which added emotion into the room.

Emotion seemed lacking in many of our dishes, however, as did joy.

The verdict: