Restaurant review: I can see why one dish went viral within hours of this place opening
Lena restuarant in Portobelo, Dublin. Photograph Moya Nolan
An Italian friend of mine, long resident in Ireland, avoids talking about food with fellow Italians as it always leads to arguments. Everyone’s mamma or nonna cooks better than everyone else’s; in Italy food is never fuel, it is culture, it is everything.
So, can three Irish people open an Italian restaurant in what used to be Locks? Of course they can if they are Liz Matthews, Simon Barrett and Paul McNamara, who already run Uno Mas and Etto, two of Dublin’s best-loved restaurants.
The space has had a revamp and seems cleaner and lighter toned with painted wooden panelling and simpler wooden furniture than in its previous incarnation. Our welcome was warm and we were seated canalside by the window, always the best spot.
Lena’s menu is split in Italian fashion into Antipasti, Primi and Secondi, with bites and snacks in the antipasti section (olives, suppli etc.), and pastas and small plates in the primi section. We began with anchovy and sage leaf fritti (€8), a dish that went viral within hours of the restaurant opening. I can see why.
As simple as it was profound, an anchovy had been sandwiched between two sage leaves and fried in an airy light tempura batter, the crisp exterior hiding an explosion of flavour from the salty anchovy cut by the green-bright sage. Sourdough focaccia (€5) had been fermented for 72 hours and was nutty and textured with a fruity-bitter olive oil for dipping and a delightfully sticky honey glaze was a welcome addition.
Cacio e pepe (€16) is one of those dishes that restaurants outside Rome offer at their peril, such is the mystical reverence that surrounds it. Lena uses thicker hand-rolled pici pasta rather than spaghetti, but successfully recreates the lubricious peppery intensity of flavours.
The portion isn’t large but the richness of the dish more than compensates; it is so well executed that it could calm a Lazio Ultra supporter following a three-nil defeat by Juventas.
Pumpkin and ricotta-filled mezzaluna (€16) were similarly silky, topped with thick grated parmesan cheese and luxuriating in a brown butter sauce which was nicely cut by fried sage leaves and crunchy walnuts.
We opted to share a main course and could have gone with barbecue pork chop with white beans, cod with artichokes and vermouth sauce, or maybe a shared Delmonico steak. But we had chose osso buco (€33), arguably the most famous Italian meat dish of them all.
The disc of veal shank had been slowly cooked for around 46 hours, our server told us, topped with a herbal and distinctly lemony gremolata to contrast the meaty richness and sat on a decently creamy saffron-infused Milanese risotto whose spikes of earthy smoky saffron flavour also added contrasts.
Best of all (for my taste), the rice grains retained some bite, and I loved that we were provided with a spoon to better extract the wobbly sweet marrow from the centre of the bone.
You might not think crispy garlic potatoes (€6) would work with risotto but of course they did, potatoes like this work with everything.
Hispi cabbage (€6) was a full quarter cabbage that had been char-grilled and drizzled with tonnato sauce (as found in vitello tonnato). The cabbage offered some bitter sweet notes while the tang of the tonnato lifted the flavours further.
The drinks list is Italian focused, as to be expected, with a fine selection of aperitivos (e.g. cherry negroni, limoncello sour, peach spritz), and a solid representation of wines mainly from Italy, including skin contact wines (e.g. La Stoppa).
I opted for Trediberri Dogliani Dolcetto (€56), cherry scented, bright and fresh, and with enough bitter notes to cope with both the creamy pasta dishes and the osso buco.
For dessert we went for light and dark. A rum baba (€10) made with a pleasingly fluffy sponge solidly infused with rum and topped with cream, pistachio pieces and a bonus slice of rhubarb to herald springtime.
Better still was the lush chocolate olive oil cake (€11) with full-on bitter chocolate flavours doubled down upon with the addition of lots of peppery olive oil and given extra bitter notes from an espresso ice-cream, the core of sweetness ensuring the bitter notes did not overwhelm.
So, the trio behind Lena have done it again. Lena has been executed with acuity and focus but also with a sense of joy and of dolce vita. Viva Lena.
- 1 Windsor Terrace, Portobello, Dublin 8
- Dinner for two with wine cost €167
