Restaurant review: Italian flair both fair and flavourful at Gloria Osteria Dublin
Gloria Osteria on Westmoreland Street in Dublin.
Does Dublin need another blow-in chain restaurant? Well that depends. We certainly don’t need another The Ivy Asia, which I gave a drubbing to recently, based largely on the truly abysmal food offering, although I also hated the eye-bleeding decor.
When I first heard that Big Mamma Group (29 restaurants and counting) was coming to Dublin, I had mixed feelings. Rents in Dublin city are already unsustainably high and I can see Dublin becoming like London, where independent restaurants serving exciting food can only be found in the suburbs.
Having said that, if the food in any restaurant is good and the offering is fun, I can't really object.
Gloria Osteria arrived in Dublin in late November, having fully refurbished the corner of Westmoreland Street and College Green just a few metres from Thomas Moore’s wagging finger, a listed building that started life in 1875 as the offices of Scottish Widows Insurance.
The original building is described on buildingsofireland.ie as Venetian Renaissance in style, so it was a good choice.
Inside the theme is 1970s Milan, and it did remind me of early Versace crossed with a pawn shop for aristocrats. On the wall are bikinis in frames, pop-culture photos, extravagant red glass jellyfish shaped chandeliers and beautiful Murano glass lamps. It is sumptuous, there are dark, moody parts (bring your reading glasses), but also light filled palazzo drawing room-style spaces: overall, it works.
The other good news is that prices are very fair and portions are generous. Focaccia with oregano (€4.50) was fluffy and light and the olive oil on the side, properly bitter and floral. Mortadella (€12) was wafer-thin and among the best I’ve tasted and I loved that it came with a bowl of pungent 24-month Parmigiano Reggiano chunks the size of misshapen cherry tomatoes.
From the antipasti section, our waiter had encouraged us to order the Datterini (plum) tomato tatin (€16), and this was good advice, intensely flavoured caramelised sweet-bitter tomatoes on a pastry base.
Then a bum note, ‘crocchette di vitello tonnato’ (€18) was a very strange take on the classic Piedmonte dish of rare veal with a mayonnaise and tuna sauce. In its natural form, it is one of the glories of Italy, but here it was balls of deep-fried slow-cooked ‘pulled veal’ flavoured with barbecue sauce (why?) topped with tonnato.
This really didn’t work and was such an odd choice given the classical nature of the rest of the menu.
From a choice of classic pastas (cacio e pepe, lasagne, agnolotti etc.), we chose fazzoletti (little handkerchief) filled with mild roccolo cheese, and topped with tallegio and punchy strachitunt blue cheese (€26). At first, the punchy, salty, savoury flavours were a shock to my taste buds, but these flavours proved a fine contrast for the silky pasta, and they soon disappeared.
Mains include Guinness Ossobuco plus steak and fish options but we decided on Le gran Milanese (€36) with crispy roast potatoes (€6.50).
The potatoes were as good as your gran made and the classic Milanese take on Wiener Schnitzel was expertly executed; I especially liked the mound of bitter radicchio leaves on top, which provided a bitter contrast to the crunchy sweet veal.
If I was to nit-pick, it was a little under-seasoned, but a couple of squeezed lemon quarters fixed this. We barely ate half, so the rest made a tasty lunch the following day.
Wine prices in Dublin restaurants have spiralled almost out of control in recent years, so I confess I got an almost electric thrill when I saw that prices start at €31 for (perfectly acceptable) Romagna IGT Sangiovese or Trebbiano.
There are also solid options at €34 and €38 or if you wish you can opt for Antinori Solaiafor €591 or Gaja Barbaresco at €466. Our bottle of Corte Camarì Grillo from Sicily (€45) was fragrant, textured and not overpriced.
For dessert, we had to see if the tiramisu (€9.50) was up to scratch, and it delivered, creamy and lush with rich coffee and cacao flavours and easy on the sugar.
Gloria’s “Incomparable lemon pie” (€12) has gained viral fame, given that the inch or so of lemon tart is topped with eight inches of fluffy meringue.
We left 80% of the meringue, but it’s presence had added to the gaiety of the dish, so I’m not objecting to it – crucially, the tart bit was correctly lemony, and ‘tart’.
Gloria Osteria is enormous fun with tasty food, charming, smiling (Italian) staff and fair pricing (for now, anyway).
I’m not sure what Thomas Moore on his plinth nearby thinks of these Italian invaders, but I think that finger he is holding up is not in admonishment but is, in fact, calling for another Negroni.
Gloria Osteria, 41 Westmoreland Street, Dublin 2
Dinner for two plus a bottle of wine, €182.50
Visit Gloria Osteria Dublin
