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Amuri takeaway review: Substantial focaccia sandwiches packed with Sicilian flavour

This light-filled deli off Grafton Street feels like a little corner of Italy

The team transformed the old premises into a bright, daytime casual café, Amuri by Day, serving focaccia sandwiches and panini
The team transformed the old premises into a bright, daytime casual café, Amuri by Day, serving focaccia sandwiches and panini
Amuri By Day
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Address: 4 Chatham Street, Dublin, D02 R223
Telephone: 01 564 4583
Cuisine: Italian
Website: https://www.amuri.ie/Opens in new window
Cost: €€

What’s on offer?

Brothers Andrea and Luca Licciardello hail from Ramacca in Sicily. In 2022, they teamed up with Paul Foley of the Corkscrew to open Amuri, an Italian restaurant above the off-licence premises on Chatham Street. Towards the end of 2023 the Corkscrew moved to the old Dublin Corporation Weights and Measures building on Harry Street, which for a number of years had been home to Berry Bros & Rudd.

The team transformed the old premises into a bright, daytime casual cafe, Amuri by Day, serving focaccia sandwiches and panini. They also view it as a salumeria where you can buy freshly cut, cured meats and cheese by weight, which are displayed in a large glass deli counter.

The focaccia, which they source from OakSmoke bakery, is fermented using a poolish, a rye flour-based sourdough starter with one per cent yeast. It has a hydration level of 73 per cent and ferments for five to six hours before it is blasted at 260 degrees in a polin stratos electric deck oven.

There are a few stools if you want to eat on site, and listen to the tunes playing on the Italian radio station.

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What did we order?

An arancinu al pistachio, a porchetta focaccia, a vegetarian focaccia and a pistachio cannoli. The panini had sold out by the time we visited.

How was the service?

The service here is great with very friendly capable staff.

Was the food nice?

The arancinu is sizeable, crispy and gold on the outside with a centre of stretchy cheese. The focaccia sandwiches are very substantial, cut into two. The crust is golden, splashed with olive oil and the crumb is open with plenty of irregular sized holes. The porchetta, which has been sliced from a large roast, is piled with Provolo, iceberg lettuce and tomato. I forgot to ask to leave off the truffle mayo. The vegetarian focaccia is delicious, with smoked scamorza, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, aubergine, ricotta and red pesto. The canolo (imported from Sicily) is generously filled wtih green pistachio ricotta cream at the time of ordering, so that it maintains its crunch.

What about the packaging?

Sandwiches are wrapped in paper and packed in paper bags. Coffee cups are compostable.

What did it cost?

€29.50 for lunch for two people: arancinu al pistachio, €5.50; porchetta focaccia, €10.50; vegetarian focaccia, €10.50; and a pistachio cannoli, €3.

Where does it deliver?

Takeaway only, open Tue-Fri 8am-6pm; Sat 9am-6pm and Sun 11am-6pm

Would I order it again?

Yes, the focaccia here is very good and I particularly liked the vegetarian focaccia.

Corinna Hardgrave

Corinna Hardgrave

Corinna Hardgrave, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes a weekly restaurant column