Tom Doorley finds himself once again in a newly opened restaurant, and finds it buzzing from the outset
Visiting new restaurants while they are still in their infancy - still on four-hourly feeds and being burped - is becoming a bit of a habit. You may remember the new-born Nonna Valentina a while back, while my latest visit to the neo-natal department involved "Brasserie sixty6" oGeorge's Street, Dublin 2.
On this occasion, I managed to stay away until the restaurant was 48 hours old and showing a great deal of promise. So much so, indeed, that it was packed for lunch, something that reflects two things, I believe; it looks great and it's in a very busy spot. There are not many restaurants that look genuinely inviting; this one does.
Sixty6 adjoins a very cool, high-ceilinged deli that has been open for some time. It is dominated by a big rotisserie in which plump chickens rotate in an atmosphere of blistering heat, becoming crisp on the outside and meltingly tender within.
This is a big restaurant with some of the atmosphere, buzz and general design of an upmarket diner. And prices retain a degree of informality, too, certainly by prevailing Dublin standards.
Most restaurants are not full for lunch from the moment the doors open, but Sixty6 had to go from a state of planning to full action in a matter of hours. I had an e-mail from a reader who had been sitting at a neighbouring table and he had a less satisfactory experience than ours. The grub, he said, took an epoch to arrive. However, by the time you read this, I'm pretty sure things will have settled down.
A crispy lemon-pepper squid salad with chilli dip was a good measure of what this place is about; every restaurant in the country will have a stab at it, but here the squid was immaculately fresh, its breadcrumb coating was crisp, the chunks were generous and the salad was as fresh as the dawn. This starter was a clear statement of intent.
Hummus, baba ganoush, taboulli (sic) with grilled flat-bread generously drizzled with good olive oil, was pretty good. True, the minute ramekins of hummus and so forth were, in the words of my companion, a bit "fecky" and the uncredited dip (a mixture of brie and artichoke) looked and tasted as if it had been created at Porton Down during the Cold War, but overall this was a decent starter.
Chicken is a big feature at sixty6, and the rotisserie version has a different marinade each day. The birds are free-range, and come from a farm in Co Waterford. Mine, I think, was given some kind of Hungarian treatment (paprika and so forth), but the point is that it was the best chicken I think I've ever had in a Dublin restaurant. The meat itself tasted of chicken, proper chicken. This, in itself, is something of a miracle these days. Its crisp skin parted to reveal impeccably moist and tender flesh. All of this was helped by the fact that this was half of a small chicken, so you get plenty of brown meat along with the breast. A chicken breast on its own is almost impossible to cook satisfactorily.
It came with some rather starchy corn-on-the-cob (they would be better off using the fresher frozen version); spicy corn bread and a little dip of good mayonnaise. No potatoes? Who needs them?
If we had a criticism of the Italian sausage and fennel mash (one of three bangers and mash options) it would concern the texture. A good sausage needs quite a lot of coarse fat in the mixture, otherwise it can be rather dry and over-fine. However, it scored highly on flavour, and the mash had just enough subtle aniseed flavour.
A mini-skillet of peach crumble, which we shared, provided a shockingly heavy sugar hit, but it was no great hardship to eat. Good double espressos, two big bottles of mineral water and two glasses of wine brought the bill to a respectable €61.90.
• Brasserie sixty6, South Great George's Street, Dublin 2, 01-4005878, www.brasseriesixty6.com
WINE CHOICE
A pleasantly short list, with 10 wines by the glass, including Martin Codax Albariño (€6) and Fox Mountain Merlot (€5) - both also excellent buy as full bottles (€25/€18). Other highlights include Step Road Langhorne Creek Sangiovese (€27), Rustenberg Old Vine Red (€27.50), Pariente Verdejo (€29), Bergerie de l'Hortus Sauvignon/Viognier/Rousanne (€28) and Drappier NV Champagne (€50).