Brasserie de Verres en Vers, at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, must be one of Dublin's most unusual restaurants. For a start, it has been created with the aid of the Gorgeous Group. This London-based consultancy appears to specialise in very cool bars. Although its website says it does restaurants, too, I can't find any examples. Perhaps Verres en Vers is one of its first ventures into this area.
In which case I'd suggest it stick to bars, not that the one at the Radisson SAS is much to write home about. True, it looks very cool, but the only unusual beer on offer is Erdinger. And, although I might have a family prejudice in this regard, truly cool bars all seem to serve Doorly's rum. And this one doesn't.
Anyway, the brasserie's menu reads well on paper, which is another unusual quality. It seems to specialise in the kind of cuisine that the average grandmère, of a certain generation, would have been proud to present, but the proof is in the eating. Let me just say that I won't be going back in a hurry, despite the pleasant staff.
The very basic bread was a warning. You can buy superb part-baked frozen French bread, but I suppose it must be dearer than this kind of pap, which forms the bulk of the all-day breakfast roll. It was not redeemed by unsalted Normandy butter that was frozen solid.
I'd be very happy indeed to eat a proper salad of frisee with lardons of bacon and a poached egg. And that's why I ordered it. But the frisee was as naked as the day it was harvested - the dressing is vital in a simple salad such as this - and the egg tasted like an industrial one. For all I know it may have been technically "free range", but I think we know what that often means these days.
There are as many French onion soups as there are people who make the stuff, but this version was dull, thin and far from moreish. The secret with this dish is to start with a brown stock that contains so much natural gelatin that it has a silky texture. Then add a lot of caramelised onions, to give the whole thing a bitter-sweet touch of burnt sugar. Not so on this occasion.
Slowly braised lamb shank can be a very attractive dish, but I've never had one in an Irish restaurant that was anything like what we make at home. And we don't go to a lot of trouble over it. Here the meat was tender enough, but the dilute and virtually flavourless sauce, with an unexpected tomato element, was a waste of space. This is meant to be a simple dish of comfort food, the sort of thing that makes you feel good. It made us feel that we would be better off at home.
Steamed mussels were both small and low in flavour. They were served in their cooking pot, with a spoon for eating the broth in which they had been steamed. This was grey and greasy. It looked like something you find at the bottom of the washing-up basin after a busy session. Tasting it required considerable courage. One sip was quite enough for me. The mussels came with rather good chips, however - a modest compensation.
We shared one of the least impressive tartes Tatin I've ever tasted. This French classic is very, very simple. You caramelise some sugar in melted butter, throw your apples on top, cap with decent shortcrust pastry and cook until done. Then you invert it all and serve. I don't know how they managed to make it all so flavourless and flabby, but if I wanted to re-create the experience, which would take effort, I would insist on using a microwave.
Espressos, considering the rest of the meal, were very good. The bill, including mineral water and a bottle of very basic rose, came to €103.80.
Surely nobody needs a consultant to help produce such unimpressive grub. The hotel could probably have done at least as well, left to its own devices. tdoorley@irish-times.ie
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Wine choice
Our Château La Croix rosé, from Bordeaux, was perfectly pleasant, if a little too off-dry for me, and rather steeply priced at €28. Château Langoa Barton 1997 is getting a little tired at this stage and hardly merits a price tag of €119.
Delas Frères Crozes-Hermitage Les Launes is decent stuff at €39, but Domaine Rolland Brouilly is probably marginally better value at €35. It's good to see Château de Varennes Savennières 2002 on the list at €40, but I wonder if it ages well. The organic Domaine Mittnacht Riesling, from Alsace, is a lovely wine, but I've seen it elsewhere for less than €30; here it's €37. Château Montus doesn't float my boat, but this top Madiran is fairly priced at €50.
Cattier Champagne NV (€69) is better value than the equivalent from Perrier-Jouët at €79.