Tom Doorleyreviews Fallon & Byrne, Dublin 2
It's not often that I'm rendered speechless, but I have to admit that the morsel in my mouth, small as it was, silenced me. It was a small, pinkish cube in a pie served to my dinner companion at Fallon & Byrne, on Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.
It was so unexpected that I was unable to speak for several moments. When I recovered, my first words were to request another piece. Not because I liked it, mind. I just wanted to make sure that some foreign body, masquerading as ham, had not accidentally fallen into the pie.
Apparently not. It would appear that these cubes of tissue and chemicals had been incorporated deliberately into a dish served in a restaurant which hopes to be taken seriously.
I'm talking about the kind of "ham" that you see in the sadder kind of sandwich bar, all glistening and day-glo pink. This kind of "meat product" would never be bought by 99 per cent of Fallon & Byrne customers. And it should never have got as far as the kitchen of Fallon & Byrne.
I have no idea how such rubbish found its way into an otherwise rather attractive dish: a simple combination of turkey meat, stock, cream and "ham", placed in a little marmite and topped with pleasantly buttery pastry. The stock was good (either homemade or they use good cubes) and the whole thing tasted fine . . . until I hit the "ham". The accompanying mashed potato with chestnuts was fine, if a little dry.
The rest of the meal was so-so in terms of taste. The service, the atmosphere and the room were all impressive. This is a restaurant with potential, sadly let down by its kitchen.
A roast tomato soup was unexciting and a bit too saline even for a salt fancier like me. Roasting tomatoes is meant to intensify the flavour, but if there's not much there in the first place, you end up with a poor taste. Partridge with a beetroot broth was a pleasant enough starter.
Whatever about the faults of this kitchen, someone in there knows how to make a good bearnaise, which is served in a generous quantity rather than the usual thimble. But the steak which it was to partner was a different matter. It was thick, bore the marks of the grill, looked good, was cooked medium-rare, precisely as ordered, but, like most restaurant steaks in Ireland, it tasted of nothing.
Fallon & Byrne is an ambitious project and the courage behind it deserves to be rewarded. Prices are reasonable throughout the operation, and there's nothing pretentious about any part of it.
It certainly deserves a better restaurant. When I reported on a pretty lacklustre lunch eaten there shortly after the opening, I promised to return. I hoped that I would bring good news, and that this would become one of Dublin's better places to eat. Instead, I was disappointed. If I were Fallon & Byrne, I would just start all over again.
Fallon & Byrne, 11-17 Exchequer Street, D2, 01-4721000, www.fallonandbyrne.com
Wine choice
Fallon & Byrne's wine list is one of the best in the country and prices are very fair. It's impossible to give a flavour of what it's about in this small space but here are a few things worth having: Meyer-Fonne Pinot Blanc (€26); Max Ferd. Richter's Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett (€45); Allegrini Valpolicella (€24); Sannio Falanghina, which is a current favourite of mine (€27); Henry Pelle Menetou-Salon (move over Sancerre, €32); and Lochlann Quinn's gorgeous white Château de Fieuzal 1999 (€90). Our Domaine de la Bouissière Vacqueyras 2004 (€32) is a very smart buy.