Tom Doorleyreviews South, Sandyford
The food may not always be daring, imaginative and brilliant at Town Bar & Grill, on Kildare Street in Dublin 2, but that's quite a relief when so many chefs are trying to be the first two and, more often than not, failing dismally to be the third.
I would even go so far as to say that its grub is sometimes a bit ordinary - but ordinary, if you follow me, in rather a good way. And the service, the ambience (to use a horrible word) and the general willingness to please (a rare enough quality in Dublin these days) certainly does it for me. When readers have had cause to complain, TB&G has responded superbly.
Its new satellite restaurant, at the Beacon Centre in Dublin's Sandyford, is a brave move. For a start, it can do more than 200 covers, it's in an area that can be politely described as "emerging" and it's very hard to assemble a first-rate team at the moment.
South, as it is called, had a rocky start. The first head chef departed quite early on, and the menu underwent several exhaustive overhauls, but it now seems to be firing on all cylinders.
The braveness of the move also involves the curious nature of suburban eating. Put it like this. If I were mad enough to want to do molecular gastronomy I would do it close to St Stephen's Green.
The very modern South could be anywhere. Rotterdam or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome, to borrow a phrase from, er, The Beautiful South. But the menu is very much Kildare Street, and Temple Garner's insistence on relative simplicity is very much in evidence. As things stand it's undoubtedly the best place to eat in south Co Dublin.
Anyone who has tried to make sweetcorn soup at home will be madly jealous of the version at South. It was essence of sweetcorn with true butteriness and creaminess but balanced with exceptionally well-judged oriental influences, such as lemon grass, chilli and lime. And it was fortified with large quantities of perfectly sweet, fresh crabmeat. This was a champion among soups.
The judgment was less surgically precise in our other starter, yellowfin tuna with, essentially, guacamole. The problem, and it was minor enough, was that the fish - seared on the outside and perfectly raw in the centre - had its subtle flavour stunned by the cracked peppercorns that crusted the exterior and then finished off by the chilli heat of the guacamole. As an exercise in contrasting textures, however, it was delightful, and I'd happily order it again.
Organic salmon was ace. It's astonishing how many chefs seem to have been brought up to believe that salmon should be cooked like a very rare steak: just cooked on the outside and raw in the centre. Some of them do the same with scallops, which produces a sensation in the mouth of eating a soft-boiled gull's egg - quite revolting.
Here the salmon was cooked, not in this fashionable but intolerably lazy way, but absolutely à point, so that every flake was cooked but only just, leaving it moist and oily enough to deliver the full flavour of the fish.
Pork fillet wrapped in prosciutto and sage leaves, in the way that you would do veal saltimbocca, was pleasant but the accompanying fricassee of wild mushrooms, mainly chanterelles, was very good indeed. And all the more alluring as I've been scouring the local woods for chanterelles but, so far, in vain.
Chefs mess with creme brulee at their peril - often because they are conscience-stricken at buying in the concoction pre-mixed - but here, where I'm convinced it's made from scratch, there is just enough restraint. It was sharpened with a little lemon, just enough to cut the richness of the cream and eggs, and served with a nicely tart raspberry sorbet.
A tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream was impeccable.
With coffee, a couple of glasses of white and a bottle of Bandol, the bill came to just under €150.
South is a very fairly priced restaurant with an excellent, adventurous wine list and charming staff. I will certainly be going back, and it's not often that I can say that.
South Bar & Restaurant, Beacon Centre, Blackthorn Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18, 01-2934050, www.south.ie
Wine Choice
South is worth a visit for its wine list alone. The influence of the French sommelier is obvious, especially in such wines as the brawny and very keenly priced Domaine de la Suffrène (€39) and the zesty Gascon white Domaine du Tariquet (€20, or €7 a glass). Blanco Nieva (€27) is a superbly fresh Verdejo from Rueda. Domaine des Baumard, a Chenin from the Loire, is €36, and Château Capitoul is a peachy Languedoc white at a mere €24. The lovely Felsina Chianti Classico is €45. The juicy but serious Dolcetto d'Alba from Conterno Fantino is a very keen buy at €35. Louis Boillot's silky Vosne-Romanée Vieilles Vignes 2003 is, by Burgundy standards, a bit of a steal at €76. Much the same can be said of the white Drouhin Clos des Mouches, at €81. Azamor (€28) and A Mano di Puglia (€24) are terrific reds for very little money. Rotier's Gaillac Doux (€7.50 a glass) is an exquisite and very unusual sweet wine.