By the time Stephen O’Dwyer qualified as an accountant, he had realised that his chosen career trajectory wasn’t what he wanted. He took a detour to New York, working in bars and restaurants for a couple of years.
It was while Stateside that he saw the popularity of frozen yogurt, and returned to Dublin with the idea of launching an Irish version of a FroYo store. In 2012, he opened Yogism in Dublin’s George’s St Arcade, offering self-serve frozen yogurt and breakfast.
In March 2015, O’Dwyer opened a second Yogism on the corner of Dawson St and St Stephen’s Green. It soon became clear to O’Dwyer, however, that he was flooding his own FroYo market, and that for this second location to work, they would to expand their outlook beyond self-serve yogurt. He brought chef Kevin Powell of Gruel Guerilla on board to develop a menu that would incorporate yogurt while offering more choice for customers, and O’Dwyer re-launched the Dawson St outlet as Tang in May 2016.
Though the kitchen reins have been handed over to chefs Rory Francis and Jess Gavin, Powell still keeps in touch with what’s happening at Tang, through a What’s App group with the chefs and O’Dwyer.
Yogurt certainly runs through the menu, but it’s not restrictive by any means. The free-range chicken is marinated in yogurt and Middle Eastern spices. Tzatziki and other supplementary sauces are made with yogurt, such as the smashed avocado on toasted flatbread (€4.25) served with a citrus yogurt dip. There is breakfast until noon, and the menu includes creamy organic porridge (€4.25) and Turkish Baked Eggs (€4), and lunch takes over with a soup of the day, salad plates and a flatbread option.
A smiling staff member loads my Falcon enamel bowl with my chosen salads, which sit in pretty bowls on their counter. While I’m tucking in to my lunchtime salad plate (€7.25), chef Francis pops out of the kitchen to place a bucket of beetroot leaves on my table, to soak up the sunshine coming through Tang’s windows. He tells me about the leaves and how he’s used their bright pink-purple stalks in today’s barley salad, which is the stand-out salad on my plate. The plump barley have garnered a pinkish hue from those beetroot stalks, and they’re dressed with a subtle citrus dressing. It’s a fresh and light take on our native barley, which usually reside in heavier dishes such as stews and risottos.
The beetroot vegetable is served thinly shredded and moistened with dressing, while another salad sees sweet roasted carrots sprinkled in sesame seeds and served with homemade labneh. The salad comes with toasted flatbread, a chunky homemade hummus and the house tzatziki sauce. I also have a choice to add lamb, chicken or falafel to my salad plate, but there’s a little twist with the falafel. They found that the falafels were drying out sitting on the counter, so they created a warm chickpea salad that incorporated the flavours of falafel. I like the idea, but it’s too salty on the day I visit and drowns out the other salads.
Coffee is served black (€2.70) or white (€3), which takes away any possible barista-customer misunderstandings around flat whites or cappuccinos. My white coffee is made with 3FE beans and Village Dairy organic milk. I tuck into a gluten-free raspberry chocolate brownie from Love Supreme, which supplies Tang with most of its sweet treats. There are some vegan treats and golden scones made in the downstairs kitchen at Tang, too.
Tang is in a remarkable location, near The Little Museum of Dublin. The indoor space spills out onto the pavement with outdoor seating, though the Luas extension is currently under construction right outside . The tools are down the day I visit, so there’s no noise pollution, but O’Dwyer is looking forward to the building work being completed, for his staff’s eardrums as well as his customers’.
