Eating out:Decent food - nothing fancy but well prepared and served with a smile - for a fair price may not seem like too much to ask, but how often do you find it? Every day I get e-mails from readers who have been treated with contempt by restaurateurs - and charged outlandishly for the indignity.
One correspondent tells of being treated to a curt dismissal when he complained that his €120 bottle of white Burgundy was not the one he had ordered but an inferior négociant wine.
There seems to be a notion another customer will be along in a minute, so there's no need to ensure a return visit. Celtic Tiger Ireland appears to thrive on complacency rather than customer relations, but when the economic gloom descends - and the Government seems convinced that it will - we will remember the places that treated us fairly during the boom.
Léon will survive. A central-Dublin establishment that serves decent French bistro food for a modest sum, with staff that smile and banter, and a range of proper French baking is bound to succeed even in less prosperous days than these.
Do not confuse this Léon with the original of the species, round the corner on Wicklow Street, which looks identical but lacks the restaurant dimension.
Penny Plunkett, formerly of La Maison des Gourmets, is consultant here on Exchequer Street, and it shows. The menu is short, simple, unashamedly French and takes no short cuts.
Food snobs may well demur. Unable to tell the difference between Reblochon and Dairylea Lunchables a decade or so ago, these are the sort of people who may well complain that my Puy lentils were too acidic or that the John Dory was a bit small. I couldn't care less. Contrary to what many people think, I don't seek out faults. Generally, they are pretty plentiful.
I'll be going back to Léon, probably regularly. That's if I can get in, because I have a feeling that it's going to be very busy.
Our starters were simple and very good indeed. A marmite of French onion soup with a mountain of onions, just enough dark, intense liquid and a couple of thin, crisp croutons with a little topping of Gruyere would have made an excellent lunch. A little tart of flaky pastry filled with caramelised onions, sharpened with some balsamic vinegar and topped with feta was served with a small, well-dressed salad.
Then came John Dory en papilotte, with a julienne of leek and carrot and plenty of butter, the little parcel snipped open at the table. And a confit of duck leg that was so good I completely forgave, for once, the absence of properly crispy skin. This is something the kitchen might like to address. Make the skin crispy and we'd all be sucking diesel, if you will forgive the expression. The flesh was suitably tender and well flavoured, but the point, for me, of a duck confit is the contrast between that and the outside.
It came with perfectly done lentils, a reduction that had been sharpened up with balsamic and salted with lardons of smoked bacon. Nothing fancy, nothing cheffy, nothing, indeed, that any half-competent kitchen couldn't do if so inclined. That's the strange thing: the rarity of food like this in Ireland.
A generous side dish of dauphinois potatoes was, perhaps, the star of the meal, with its creamy, cheesy seductiveness and sensitive seasoning. Again, it's not something that requires huge skill; it does, however, need a knowledge of what it should be.
A religieuse - essentially, a lot of choux pastry stuffed with a chocolate cream - was fabulous but went unfinished due to its almost alarming richness. A tart of raspberry crumble was perhaps a touch dry but was well lubricated by a proper Americano.
With a big bottle of water, three glasses of wine and a macchiato, the bill for this pretty substantial meal came to €85.80, including service.
Léon, 33 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2, 01-6707238
Wine Choice
Domaine de Haut Bourg Muscadet de Grand Lieu sur Lie (€23.50/€6 a glass) looks like more of a mouthful than it is. Not bad, but a little lacking in zing, which is what Muscadet should be all about. Domaine de la Bêche Beaujolais-Villages (€25.50/€6.50) is decent enough but would be better served cool. Domaine Cros Rosé (€25.95), from Minervois, is delicious; it would be good to be able to have it by the glass. Domaine André Neveu Chavignol Sancerre (€38.95) is steely and elegant. Château Bertrand Braneyre Cuvée Evelyne, in the whopping 2003 vintage, manages to be a concentrated yet elegant red Bordeaux. Château Vignol Bordeaux Supérieur (€25.50/€6.50) is a better bet than the Beaujolais-Villages.