EATING OUT: Ely wine bar in Dublin has had a facelift, with promising results, writes Tom Doorley.
Ely wine bar in Dublin has now reopened, after a six-week refurbishment, with more space and rather more manageable seating, but the really good news is that the wine list is bigger and better than ever. The previous list was monumental; the new one is breathtaking. As wine bars go, this is surely one of the best in these islands.
We repaired there on its first evening back in business. It was crammed, which suggests that many, many punters had spent the previous six weeks with their tongues hanging out. The slight air of chaos that obtains in even the best establishments on such an occasion meant that service, although always friendly and enthusiastic, was a trifle slow. But we were having a good time and were not bothered.
Now, I don't regard Ely as a restaurant and I don't think anyone should approach it merely as a place to eat. The food is good, reasonably priced and occasionally quite brilliant in a simple kind of way. But Ely is about wine. Food is not the point. There are, of course, too many restaurants in which neither the food nor the wine is the point, but that's neither here nor there.
I am hopeless at choosing wine in Ely. There's always a danger that the spirit of adventure will desert me at the crucial moment, so I invariably ask for a suggestion. In response to my request for "a nice glass of Riesling" I got the most stonkingly gorgeous dry German, so delicious that I ignored the menu for some time.
As the proud owner of a car bumper sticker that says "Support Organic Farmers" (occasionally legible through the mud), I am ashamed to say that I didn't order any of the organic offerings, tempting as organic banger and mash and organic hamburger, to name but two options, undoubtedly are.
We kicked off with grilled scallops - perfectly done and surprisingly flavoursome - served with an earthy and seasonal celeriac purée which pointed up the sweetness of the shellfish. A crab and dill mousse was intensely crabby and rich in a creamy kind of way. The melon and lime sauce sounded a bit dodgy (melon with crab?) but the citrus dominated and it worked well. With good brown soda bread, this was a generous dish and perfectly accompanied by the Riesling.
Irish stew was, indeed, made with organic lamb from the Burren, but this was the one dish that failed to sing. I should explain that I consider Irish stew, when done well, to be one of the tastiest things in the world. I do a pretty good one myself, having a particular liking for one-pot meals. But Ely's is a pretty underwhelming version. The meat had good flavour, but it should be meltingly tender from long cooking. The spuds should be starting to dissolve. And the liquid was a bit inspid. Irish stew needs good stock, made from the bones. It also needs - in my view, anyway - a discernible flavour of thyme.
Madras grilled sea bream, on the other hand, was first rate, cooked perfectly à point with the skeleton still pink, the skin blistered by a fierce grill. A kind of chermoula sauce (turmeric and other spices sharpened with lemon juice) was fizzing with flavour.
With a selection of ice cream, a couple of espressos, one glass of white wine and three of a particularly good red, the bill came to €107.45. I'm sure that Ely will settle down again very soon and I earnestly hope that the Irish stew goes back to the drawing board. A steaming bowlful of the real thing would have a magnetic draw for me, wine list apart.
Ely Winebar & Café, 22 Ely Place, Dublin 2 (01-6768986)
WINE CHOICE
Where to start? This is one of the very best lists in the country, amounting to almost 500 wines, with 50 available by the glass, from €3.25 for a Lustau Manzanilla to Bollinger NV at €17.85. Othegraven Riesling Trocken from the Saar is steely and austere, great value at €27 for a bottle, €7 a glass. We also had the fabulously intense but sensitively oaked Mauro from Castilla y Leon (€12.95 a glass, €49 a bottle). My favourite page? The one with over 50 Rhône reds, none of them from the usual suspects.