It used to be that when you wanted to go out for a drink your choices were clear and limited - there were pubs and there were more pubs. Very often a traditional pub is all that is required and at the risk of descending into "rare oul' times" palaver, it's fair to say that a public house with attractive decor, a comfortable interior, good staff and no piped music is a very real pleasure.
However, there are also times when you want something different, a place where the food ranges beyond crisps and toasted sandwiches and the coffee beyond Nescafe. Somewhere that blurs the boundaries between bar, cafe and restaurant. In short, somewhere that is not a traditional Irish pub but neither a lame attempt at an American-themed sports bar.
The recently opened Odeon in Dublin's Harcourt Street is such a place, where you could bring your parents for lunch, your grandparents for afternoon tea/coffee and your partner for a night out.
The Odeon is housed in an imposing neo-classical building, which used to serve as the ticket offices and waiting rooms of Harcourt Street train station. The large stone steps which used to lead to the platforms now lead you through two mighty glass and wood doors into a large open standing area into which you could easily fit the total capacity of many smaller pubs. Facing you through an arch is an impressively long marble bar - the constituent parts of which originally came from a bank in Barcelona - with three separate pump stations (beer pumps, that is).
To the left and right there are seating areas with 1920s style red and green armchairs, sofas ranged along the walls and more traditional wooden chairs and benches in the middle. Indeed the whole design is strongly Art Deco, from the chairs and light fittings to the veneered walnut tables and the sturdy cast iron radiators, and the space is coolly lit, with large potted plants adding to the restful feel. However, the retro feel does not extend to the art works, which are clearly modern and stand out against the cream walls, picked out by small spotlights. Outside there are seating areas to the left and right of the main doors with wooden tables and green metal chairs.
In the afternoons the Odeon wears its restaurant/cafe cap, with the emphasis on food and coffee. All the tables are set with placemats and salt and pepper shakers, but strangely enough, no menus. The menu is the by now familiar blend of cuisines - starters include satay chicken and salad Nicoise with main courses such as blackened chicken with raita, goujons of lemon sole and pasta of the day. There is also an open sandwich menu, which includes combinations such as shrimp and avocado with basil mayonnaise, from which I tried the cajun chicken sandwich with roast red pepper mayonnaise. It comprised two slices of bread topped with a generous portion of spiced chicken breast pieces and a nicely picante mayonnaise, accompanied by a salad of mixed leaves, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and kalamata olives. Coming in at under £6, this is a welcome alternative to the carvery lunch and will no doubt prove popular with large sections of the ever-expanding local office population, many of whom were breaking bread the day I visited. Lunch is served until 3 p.m. on weekdays but not on weekends when the Odeon doesn't open until 4 p.m.
In the evenings the Odeon becomes a fully fledged bar, serving late from Thursday to Sunday. On Friday afternoons from 6 p.m., the apres office crowd starts to file in, but it is on a Saturday night that you get to see things in full swing. Two weeks after the Odeon opened, a Saturday night visit was aborted as it was simply too full, so we took the precaution of arriving early (8.15 p.m.) for our next Saturday night foray.
At this time the bar was quiet, a little too quiet, so we ventured outside where there was more of a buzz. Overhead gas heaters are being fitted, which is a wonderful idea and will hopefully encourage more people to sit out later into the year. Unfortunately, the heaters had yet to be installed where we were sitting, and after an hour it began to get a tad chilly.
I decided to warm up by ordering a spicy pepperoni pizza from the newly introduced evening pizza menu, but the results could have been a lot better - the pizza was small but far from perfectly formed. Nevertheless I devoured it before heading inside, where the joint was now hoppin' and loud; the sound of 500-600 people's conversations amplified by a large, high ceilinged room is startlingly loud, loud enough to almost drown out the piped music which usually dominates. (The decibel level is maintained downstairs, where the hand-driers in the gents do a remarkable impression of a turbofan jet engine).
The overall feeling is one of sensory assault, which in this context is not disagreeable; if you're here on a Saturday night you're probably not here for a quiet drink, you're here for atmosphere and the Odeon is certainly not lacking in that.
A wide mix of people contribute to the buzz, from sleek model types with spray-on leather jeans to multi-pierced individuals clad in surfer gear; the doormen seemingly have catholic tastes, which is a good thing. At 10 p.m. the lights were dimmed - happily, as an invitation to stay and relax rather than the usual warning of impending closing time - and as we went out into the Dublin night a little while later we passed a line of people that could pass for a cinema queue. Clearly, the Odeon's movie theatre parallels don't end with the name.
The Odeon bar and restaurant, 57 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2