Pizza e Porchetta, Clanwilliam Terrace, Dublin 2

Hidden down a side street, under an arch and with trains rumbling beside it, lies Pizza e Porchetta a new Italian restaurant by restaurateur Ronan Ryan. It is a very unique space, all curves and slanty ceilings, and the interior is modern, sleek and very white. There is a cosiness to the place though helped in part by the wood-fired oven. It isn't a cold restaurant to sit in!

We were careful to make a booking for this place as we had heard it was busy and when we arrived at 6pm the room was already half full. We were shown to a nice little table in the corner and were given the menu. As the girl at the table beside us pointed out to a staff member it was the lunch menu but apparently it is the same food so no problem there. And yes you may have noticed that we could hear the girl at the table beside us and no the tables aren't too close she was just a loud talker!! The only problem anyone will have with the tables is trying to get out to the loo. It is a tight squeeze when all the tables are full!

So after a few minutes our waiter came back to take our order. I ordered, Niamh asked a question, he went to the kitchen to check, came back with the answer and then wandered away without finishing taking our order. We were perplexed to say the least. It took us about five minutes but finally we caught one of the staff's attention and were able to order again. Then the alarm went off, a big loud siren of noise!! Safe to say we weren't having the best experience of the place so far but then the food arrived and we forgot about everything else. 

I couldn't decide whether I wanted pizza or porchetta so I decided to get both and ordered a porchetta covered pizza! I'm 'pazza' about pizza and this pizza was perfect and brought me right back to the years I spent living in Rome. The base was light, thin and crispy and topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella and porchetta. The slices of porchetta were thin, tasty and salty but not overpoweringly so. Not one slice was left.

Porchetta Pizza

My friend went for a margarita with an extra topping of aubergine. It was also a great pizza but a few more slices of aubergine wouldn't have gone astray.

Margarita Pizza with Aubergine

The meal ended with a creamy Tiramisu which I enjoyed but personally like a bigger kick of alcohol in it. That's probably just me though! My friend ordered a coffee and it would have been nice to have them arrive at the same time so she wasn't just watching me gorge on dessert.

Our whole meal came to €49 which was for two pizzas, two glasses of wine, a dessert and coffee. They do offer a pre-theatre menu for €19 from 5 - 7 which includes pizza, a side and a glass of wine but we didn't realise this till after we left and the staff never mentioned it to us. Is it worth a visit? Definitely. The restaurant is still finding its feet so random service is sometimes an occurance and something that will hopefully be sorted out with time. The  food though is fantastic and if you have ever been to Italy it will transport you back there for a little while. 

Forest Avenue: An exceptional meal to end 2013

Blogging took a little bit of a backseat over the last few weeks. Christmas just seemed to fly up on me and for the first time ever our household was responsible for Christmas dinner!! It was a success but I may have landed myself into doing it for the next few years! Now I'm sure you might all well be sick of the sight of food after two weeks of Christmas delights but I thought this post would be a good way to round off 2013 as this meal was 'THE' meal of 2013 for me.

Just before Christmas myself and the mother took ourselves off to Forest Avenue, a newish restaurant situated on Sussex Avenue in Dublin 4 and run by husband and wife team, John and Sandy Wyer. It was a random Tuesday afternoon but the restaurant was busy and the first thing I noticed was the variety of diners in there. It included business men, students, families and well heeled ladies. Indeed the table next to us had buggies and a highchair at it. The decor is casual and has a Nordic feel to it with white walls and great floor to ceiling windows. The place had a lovely informal atmosphere to it and the owners have definitely managed to capture that neighbourhood feel. 

The menu for lunch consisted of two choices for each course. Unsurprisingly we both went for the same thing. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree and all that jazz!!  The meal started off with some warm fresh bread and an aubergine dip. It was a small taste of the wonderful things to follow. There is also a open kitchen where the chef is on view and you are able to see all the dishes being plated up. The skill and flair in the kitchen is something to behold. Being able to see what was going on pleased the mother a lot and she said it was like a real life viewing of RTE's The Restaurant!

The first course up was the potted seatrout with horseradish, cucumber and beetroot.  It was beautiful to look at and almost too good to eat but we got over that fairly quickly! All the flavours worked wonderfully together and it was a light, fresh starter.

Potted seatrout with horseradish, cucumber and beetroot. 

Next up was our main course of roast cod with leeks, mussels and Jerusalem artichoke. Each mouthful was a delight and the fish flaked apart easily. I also love the earthy taste of Jerusalem artichoke and thought they worked a treat with the fish. The dish was also accompanied by a little fish cake. Conversation between myself and the mother ground to a halt and consisted mainly of 'mmm' and 'oh my god, have you tasted that bit yet'!! 

Roast cod with leeks, mussels and Jerusalem artichoke

At the beginning we did think we would only have two courses but we were so blown away by the quality of the dishes that we couldn't leave without having dessert. Dessert was coconut cream, passion fruit and spiced bread. The passion fruit came in the form of a sorbet with spiced bread sprinkled liberally around the plate. The coconut cream came in a separate little cup. It was divine! 

Passion fruit and Spiced Bread

Coconut Cream

From beginning to end this meal was flawless. The flavours and combinations were amazing and as my mother kept saying to anyone who would listen - the staff, the chef, and all her friends since - it was such an experience! I didn't doubt that it would be very good as John and Sandy Wyer are well known throughout the food world. I think though that they have managed to create something very special with Forest Avenue. It is modern food of a very high standard without any of the pretentiousness that normally accompanies food like this or the massive prices! I'm predicting that Forest Avenue will be of the stars of 2014!

Lunch at Forest Avenue cost us €27 for three courses. Dinner consists of a tasting menu for €48 while their fabulous sounding Sunday Brunch is €24. 

8 Sussex Terrace - Dublin 4 - Ph: 01 667 8337
email: sandy@forestavenuerestaurant.ie  

Find them on Twitter here

Another Great Sushi Spot - Zakura, Wexford Street

I am originally from the southside. Grew up there, went out there and ended up working there! Somehow though in my thirties I have managed to find myself living in Meath. Noone saw it coming! Now I find myself on the Northside a lot so it is wonderful to see it reviving in the last few years especially in terms of food. Instead of having to cross the Liffey for a good feed we now have a few fantastic choices. Sandwiches at Oxmantown, middle eastern breakfast plates in Brother Hubbard and Dublin's best Chinese at M&L. Indeed one of my favourite restaurants is Musashi on Capel Street. Read my blog post on it here. Word on the street now though is that they are also the people behind Zakura Noodle & Sushi on Wexford Street. Indeed walking into Zakura is a very similar experience to Musashi. The decor is the same, right on down to the small wooden stools covered with red cushions. The menu though is more Wagamama style, all glossy and black and very easy to read. 

We walked in at 5.30 on a Friday evening and were seated immediately and handed a cup of green tea. I don't think the word has gotten out yet that it is there! I started off with some crab cucumber norimaki while Maya went for salmon sashimi. Both were presented beautifully and were fresh and tasty. I just love how they display their food. I mean how cute is that little boat filled with sashimi!

Norimaki

Salmon Sashimi

If this had just been lunch I would have left it at the sushi but seeing as we tend to eat a LOT we decided to get some bigger dishes. Maya went for the very exotic sounding Suzuki Amiyaki Gohan which is basically grilled seabass on a bed of stir fired vegetables. It was as lovely to look at as it was to eat.

For me it felt like a good night to try out their Chicken Ramen as it had felt wintery all day. I love ramen and it's usually my go to dish in Wagamama as it always hits the spot. I will definitely be adding this one to the list. The broth had a deep chicken flavour while the chicken breast itself was glazed with a sauce that added another dimension of taste to it. It was comforting, filling and fun to slurp up! What more could you want in a ramen.

Another plus besides all the food is the price, it's pretty cheap for what you get. The whole meal cost us €40.90 which included a pot of Japanese green tea. It was great value and we left full and happy. It's also BYOB so what more can you ask for! So if you love Japanese food I would suggest you get down there fast before you are being turned away because they are full.  The word is going to get out fast!

You can find them on Facebook here and their website here. 

Clarification: Zakura is independently owned and is not a sister branch of Musashi's. 

Cleaver East

There is not a lot that entices me to go to Temple Bar. The Saturday Market, The Project Arts Centre and the Exchange are about it. Restaurant wise I tend to avoid it though I will make an exception for Skinflint, Il Baccaro and The Port House. Ask me to recommend any others and I would be at a loss (I have yet to visit NEDE though I have heard good things about it). So it was with great anticipation that I paid Cleaver East a visit last week,  a new venture by Oliver Dunne and Rory Carville. 

The first thing you notice from the outside are the big windows with massive cleavers hanging from the inside. It is a strong focal point and one which will no doubt catch the attention of curious passersby. The interior is a vast open space which is well sectioned out including a sit down bar in the middle and a higher level seating area at one end. We were very pleasantly greeted at the door and promptly shown to a table. We were then asked if we knew the concept behind the restaurant which was described to us as ‘tapas-style dishes’. 

Once we had ordered a very palatable white wine, Lionel Osmin - La Reserve 2012, it was onto the hard choice of deciding what to order. We were told that four dishes each, including sweet and savoury, would probably do us. So we decided to get five dishes between us to start with and keep room for dessert. The first dish to arrive at the table was the Heirloom Tomato Salad with Pickled Onion Shells and Black Olive Crumb. This was followed swiftly by the Soft Poached Organic Duck Egg with Ricotta and Hazelnut Mousse and Asparagus and then the Carpaccio of Irish Dexter Beef, Rocket Pesto and 36 Month Reggiano Parmesan. All these dishes were superb with the black olive crumb nudging the heirloom tomato salad out in front. As my friend said she doesn’t like olives but she liked them like that!

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Pickled Onion Shells and Black Olive Crumb

Soft Poached Organic Duck Egg with Ricotta and Hazelnut Mousse and Asparagus

Carpaccio of Irish Dexter Beef, Rocket Pesto and 36 Month Reggaino Parmesan

Then after a substantial wait where we polished off our bottle of wine and moved onto bottle number two, the final two dishes came out. These were the Monkfish with Sweet Piquillo Pepper Puree and Iberico Crumb and BBQ Rare Breed Pork Belly with Apple and Ginger. As with the other two dishes their execution was superb and the creativity in them was wonderful.  The standout for me was the Pork Belly which was melt in the mouth and made me wish for a bigger portion of it. 

BBQ Rare Breed Pork Belly with Apple and Ginger

Monkfish with Sweet Piquillo Pepper Puree and Iberico Crumb

We finished off the meal with two desserts and chose the Cleaver East Twisted Banoffee and the Lemon Cannelloni. The Lemon Cannelloni was out of this world and was light, refreshing and very summery. My friend wasn’t too keen on her banoffee as she didn’t realise it had peanuts in it. This was due to not paying careful attention to what all the fiddly dots on the menu meant as we were in full blown gossip mode by then!

Twisted Banoffee

Lemon Cannelloni

There is no doubt that the food here is beautiful. It is superb to look at and a pleasure to eat. It is fun, creative and showcases Irish food in a wonderful way. The only problem I had with the place was that the food was described to us as ‘tapas style’ which left us with certain presumptions.  We assumed that the dishes would arrive close enough together and that they would be shareable. The first 3 did and then there was a sizeable gap which made it a bit awkward as I was eating when my friend wasn’t and vice versa. The dishes are also a bit too fiddly to be able to share properly – try sharing a duck egg, it’s not easy! On the Cleaver East website it actually says the concept is Tasting Plates and definitively not tapas style which makes much more sense as it would be much easier to just choose a few dishes and enjoy them yourself. I think they need staff to be very clear on what the restaurant’s concept is otherwise it can led to misconceptions such as ours.  

We also had a few staff issues that day firstly with being asked three times by different staff members if we knew the restaurants’ concept even after being told it in the first few minutes of sitting down. There were also  a lot of wrong dishes and teas and coffees brought to our table even though there were only  three other tables occupied that day. Yet the service was very friendly and it was all done with a smile. Cleaver East were also offering 20% off their bill which I assume is to cover teething problems such as those. 

All in all Cleaver East is a welcome new addition to the Irish restaurant scene and given where it is located hopefully many a tourist will go home with a renewed view of what Irish food is all about. 

Our meal cost €109.90 which included the 20% discount which is available till the end of August. You can book online for Cleaver East at www.cleavereast.ie. Find them on Facebook here and Twitter here. 



 

La Serre Restaurant: The Village at Lyons

Recently my sister and her family came home from Oz for a flying visit. They were only home for two weeks but they brought the weather with them and the two weeks were spent in a haze of sunshine, swimming and eating out. She also came home bang in the middle of our family birthday season and so got the chance to celebrate mine and the mother's birthday. For the mother's mini surprise birthday (she picked the venue as a family dinner, she didn't know we were bringing cake!) we all went to La Serre which can be found in the very beautiful surrounding of the Village at Lyons.

 

La Serre is the restaurant part of The Village at Lyons and it is, without doubt, in one of the prettiest settings I have ever seen. The dining area is in the original Turner designed conservatory and the room is filled with light and the scent of the fig plants that adorn the walls. La Serre is only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but is open for both lunch and dinner. We were there for lunch on a Saturday and were availing of their €25 set menu. This a great value menu with wonderful options on it and is very far removed from a typical set menu. The staff are also very open to accommodating any allergies that anyone may have.

Since there was such a large group of us I think we nearly ordered everything off the menu. For starters we ordered a variety of dishes, two of which I only have pictures of as the others got stuck in too fast! So the two starters were:

Irish Goats Cheese, Pickled Beetroots, Mixed Greens, Candied Pecans

Cured Salmon, Fennel and Apple Salad, Lemon Créme Fraiche, Lavender Jelly

Both the starters were wonderful. They were light and a perfect starter size and were filled with unexpected flavours such as the candied pecans or the lavender jelly.

For our mains we ordered the following dishes:

Cod, Cauliflower Puree, Green Beans and Lemon Butter

Salmon, Crush Potato, Wild Mushrooms, Puy Lentils and Champagne Cream

Prime Irish Rib Eye Steak with Seasonal Vegetables, Potato, Red Wine Jus

Tagliatelle Pasta, Truffle Vinaigrette, Wild Mushrooms, Shaved Parmesan

The nephew's dairy free cod dish (photo taken by him :-)

All the mains were stunning with a plethora of flavours running through each of them but which all worked wonderfully with their individual components. The only dish I wasn't totally enamoured with was the steak. It was still great and perfectly cooked for those that ordered it. It was just a bit ordinary compared to all the other dishes on the menu though I can imagine it sells very well there. I think the best thing about the courses is that they had a wonderful summery feel attached to them with their use of seasonal ingredients.

Our lunch was finished off with a mixed berry tart from the Hansel and Gretel bakery in Navan. Hats off to the staff who managed to conceal it from my mother, put it in a fridge and bring it back in with candles. They didn't have to do it but it made a lovely lunch even more special. 
 

We then finished up our meal with some coffees, a wander around their gorgeous grounds and a walk by the canal.
 

A lunch in La Serre is a wonderful way to spend a birthday/family get together. We didn't expect it to be as fabulous as it was as it was only for lunch, but the food, the staff and the setting made it a very special place to spend the day. I only have one thought in my head now ... if that was lunch, I wonder what dinner would be like?!