sidoyle

Mint has shut its doors. http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-ne...nt-1716890.html

The negativity I'm referring to is the negativity displayed by McGrath in the documentary; in and out of the kitchen, toward his staff and towards the world in general. I grew up in a restaurant, so I can't help but react in a negative way toward his management style. Moreover, to my mind, this negativity manifests itself in the technically adventurous yet experientially vapid food which he creates; as well as in the stiff, ritualised front of house experience. Food at this level is an aesthetic experience; and I'm criticising his food on aesthetic grounds; but at the same time I recognise that he's reached an aesthetic plane in his cooking.

I just watched the documentary about Dylan McGrath and Mint. He came across as a joyless sociopathic monomaniac. I ate in his restaurant once and felt positively bullied by the food. The flavours were good, the technique was flawless, the produce excellent, but overall the food was joyless; more designed than felt; as if from Marinetti's Futurist cookbook. Having seen the grim interior of his kitchen on the documentary, I am not sure I could bring myself to go back. I don't want to have to eat a meal while trying to ignore how much negativity went into plating it.