Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, Dublin

[tony h]

Attached to the Merrion Hotel you have to navigate through a twee sitting room to find your way into a very large spacious and modern room adorned with an impressive collection of modern Irish art.

The menu is extensive and inviting an it took quite sometime to decide what to have as there was so much to temp you – this is always a good sign. This being lunch and with perhaps only a glass or two of wine (Plus the previous night hangover) I eventually went for the tasting menu. I did try to get 1/2 portions but the waiter didn’t seem to cop on.

The tasting menu is based around the sea & the land and designed to reflect traditional Irish recipes – albeit with a French twist.

It all started with Guinness & Oysters – this was oysters set in Guinness jelly with an oyster froth set in a small glass & resembled a miniature Guinness. Sweetness of the oyster perfectly balanced by the tamed bitterness of the jelly. Both good & fun.

Then came a Molly Malone inspired cockle & mussel broth – this was quite exceptional. Seriously good selection of seafood in a to-die-for veloute. I could easily have eaten a lot more of this.

The “bacon & eggs” disk came san egg on my request – allergic to them. The bacon was a braised crubbeen filled with a mouse of ham hock and pieces of bacon – thinly sliced and set on a bed of sauerkraut-like cabbage. I really liked this – very refreshing & palate cleansing.

Next was pigeon breast stuffed with pieces of foie gras, wrapped in cabbage, then wrapped gain in the skin and moulded into a sausage shape – then roasted to perfection & served with seriously good Jus & some potato slithers & other veg (I don’t recall which). This is the product of a very good kitchen indeed. Although I have to say I can’t imagine the mother of any Irish person I know using foie gras (“ah dear now, we’re out of the foie gras - pass me the grey mince & galty cheese instead”). Great dish – nothing to do with Ireland.

As was the next: Cod & Peas. Every Irish person I know hates fish – it was seen as a punishment from the “fish on Friday” days. Also, cod & mushy peas has no bearing on any of the Irish I talked t afterwards. Anyway – it was bloody good. Peas dressed with champagnes vinaigrette (try getting that down the chippy) on top of which was a stunningly good piece of deep fried cod. This came with a sweet serving of chips in a paper bag.

Last main course was Irish Stew & colcannon. The colcannon was quite stunning (but a wee bit cold) – great mash potatoes with superbly savoury ham hock and flecks of cabbage. The irish stew was crap & did not deserve to be in a restaurant of this calibre. There’s only so much mutton dress as lamb you can do.

First dessert was miniature Irish coffee jelly – this was a bit too similar to the starter both in bitterness & look.

However, second dessert of apple pie & ice cream was quite sublime – the apple tart was a long thin slither (quite substantial) with apple tart on the bottom and apple crumble on top – very spice and very comforting. Trust me – this was a lot better than it sounds.

Over all, a very good meal despite the lamb course – I’m sure this was an oversight. I look forward to trying the more French orientated dishes in future. Worth seeking out if you can pull yourself away from Bewleys, Westmoreland St.

[Suzi Edwards]

wow. this sounds fab. dare i ask the price point?

[tony h]

130 euro for the food

[paulbrussel]

Sounds very interesting! I haven't been to Guilbaud for a long time, spending my lunch time rather at Thornton's which seemed to me more creative. But I think it's worth going to Guilbaud again, although my impression has always been very good of what he was doing!

[malacitana]

I just had a lunch at Patrick Guilbaud. I splashed out on the 165 Euro seven course surprise menu:

Oyster set with a green apple jelly and topped with a light foie gras ice cream. The oyster-foie gras combination worked surprisingly well. I think this was the best dish I had at PG. The only downside was the presentation with the ice cream placed on top of the oyster, which made the dish somewhat inconvenient to eat.

Scallops on a thin strip of puff pastry and wild mushrooms. Nothing spectacular, nice fresh scallops, but the wild mushrooms were too bland.

Terrine of foie gras with a fig chutney. A big slap of highest quality foie gras terrine, and the chutney had an intense fig flavour. However, foie gras served two times in a menu is too much for me, especially in those quantities.

Dover sole with a morel cream. A really thick and very nice slab of dover sole, unfortunately dusted with butter-fried breadcrumbs which were too intense for the fish, and I would swear the morel cream was made with dried morels, since it suffered from the typical sharp smokiness of dried morels. A shame.

Venison with mulled wine sauce, muesli, polenta with small pieces of green apples, and a small cube of green apple jelly. The idea of the dish was not bad at all, but the venison, unfortunately, was way too stringy. The polenta was very nice, made with cheese and very light and creamy.

A selection of irish cheeses

Chocolate fondant with Guiness ice cream. The fondant was rather strange, the liquid center was too small and still extremely liquid, like milk. I prefer the liquid center to be more creamy. For my taste, the baked bit was too dry. The flavour combination of chocolate and Guiness ice cream works, but the ice cream could have been much smoother and creamier.

Altogether a dissapointing experience which was way overpriced. Foodwise I would not rate PG as a two-star experience, but rather as an average one-star restaurant.

[Jon Tseng]

€165 is a very aggressive price point

Much more than London (pace Sketch)

Comparable to Paris!

J

[ulterior epicure]

Altogether a dissapointing experience which was way overpriced. Foodwise I would not rate PG as a two-star experience, but rather as an average one-star restaurant.

←

malacintana - i would agree. you can read (and see) my less involved lunch a month ago on my blog.

[Kropotkin]

Three friends and I lunched at Patrick Guilbaud a couple of weeks ago and were very happy indeed with the whole experience.

We'd kept the evening free for the Theatre, but had heard about the excellent lunch and so we pitched up in the comfortable (but peculiarly dim) lounge at 1pm sharp. From the start, the service was exceptional with every guest we saw treated to the same, excellent standards. The maître d' was especially good: he had clear 'ownership' of the room, but was nevertheless still happy to help with all kinds of things: my partner has mobility issues at the moment, but when he saw her setting off to find a restroom, he escorted her personally down a lift and around a hidden corridor to avoid the stairs... this was beyond the call and deserves reporting.

Perhaps the darkened bar was supposed to contrast with the stark, light, brilliantly-white modernist dining room? Certainly, all was bright and light at our spacious table next to the doors to the garden. Despite the equally pared-down, minimalist descriptions on the menus outside the door (eg. 'Chicken and mushrooms'), once within, the lunch menu offered sufficient choices to keep us all happy. The amouse bouche were solid: nice and tart, and the breads were very good - one including bacon slivers had a meat, salty flavour that bounced around the mouth in a very satisfying manner.

My first course was roast squab with a layer of cabbage just beneath the skin, and accompanied by artichokes, potatoes and a sauce I forget. I suspect this is one of their signatures, as I've heard of it elsewhere (and it's reviewed above). As elsewhere, I can report that the combination was genuinley thrilling and it was clear this was a serious cooking at work. One of our group had the soup and was highly complementary about the taste and texture.

My partner followed with chicken, mushroom and chicken. I fell foul (fowl?) of both of my restaurant rules here: 1) try something you don't like in the confidance that a fine kitchen will make it taste great; or 2) don't have anything that sounds just too simple. So I avoided the chicken and mushroom - which was hugely tasty, reminding one why this age-old combination emerged. Rather, I had a kebab of salmon and halibut (?), with beans in an orange sauce. I'm no fan of most beans and despite a delicate yet tangy sauce, they were still, well... beans. The fish was cooked just right, of course, but I'm not quite sure it worked with the orange and beans. Three of us had this; we were all intrigued and interested, but it didn't quite work for two of us.

Finally, deserts ranged from an admirable, robust wild berries combination for two of us, through to a highly compelling chocolate combination for me (rule 1 at work here: I seldom choose chocolate, but PG delivered in spades here). One of our group finished with some outstanding Irish cheeses - as you'd expect from a two-star place.

In sum, the food was very good indeed, the service was faultless, and the ambience was excellent - this was a stylish, buzzing space, and one that was noticeably full of people who were visibly enjoying their food. Indeed, we'd had such a good time that we almost forgot to try the exceptional petits fours. I'm not sure quite why some other reviewers are disappointed; our lunch filled and satisfied in equal measure. For sure, it may not be as innovative as some places (and Thornton's apprarently fills this niche in Dublin), but this is top notch cooking and, while I'd try Thorton's next time, I'd also make sure to return here without a second's hesitation. With crazily-cheap flights from the UK (save for their dire environmental costs) a decadent day trip to have a very enjoyable lunch is feasible, the awful airport-road traffic allowing...

As a footnote: without any research we also happened across 'Bang Cafe' (Bib Gourmand) for dinner on our other evening. This was a lively, modern place - and much bigger than it at first appears. The food was a solid, although a little hit and miss... and we paid plenty for it. However, the Tiger economy and its lucky beneficiaries were clearly on show here. I'd not visited Dublin for three years, and even in that time, the changes are marked (the population has doubled, for example, since 1996...but enough of the geography lesson!)

[Catriona]

I've come to the conclusion that the thing to do with Guilbaud is to go for lunch, and to do the set lunch. It's extremely reasonable, and you still get the "hit" of good service and calm, relaxed atmosphere (you'd pay the same for a lunch at Bang or whatever for a very different experience), but you don't risk so much disappointment. Smaller investment, both in terms of money and expectation. For something wonderful, you're better off going to Thornton's, for example.

I'll be clear here - I've had a couple of great meals at Guilbaud, I really think it can do some things very well. It's not a temple to the food gods though.

It's a while since I've been to Bang: nice enough, but nothing special. Not sure it deserves a bib gourmande. but who am I to criticise: the more good food in town the better.

I'm being brought out by some work colleagues for a special celebration next month, probably to thornton's or l'ecrivain or chapter One. I'm not being told where... the anticipation is already building!

[Corinna Dunne]

Caitriona, that sounds like fun. Let us know where you end up.

I agree that the lunch menus in Guilbaud’s and Thornton’s are brilliant value. A La Carte is big money though, so needs to be top-notch. I prefer Thornton’s for the food and Guilbaud’s for the room, (although Venu, the brasserie child of Guilbaud offers stiff competition for most soulless room in town). And yep, they are in no way comparable to Bang, which is a fashionable spot with some good cooking, but nothing outstanding.

[Catriona]

Haven't been to Venu yet... reports I've heard have been that it's rather stodgy, and that the lighting is particularly awful. Tales of "slip and falls" on the stairs going down to it, too!

[Kropotkin]

Catriona is right - I should have distinguished between the lunch menu and the dinner menu with its hefty prices. If I'd had the fish dish I mentioned, and paid €40+ for the priviledge, I'd have been on here grumbling politely about the value. We enjoyed our lunch greatly, but had we paid double for similar cooking in the evening, this might have coloured our memories. I also share your surprise that Bang Cafe is listed as Bib Gourmand.

Apologies if this tramples all over a thread elsewhere, but can I ask Catriona and Corrina (and any others who know the city), in order:

- What are the three best places for dinner?

- What are the three best places for lunch?

Many thanks in anticipation

[Corinna Dunne]

For dinner, if you’re talking about quality, the best three are:

- Thornton’s, see this thread

- Guilbaud’s

- And either L’Ecrivain (thread here)

or Chapter One (thread here)

You can pay a lot of money for an excellent steak at Shanahan’s if that is your thing, or you could pay quite a bit less at The Town Bar & Grill, which does a lot more than steak and does it extremely well.

But the best price to quality ratio, in my opinion, is to be found at Chapter One (the charcuterie trolley is a must). Great service too. L’Gueuleton is good for solid French bistro style cooking. It is a heck of a lot more casual than any of the Michelin places, so bear this in mind. It doesn’t take bookings, so you have to put your name down at 6pm when it opens.

For lunch, again the first two choices are easy from a price/quality ratio point of view because of their lunch menus (although L’Ecrivain and Chapter One are obvious options too):

- Thornton’s

- Guilbaud’s

My third choice would be Caviston’s, a small unfussy fish restaurant in Glasthule, in South County Dublin by the sea. Very fresh fish at affordable prices, and a nice afternoon out (although they do 3 sittings, so go for the 3pm one if you want to be leisurely, the first one if you want a choice of what’s on).

If you want to stay in the city, I would suggest L’Gueuleton, as it’s easier to get a table for lunch than it is for dinner (Carlingford oysters are in season and on the menu now). .Venu (despite the room… and the music) is good value for money. My experience there was good (great bread), but opinions are divided on both the food and the service. As Caitriona mentioned, everyone hates the lighting, and I wouldn’t fancy Jimmy Choo’s on the steps. The Mermaid also does a good mid-Atlantic lunch menu.

For something even simpler, La Maison des Gourmets is a little French treat; the café is upstairs over the deli/patisserie. Gruel is just about as casual as it gets, but the food is great and it’s really cheap. And of course there are some interesting little Chinese places in the Moore St/Parnell St area.

Really, it depends on your taste and budget. There’s plenty more advice on the

Eating in Ireland thread.

I’d better get back to work… I’m in the middle of editing the Food & Wine Eat Out guide for 2007!

[Catriona]

I bow to Corinna's vastly superior knowledge & experience.

Hm, the thing is that "best" depends so much on what you're looking for.

For dinner (having never had it in either place), I'd suggest that if you want "fine dining" (hate that phrase), Thornton's and Chapter One are fighting it out.

For lunch, it's much harder. There are plenty of places that do great value set lunches if you want michelin-style cooking - thornton's, guilbaud, l'ecrivain. Otherwise, possibly l'gueuleton for something good and tasty? But these are apples and oranges.

However, I'm a poor hardworking soul, and don't get to experience these. The best place for lunch for me tends to be itsabagel and then a patch of grass in merrion square. Anywhere other than "al desko".

Again, what do you want?

[Catriona]

Corinna: very excited about the new guide - when is it out?

I'm a huge fan of caviston's shop, although to my great regret have never eaten there. I stopped going to gruel after a while, I think the grumpy service just crossed the line for me one day, and my weekly expeditions are no more. I must steel myself (and build up my appetite) to go back some time.

And La Maison Des G is heaven. My sister swears by their breakfasts.

Re Gueleton's lack of a booking system: if you're starving, hop across the road to the Market Bar and take the edge of your hunger with some tapas. Problem solved! A little aperitif with some nibbles can be exactly what the doctor ordered.

[Kropotkin]

Many thanks Corinna and Catriona,

This is very interesting reading and your efforts are much appreciated by me and, I'm sure, other readers too.

[kerriar]

Corinna and Catriona's recommendations are spot-on for Dublin and give excellent guidance for any visitor.

This is a city where it is all too easy to spend money on indifferent food and informed comments like the above are most valuable.

To the list I would add Roly's in Ballsbridge as well as Ely Wine Bar (Ely Place - is it still there?) and Frere Jacques on Dame Street - although I have not been back to the latter in the last couple of years so a more recent update may be needed.

Telling people about Caviston's brings mixed feelings - but only because it is so small with only a handful of tables and booking is not always easy, particularly at short notice. It is however a great place to eat a slow lunch and the best compliment I can give to their dependable combination of quality and simplicity is that here is a restaurant which would not be out of place in any Basque town. The Caviston family also run a great food shop and this was a regular Saturday morning haunt when I lived nearby.

[Simon_S]

While I agree with everything Corinna has said (as always!) I feel the need to give a shout out to One Pico, a restaurant that I have always enjoyed, and that is only a whisker below the Quartet of Guilbaud's, Thornton's, L'Ecrivain and Chapter One in my opinion. I find it hard to choose a top 3, but that's definitely my top 5.

Si

[Corinna Dunne]

Corinna: very excited about the new guide - when is it out?

←

It's out in November. It's the same format as last year, so magazine style and available in newsagents, as opposed to the guide book style of the Dubliner, Bridgestone and Georgina Campbell which sell through book stores. Rather than a top 100, it is pretty all encompassing and covers a range of places. They are not just my opinions, but those of the team at Food & Wine.

Edited September 13, 2006 by Corinna Dunne (log)

[Catriona]

Re: Roly's: used to be good about ?10 years ago... Surely it's not more than stodge now? Can't judge, as I haven't been there since 2000.

Ely is a regular in my dining rotation, I'm a big fan. Had a disastrous meal in the new outpost in chq, though. Really not one to be repeated.

I love itsa4 in sandymount, too. Great neighbourhood place, food obviously well thought through...

[Catriona]

Having said what I did upthread, I just have to say that I was at Bang at lunchtime, and had the best-cooked piece of Veal I've ever had in Ireland.

[Corinna Dunne]

Just to update this topic. Guilbaud’s - which was awarded its second Michelin star in1996 - got a bit of a facelift towards the end of last year and is Ireland’s only 2* restaurant. I had dinner there a few months ago, it remains solid, but not the most exciting place to eat in Dublin and the prices can bring on a serious attack of indigestion (the lunch is still relatively good value). Here’s the body of a review I did in December:

Staying at this level is all about consistency. With a staff of 43, it ultimately comes down to the work of three people: Patrick Guilbaud, the astute, handsome restaurateur; Guillaume Le Brun, the talented executive chef and Stephane Robin, the outstanding maitre’d. The restaurant has two entrances: a dedicated one on Upper Merrion Street and one through the hotel. We take the latter and Stephane, the maitre d’, guides us though to the lounge. A waiter arrives and our orders are taken; we opt for “Dooblinn water” and avoid the still or sparkling expense. The wine list is deep and steep, so we ask for advice. Our sommelier is quick to recommend the most expensive wine in the white category we are considering (€105 Pouilly Fumé 2002) and suggests a red at around the same price (€115 Trevallon 99) telling us they are good, but not why and not offering any options. Perhaps we should have engaged with him a bit better.

We move to our round, linen-clad table for four in the newly refurbished dining room. The room has a warm buzz of chatter; this is no dentist’s waiting room. It is now nicely broken up into sections with pale oak dividers (making service a bit trickier), the new carpet is graphically patterned in a post-modern way and the tableware has had a much needed update, leaving the yellow bordered plates behind which were beginning to look a bit 1980’s Noritake. When it is completed, the glass roofed terrace with large outside fire will be a stunning addition for pre and post dinner drinks. But one thing surprises me, our napkins are damp. I quietly mention it and they are immediately changed.

Our amuse-bouche arrives. It is witty and delightful: a delicate gin and tonic concoction in a glass, with foam, jelly and all the molecular malarkey. A lovely start. The lobster ravioli (€42) which follows is very good: the pasta is perfect, the filling moist and fresh tasting, and the sauce, which is a lobster bisque with a delicate touch of coconut in the background, is nicely judged. The signature crubbeen starter - of which variations have appeared on Guilbuad’s menu for the past 15 years - is excellent. Thinly sliced, delicate rounds of pigs’ trotter meat are fanned out to cover the plate, tiny cubes of potato in sour cream are in a neat pile on top with a scattering of crispy pork (which is in fact pig’s ear, very Michelin) and the dish is finished with a poached quail’s egg. It is deeply ‘piggy’ in the nicest possible way which contrasts nicely with the fragile structure of the slices of crubbeen. This is a very strong two star dish. Our other starters are more straight forward, foie gras (€40) which comes with a particularly good sauce (best sauce of the evening) and three petit West Cork king scallops (€40) which really are unashamedly over-priced.

And so to the mains. There are two ways of looking at pigeon: option one, it is dirt cheap, and unless it is bolstered with truffles or foie gras, offers a profit margin as handsome as Guilbaud, or option two, hehehe, this is where it could all go horribly wrong; lets see what they can do to justify €48. Well, here they do it admirably, albeit with the help of the dark art of sous vide. The pigeon is cooked at a constant low temperature for hours in a vacuum pack and then roasted in the oven, burnished with butter. The result is a deliciously succulent, evenly cooked piece of meat. The dish is finished with a mead and almond jus which has just a touch too much star anise for subtlety, but still, this is a great dish.

The other mains have less to say for themselves. The rabbit, stuffed with cured lemon and herbs is nice enough (€48). But it’s farmed, which makes absolutely no sense since the country is over-run with the blighters and if I had two Michelin stars, I’d be avoiding farmed anything, to be honest. Not up to scratch. The roast rib of Irish dry-aged beef for two is a hefty €98; there’s a nice before and after razzmatazz as it’s presented just roasted and then, well, sliced on a plate with big, fat, very good pomme pont-neuf (chips). The beef is beautifully cooked, deliciously rare with a charred crust on the outside, but is lacking in depth of flavour, for which I am going to blame the farmer and not the chef. A green salad with truffle oil (the culinary blight) and excellent crispy onion rings are served as side dishes. And then potatoes and green beans arrive for the table. So plenty of food, without a doubt, it’s posh meat and two veg with a silver cloche on top, which appeals hugely to the older business clientele. The ones with the deep pockets. Our wine runs low, would we like another asks the sommelier? No, could we see the list we ask, but another €115 bottle is brought regardless. You need a hard neck to resist the up-selling.

We finish with some very good cheese, nicely served by a well informed waiter and the ‘tropical trilogy’ dessert (€24): a macaroon with pink grapefruit and lychee sorbet, roast pineapple (sous vide again) with green tea granité and a soft coconut biscuit with fresh raspberries which is light and fresh tasting. We wrap up with some petits fours and a hefty bill.

Head chef Kieran Glennan

[augustine]

Hi Corinna. Nice review. I would love to know how the Trevallon is drinking.

In my opinon I wouldn't blame the farmer for the beef. PG could source far better aged Irish beef but they continue to serve as you have rightly pointed out flavourless meat. The meat from Shanahans, which is good to very good is farmed in the exact same way as Irish Aberdeen Angus that was on sale in Tesco, just handled differently after slaughter. The potential for the product exists.

The PG beef dish has always left people so disappointed, needlessly. For the farmed French rabbit blame the EHOs.

[Corinna Dunne]

The Travellan was gorgeous, my first time trying it. Wish my budget extended to exploring their wine list a bit deeper.