Novelli to run La Stampa

[Corinna Dunne]

The hottest news in Dublin at the moment is the appointment of Jean Cristophe Novelli as chef patron at La Stampa. He appeared on The late Late Show a few weeks ago, followed by a celebrity style interview in the Sunday Independent. He wasn't giving too much away, the most revealing comment being:

"La Stampa is going to be one of the most romantic places in Ireland and the best restaurant in Ireland. Because I'm like this: everything I do, I do it very, very well. I will be here a lot".

La Stampa the space, is grand and beautiful, but La Stampa the restaurant has been down in the cullinary doldrums for quite some time. So this is a big effort to put it back in its achingly trendy, celeb hangout niche. I understand that it is to be officially relaunched sometime in July, but am not sure on this.

[erica graham]

Does this mean that he is taking this on along with his other places, or or that he is leaving Brocket Hall? I forsee lots of airmiles!!

[Gary Marshall]

obviously he's forgotten what happend the last time he tried to run several restaurants at once!

[Corinna Dunne]

It appears that this is being added to the existing stable, so yes, plenty of airmiles.

The article also mentions about JCN's experience of "bumping into Wayne Rooney's girlfriend Coleen in Dublin", his comment being that "all the birds from Manchester United" want to come to his cookery school. So he is obviously going to be a very busy man indeed.

As I said, the general thrust of this piece was celebrity profile as opposed to foodie.

[Corinna Dunne]

…Waiting for Novelli

So far, no one seems to have spotted him at La Stampa,. The “I’m too sexy for my toque” pieces written by hypnotised female journalists continue to pepper the media, but apart from these personal interviews which were done a while back, no one seems to have spotted the Gallic lovely.

Most of the critics are giving the thumbs down to the new menu and invisible chef. Lucinda O’Sullivan in the Sunday Independent wondered if he had actually taken up the position of patron chef yet (he has apparently), Tom Doorley in the Irish Times gave a seriously ‘must try harder’ report, although the very straight talking Helen Lucy Burke in Dubliner magazine said it was “a good evening”, although her review was mixed.

She criticised the “ill-spelled English” menu which she found pretentious, derided the flavourless prawns and lack of squid on his signature lemongrass brochette (15.50 euro), but liked the beetroot it was served with. The Novelli pork knuckle terrine with sauce gribiche (13.50 euro) was apparently good and earthy, but fridge cold. The scallops with boudin noir (29 euro) got the thumbs up for mains as did the Angus fillet of beef with Provence tomato, Portobello mushrooms, Beaufort cheese glaze and wild mushroom risotto (33.50 euro). The desserts were OK, except for the flavourless strawberries, and she liked the hot chocolate fondant (10 euro). Prices are pretty high and to this, the restaurant automatically adds 12.5% service charge, with another shameful box underneath for yet more thanks. Given the mediocre to bad reviews and these prices, I don’t think I’ll be going there soon.

[tomweir]

Shame, it's the best room in Dublin.

[Corinna Dunne]

Well... JCN was on Irish national television this weekend (The Late Late Show again), to announce that he's moving to Dublin, looking for a house and taking a big interest in La Stampa, his "baby". The big news this time was his cookery school (or Academie as he calls it), which is to be run in La Stampa taking two separate approaches 1. demonstrations 2. cookery courses. The courses, apparently, will not be technique or knife skills based, but will focus on ingredients, and how to cook them simply and wonderfully. He was rapturous about the right way to cook an aubergine (with just a little sugar for 20 mins) and his overall pitch is towards cooking for busy people. Cash rich, time poor, I imagine.

[Andy Lynes]

And all this while he opens a chain of 10 gastropubs in the UK: A Touch of Novelli. A "touch" seems about right. Also, how seriously should we take a chef that employs Max Clifford as a publicist?