Bright young cheffing talent Cúán Greene is lending a new lease of new life to one of the city’s best-loved restaurants, bringing skills and sensibilities honed in Copenhagen (at Noma and Geranium) to a contemporary space that has already brought new life to the Dublin 8 neighbourhood of Leonard’s Corner.
Cúán has taken over as head chef from Bastible’s proprietor Barry Fitzgerald, himself a chef with serious form (as head chef at London’s Harwood Arms and Dublin’s Etto). Since opening Bastible in 2015, Barry and his partner Claremarie Thomas have built an enviable reputation for both Bastible and sister restaurant Clanbrassil House (also at Leonard’s Corner – see separate entry), displaying a keen eye for spotting and fostering exceptional young talent such as that of Grainne O’Keefe (head chef at Clanbrassil House and regularly touted as a rising star of Dublin’s dining scene). The addition of Cúán Greene to the Bastible team is a coup, and evidence of a continuing commitment to world-class gastronomic evolution at this smart neighbourhood spot.
From the outside, the space is understated, with just the name and street number stencilled against the slate grey wall framing the large window and buzzing dining room within. Inside, this small one-roomer restaurant eschews frills, relying on a cool palette of slate grey napkins, forest green walls, polished concrete floors and blonde wood tables and bar to offset the drama of cooking and eating. Seating includes bar-side stools that book up more slowly online than the traditional tables but offer great views of the open kitchen, where a tight team of intensely focused young chefs gather, tweezers at the ready, to turn out some exceptionally skilful and imaginative food.
Where Barry always excelled at extracting big flavours from humble but meticulously sourced ingredients, Cúán brings a distinctly Nordic influence to his seasonal menus – much of it foraged by the kitchen team or sourced with discerning doggedness. While a reduced à la carte menu is available mid-week (two/three courses €42/€50), the core offer is a seven-course tasting menu (€65) that journeys through some of the finest flavours of the island, utilising both ancient and modern preservation skills to extend the seasonality of the natural larder.
Some of these are long-celebrated (an inspired snack of lightly grilled native Irish oysters, perhaps, dressed with local seaweed and smoky morita chilli oil) and others less well-sung (pristine little Connemara shrimp complemented by earthy broccoli stalk, fig leaf and horseradish). Sometimes premium ingredients are used in clever supporting roles, such as the scallop vinaigrette that elevates a simple dish of sweet baby leeks and cured egg yolk. Sometimes it is simply the inspired cooking that re-imagines humble ingredients, as with a snack of ox tongue served in shish-style slivers stacked onto a skewer and basted with umami flavours of kelp and dried mushroom to accentuate the unique flavour of this under-utilised cut of meat.
This kitchen’s quiet confidence is expressed best in at the distinctively casual presentation style of serving a main course star – quince-lacquered sea trout or torched mackerel, perhaps, or braised lamb – with thick tangy wedges of cider vinegar glazed potato flatbread for mopping, and condiments such as fermented gooseberry and blackcurrant leaf or smoked house yoghurt with sea lettuce powder for spooning over.
To wash all of this down, a well-balanced list of European wines offers a mix of reliable classics and interesting left field choices. A decent selection of wines by the glass allows you to curate your own pairings with the tasting menu, while aperitivo such as Negroni and several sweet choices offer stylish ways to begin or end the meal.
Dessert picks up the baton and takes it further to unexpected places. Think cool sheep’s milk yoghurt set to a sensuous consistency and topped with a crunchy crust infused with the tart, vegetal and savoury-spiced flavours of fermented plum, juniper and tagetes (marigold leaf). Or complex sweet-savoury palate puzzlers like a magic milk chocolate mousse with roast yeast ice-cream and a malty dark beer syrup.
Petit four of smoked caramel wrapped in blackcurrant leather deliver the final thrill in what is one of the most exciting meals going in Dublin city. That much of the food is served to the table by the young chefs themselves makes the experience all the more endearing, and gives diners a chance to chat directly about where this team have gathered inspiration and ingredients. A special spot that feels like an intimate workshop for distilling an Irish cuisine of the future.
