Cafebar H
Grand Canal Plaza Dublin 2
01-8992216
Chef: Johnnie Cooke
On a corner overlooking Grand Canal Plaza, Johnnie Cooke’s new eatery, backed by Harry Crosbie, is the latest addition to this already buzzing location, with the Grand Canal Theatre acting as the main draw.
I just came for the food.
The window-wrapped space has the feel of a sophisticated Barcelona tapas bar, weaving dark woods with shiny surfaces, white spaces and the iconic Egyptian statues from outside the Shelbourne Hotel – apparently they’re the original ones. I hoped the food would taste as good as the place looked.
Cooke’s culinary star seems to rise and fall, but his fans maintain that he is one of Ireland’s greats.
Here he is at the helm of what is essentially a hybrid of a tapas bar and a restaurant, so you can order as little or as much as you like.
The first surprise was the simple sounding pan con tomate yajo (€3.50), essentially bread and tomatoes.
Well not really: the ‘bikini’ bread had a crispy exterior and almost no white centre, ideal for those who count calories, while the tomato was a concasse that was almost a confit with a rainbow of richness. Simple, but extraordinarily good.
The gambas al ajillo (€9.50) was a generous portion of plump prawns with what would be an ordinary butter, garlic and lemon dressing in my hands, but which in Cooke’s was transformed, possibly with a glug of Albarino. It was so good we kept the sauce on the table for the entire meal for dunking.
The Albarino, from Bodegas Pablo Padin 2009 (€5 a glass or €22 a bottle) was lip smacking stuff, and worked perfectly with the Spanish influenced food.
I was curious to see what the chef would do with the ensaladilla Rusa or Spanish potato salad (€6.50).
This is a great curiosity to non-Spaniards – the culinary equivalent of a stylish aunt who occasionally wears a hick scarf, this native salad is generally not a delight, and Cooke struggled to bring any magic to it.
But the Mc H mini-burger with foie gras and truffle mayonnaise (€8.50) soon obliterated the salad.
The fun juxtaposition of luxury ingredients with the workaday burger worked very well, as the size meant the richness did not overwhelm.
I ordered the veal sweetbreads (€16.50) which are coming off the main menu, but may stay as a special.
I loved the delicate flavour of the sweetbreads, which were served on a bed of shredded snow peas, and a superb Pedro Ximenez sherry sauce.
Between courses, I was dragged outside for a cigarette and noticed that the windows are punctured by frames with deep sills designed for smokers to rest their drinks. All very clever, but have non-smokers noticed how smokers are destroying the flow of a meal?
When people still smoked indoors, nobody would dream of lighting up between courses, and smokers waited until the end of the meal.
Now non-smokers sit alone at tables while starters are being cleared. Isn’t it time smokers stopped being so rude? Hold your addiction until the end of the meal as you did in the past. okay, rant over.
Desserts included a favourite of mine, tarta de Santiago with Jerez cream (€7.50), a plain cake with the cross of St James picked out in icing sugar on top. What arrived was a sticky delight of caramel and fig in a delectable crumbly pastry.
Very toothsome, but not tarta de Santiago.
The crema Catalana (€7.50) was a real beauty, as the chef had woven lemon and orange zest with bitter almond into this classic Iberian créme brulée.
A large part of the menu is written in Spanish, and polymath that I may be, I struggled with several descriptions. The planned new menu may rectify this.
But besides that, you’re sure to be delighted by all this new addition to the Dublin dining scene has to offer, including staff who chat amiably about the dishes and the differences between the classic canon and what the clever chef is doing.
You guessed it: they weren’t Irish.
Watching the pennies
Starter: pan con tomate y ajo €3.50
Main course: Jamón Ibérico Arte Jabu y pan con tomate €14 Dessert: Cooke’s chocolate pecan tart €7.50
Wine: Bodegas Gomez Cruzado Rioja 2008 €22
Dinner for two: €72
Breaking the bank
Starter: wild Sockeye smoked salmon with baby capers and red onion €12.50
Main course: Suquet, Catalan fish stew with clams, prawns, mussels, fennel, red peppers and tomato €16.50 Dessert: plato de queso con membrillo €9.50
Wine: Bodegas Peique Selección Familiar 2005 €58
Dinner for two: €135
Tomás Clancy rates the wine list
The wine list here is short and tightly constructed, with a clear and determined emphasis on value. A bonus feature, part of a welcome trend in wine lists recently, is the presence of five sherries at €5 a glass, all from the highly regarded producer Lustau.
Of the 36 wines on the list, 29 are priced under €40, with 20 coming in at under €30. There’s also a sub-€30 sparkler, the €27 Pere Ventura Cava NV.
Good buys include the excellent Laurenz V Friendly Gruner Veltliner 2008 at €28 and the fashionable Portia Ribera Del Duero 2004 at €33. Overall, a list where function meets formidable value.
Rating: ***
