Rhodes D7

Rhodes D7, Capel Street, Dublin 7 - www.rhodesd7.com tel: 353 1 804 4444

My first visit back to Rhodes D7 in over a year and things have changed - for the better. It could be my memory but the menu seemed much longer this time and included enough interesting dishes that I had difficulty making up my mind what to choose. And even more importantly the portions are larger and prices seem lower, or at least more in proportion.

Many Irish people resented the idea of a cheeky chappy celebrity chef invading our city and suggesting by his mere presence that he could do better than us (of course he never implied any such thing - he just wanted to expand his empire and make more money and who can blame him for that?). Personally if the food is good and service polite and efficient I don't care who owns the place. I'm not pushed on the Oirish elements of the decor on the way to the loo (olde dublin photos of street urchins playing happily outside their tenements while granddad dies slowly of consumption inside) but sure Gary is only trying his best to fit in and this is what they told him we would like.

The classic complaint is "but where is gary rhodes if its his name over the door??" again, who cares if the food is good. The food on the menu is clearly Gary Rhodes with the emphasis on local ingredients and new spins on classic English (and Irish) dishes (yes lots of Irish ingredients such as crubeens, ardsallagh cheese, clonakilty black pudding, soda bread etc.).

The problem with La Stampa was not the non-appearance of JC Novelli, it was that the food was crap. New Yorkers dont expect Thomas Keller to bi-locate and be a constant presence in Per Se and the French Laundry and neither do the citizens of Montecarlo and Paris (not to mention New York, Tokyo, Las Vegas and Beirut) expect as much from Alain Ducasse.

The rumour mill has been (gleefully) suggesting that the restaurant was not doing well at lunchtime (surely something they banked on given the vast numbers of hungry legal people in the area with plenty of money to spend on lunch) and barely surviving during the week. We ate at 2.30 on a Friday and there were around 30 people in the restaurant - I realise official Dublin lunch break was over but I reckoned there would be more.

The location has been criticised but I am not really sure why given that it is literally a stones throw from the winding stair and Mick Wallaces' Quartier Bloom and the various Polish pubs, bakeries and restaurants have definitely improved Capel street. When it opened there was a certain superciliousness evident and not a little arrogance it seemed to me. Pricing was too high, portions too small and staff just seemed far too pleased with themselves. Hopefully this last is also a thing of the past as our waiter was pleasant and attentive (though he did do my least favourite thing - he asked if we wanted to taste the wine - of course we fucking do).

Anyway to the food...
For starters we could have ordered beef carpaccio, smoked eel, duck confit or potted crab among other things but we went for Crispy sliced ham hock filled Crubeens with piccalilli and baby gem salad €7.50 and Mushroom, Celeriac and Truffle Risotto €9.50. The slices of crumbed deep fried crubeen stuffed with ham hock were sticky and meaty exactly as they should be and although the piccalilli overpowered them a little they managed to hold their own. The risotto was correctly cooked and tasted rich and creamy with good seasoning - both plates wiped clean.

Our bottle of Telmo Rodriguez Rueda was a lovely tangy fresh mouthful with not a little depth. The wine list is another thing that has much improved since my last visit by the way.

For Mains we ordered Slow roast pork belly with Clonakilty black pudding, caramelised apple
and parsnip colcannon €18.90 and Roast Guinea fowl, wild mushroom and leek fettuccine with pan fried foie gras €22.50. The belly pork portion could have been larger but was the perfect texture with a touch of caramelisation on the top and creamy melting pork beneath, complemented by the clonakilty pudding and the apple with an extra layer of flavour added by the mash. The Guinea fowl was relatively moist (no mean feat with this bird) and the baby fist sized piece of foie gras carmelised on the exterior but delicate and moist on the interior. The fettuccine was a good foil, if a little bland. I can think of no restaurant in Dublin that offers fresh foie gras in any dish for even close to this price so Rhodes is to be praised highly for a) having it on the menu in these politically correct times and b) not overcharging - in fact undercharging.

For Dessert we shared a Passion fruit panna cotta cheesecake, mango and vanilla salad and ginger shortbread €7.90 to share and had a glass each of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise for €5.50 per glass. The wine could not cope with the searing acidity in the passion fruit or the over-spiced ginger shortbread but it fared better with the panna cotta. The dessert had too many loud clashing flavours to be called successful but it was not a disaster either.

So I am not recommending you drive from cork to get to the restaurant but if you are in the area there are many many worse places you could eat for a lot more money.

PS a year ago the "chips" were dreadful hunks of undercooked potato an inch thick and I forgot to enquire if they were still going for this style instead of the crispy ones we all want - so make sure to ask before you order the good value sounding 10oz striploin with Bearnaise for €23.90.