Restaurant Review - The Seafood Bar by Wright's of Howth
Friday 05 February 2016
It may very well be one of the most beautiful dining rooms in the city, but it’s had more ‘marriages’ than Elizabeth Taylor. I speak of what was for many years known as La Stampa on Dawson Street, which was owned by Louis Murray. This hotel restaurant has been a colourful spot, and going back through some of the culinary liaisons over the last ten years alone, there
was Jean Christophe Novelli,
who had all the females aflutter
as he purred into town with
Gallic charm when it opened, but that ‘marriage’ lasted not much longer than it takes for a souffle
to collapse. Paul Flynn came up from the sunny south East to
set up Balzac, from which I was ejected when I had the temerity
to question the food on my plate. It too proved short-lived and Mr Murray, after some six months,
phoned me and apologised ! In 2011, it had Conrad Gallagher striding the room, but he rode into the sunset faster than Shergar!
The building has now been renamed The Dawson Hotel, having been sold last year to Tetrarch, who also own the magnificent Mount Juliet Resort in Co. Kilkenny, as well as the Powerscourt Hotel on the Powerscourt Estate, the Marker Hotel in Dublin, Kilashee in Co. Kildare and Mount Wolseley in Tullow, Co. Carlow.
I’m going to stick my head above the parapet and say that the latest incarnation, The Seafood Bar by Wright’s of Howth, might be ‘the one’. I always think seafood restaurants do well, and Dublin needs a good one. ‘Seafood shack’ type places have been popping
up, but here you can have your piscean delights in the lap of luxury at much the same prices.
All the extravagant gorgeousness is still there
with wonderful mirrors and chandeliers, making it feel like
a petite version of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. It’s had
the addition of a bar and oyster counter to the front of the room, adding a relaxed feel, with a central dining area leading through theatrical velvet drapes to the Funky Fish Cocktail bar at the rear which has themed cocktails, late night DJs and seafood platters.
Starters (€4.95-€14.95) included calamari, chowder, smoked salmon, Kilmore Quay crab claws, gambas pil pil, a seafood medley and a seafood assiette. I kicked off with delicious Dublin Bay prawns (€11.95), lavishly soaked in garlic butter in a black cast iron cassolette, with brown bread and cherry tomatoes on the side. Paul was equally pleased with a brace of tasty crab cakes (€9.95), served with a light coleslaw and salad.
Mains (€14.95-€33.95) ranged from traditional fish ‘n’chips through pan seared scallops and black pudding, seafood platters, seafood linguine, monkfish and lobster with fries. There was also
a seafood-on-ice selection for a
minimum of two people at €38.95, sporting oysters, langoustines, mussels, clams, lobster claws, gambas and lobster. We proceeded down the route of choosing ‘cooked’ dishes to test them out and they both passed with full marks. My crab mornay (€24.95) was in a square cast iron pan, rich and luscious with toasted bread, with which I had a side order of great sweet potato fries (€3.95). Gambas tempura (€23.95) for Paul were fab, big chunky prawns in a light batter, served with house fries and tartare sauce.
Paul had a tranch of hazelnut and chocolate gateau (€5.95) which smacked of being a commercial type cake and which was the only weak point.
With a cracking bottle of Falanghina IGT, Tenuta Viglione 2014 from Puglia (€29.95) and a double espresso (€2.50), our bill, with optional service, came to €124.45
The Seafood Bar,
35 Dawson Street,
Dublin 2.
Tel: (01) 531-2260
theseafoodbar.ie
lucindaosullivan.com
First published in The Sunday Independent