RESTAURANT REVIEW - BRASSERIE LE PONT
Monday 13 June 2011
Brasserie Le Pont is a new restaurant owned by one Michael Kelly and is part of the Fitzwilliam Hall Business Centre. Tucked away in the large basement of a Georgian House on Fitzwilliam Place close to Leeson Street, its entrance belies its size, and it looks as though a lot of dosh has been spent converting it into a modern brasserie of the neutral beige variety. L shaped with a long bar to the front, a couple of romantic private booths and an outdoor terrace area, it opens from 8 a.m. for breakfast, thru lunch, an afternoon grazing menu, and dinner from 5.30 p.m. The chef is James Doyle who has spent time at the Ritz Carlton in Enniskerry, Rhodes D7 and the Village at Lyons – a good pedigree - and their mission statement is to provide modern French and European food at “very affordable prices.”
Indeed, we liked the menu. ALC Starters €6.50/€12.95 included Warm Five Mile Town goats cheese tart with pickled beetroot, red chard and a hazelnut dressing, whilst a ham hock and foie gras terrine was with pear chutney and toasted brioche. Seared King Scallops were paired with a fennel puree and Clonakilty black pudding. All good classy combinations which augured well.
Additionally, they also had a very decent Table d’Hote 2/3-course dinner menu at €21.95/€25 proferring three starters and mains, two desserts or a cheese board, for which Kate opted. She kicked off with a lusty well flavoured French Onion soup in a classic deep bowl topped with Gruyere croutons. Baby Gem salad (€8.95) for me had delicate fluffs of Clogher Head crab, focaccia croutons, a Parmesan dressing, and crisp pancetta, and looked very pretty in a big Art Deco style glass dish. I did ask for a little more dressing - which was a tad bland. If truth be told, it probably could have done too with a little more crab. I wanted to say “just shake it up a bit and give it a bit of balls” but all in all I enjoyed it.
Kate’s TDH mains options were an oyster steak with Portobello mushroom, watercress and tomato salad, and pommes frites; a risotto of pea, spring onion and asparagus, finished with mascarpone and pea shoots; or “Bouillabaise – a classic Provencal fish stew of market fresh fish and shellfish’. Kate was well pleased with a good bowl of decent chunky fish stew – no fish heads of the fish market wives of Marseilles variety – nothing to frighten the horses - but what we expect in contemporary city restaurant – refined! It had a very nice flavour and had decent whacks of salmon, white fish, a couple of prawns, a scallop, saffron potato pieces, courgette, and aioli. Normally €18.95 on the ALC it was good value on the TDH menu. ALC mains €15.95/€28.95 sported roast duck breast with confit leg, pommes Dauphinoise, sauteed spinach and beetroot jus, as well as fillet, ribeye and oyster steaks. Cod featured with baby spinach, langoustine, champ and a bisque foam, whilst there was also a ‘luxurious’ fish pie. I had roasted rump of lamb (€19.95) which was absolutely cracking – pink as requested - well sliced, retaining a chunkiness, and mixed with ratatouille, sweetbreads, lamb jus, and a tranch of a crisp fine very French potato terrine.
Warm Vahlrona chocolate fondant with a ball of pistachio ice cream completed Kate’s TDH. The fondant lacked salivating lusciousness and was a tad dry on the outside. A line up of four cheeses (€8.95) for me on the other hand was perfect– my favourite Pont L’Eveque, Five Mile Town Goats Cheese, Cashel Blue, and Mileens, with grapes and an apricot chutney – ace.
With a bottle of Gentil, Hugel et Fils 2009, Alsace (€27.75), discreetly dry and aromatic, our bill with optional service, which was very pleasant from a young Australian girl, came to €99.15.
Somebody knows what they are about in the kitchen and it is a very handy spot for all day dining in D2.
Brasserie Le Pont,
25 Fitzwilliam Place,
Dublin. 2.
Tel: (01) 669-4600