Restaurant Review - Hot Stove
Wednesday 20 February 2013
Chapter One paved the way for a high end restaurant on Parnell Square but whilst they now have a Michelin Star, and are probably the most popular and desired restaurant in the country, Ross Lewis and Martin Corbett, are the first to say that having opened their doors in 1992, it took them ten years to achieve the recognition they deserved. However, strangely enough, having established Parnell Square as a destination dining address, no one has followed in their path, until now that is.
The Hot Stove is a new restaurant just opened by Simon Keegan and Joy Beattie. Keegan is ex Four Seasons, where he was Head Sommelier and Assistant Restaurant manager for nigh on a dozen years. Head Chef Beattie was also at the Four Seasons for four years before departing for the U.K. where she worked in, strangely enough, Michelin starred Chapter One in Kent. Basements are not always an immediate draw of themselves, but this is set in a very fine Georgian basement, beautifully dickied out, and with amazing floor tiles. Fine granite steps have been installed, maybe a funny thing to comment on, but they set the tone. The restaurant runs through two basements, with a bar at one end, two dining rooms at the other, with the eponymous hot stove. In addition there is a fantastic outside area with a state of the art gallery effect which will be fabulous on warmer days and evenings. Chairs are chic, I’ve seen them elsewhere in a different colour, as is the lighting, the whole effect here is smart and clean cut. The same could be said about the food. The presentation is of today’s mode, scattered artfully around the plate, but not an over the top adventure course or foraging forest - which will shortly be as big a pain as tall food became!
A quintet of starters €8/€10 had pheasant cannelloni with wilted spinach, raisin puree, and hazelnut, whilst seared mackerel rillettes were paired with the clean flavours of fennel salad and apple jelly. Smoked venison Carpaccio (€8) had strips of the rich meaty game lined up to form a central rectangular palate on the plate. Drizzled with vanilla oil, topped with a sprig of watercress, a blob of fine celeriac remoulade, and tweaked with a dried translucent wafer of pear, it was sleek but also really good value. I had ribbons of pine tree smoked salmon (€9) arranged like the three legs of the Isle of Man logo, centered warm potato salad, and scattered with fresh green strips of leeks, and horseradish mayonnaise – a classic Scandanavian combination that I like.
Mains again had a quintet (€11-€27) with, at each end of the price spectrum, a white onion tart tatin with red cabbage, walnut and Balsamic dressing, and seared sirloin of beef with braised cheek, parsnip puree, Chantanay carrots, and spiced port jelly. Rachel opted for roast pork fillet (€17), a substantial dish, which sported a substantial line up of fillet medallions resting on choucroute, a rectangular tranch of melt in the mouth pork belly, a square of Boulangere potatoes, and blobs of pickled apple puree. All in all perfectly executed. My panfried lightly browned ray wing (€16) was off the bone, sitting on radicchio and silky lime tweaked mash, and scattered with capered brown butter. Both were delicious. With these we had a side order of crispy duck fat chips (€5) and broccoli (€3.50).
An ace quenelle of silky chocolate truffle (€7) for Rachel with red wine jelly and gingerbread icecream was different and delish, and we shared an Irish Cheese Selection (€12) with grape chutney and house crackers. Their wine license was not yet in place so we had picked up a bottle en route of Bordeaux Chateau Bernadotte 2002 (€20.99) from the Roederer Champagne stable. With bottled water (€4.50) and service, the restaurant bill came to €87, bringing our total bill for the evening to €107.99
The Hot Stove Pre-Theatre menu offers 2/3 courses at €23/€28 whilst 2/3 course lunch is €19/€24. Food is good, décor is good, service is good, prices are good, what’s not to like? This Hot Stove is warming up!
The Hot Stove Restaurant,
38 Parnell Square West,
Dublin. 1.
Tel: (01) 874-7778