Restaurant Review - The Table
Tuesday 30 April 2013
Devotees of the popular urban Lennox Café Bistro will be happy to know that the owners have spread their wings and opened The Table Restaurant & Wine Bar in the nearby former Nonna Valentina premises, overlooking the Grand Canal at Portobello. The big deal about this apparently is that it gives them a nighttime venue, for Lennox is confined to daytime only.
We whirled up on a Saturday evening in its early days, sans any reservation.The place was already hopping and we were told initially they couldn’t take us but, with a bit of pleading ‘long distance, no number’, they obliged and, in jig time, we were sitting chilled out at a pretty table for two, in the main upstairs diningroom, looking at swans floating serenely on the water whilst dog owners trotted their mutts alongside on the evening stroll.
We liked the eclectic menu, not too big and not too small, sporting an octet each of starters and mains. Starters were €6/€11.50 with a number also available as mains. Beef Carpaccio was classic Italian style with lemon and herb dressing, rocket and Parmesan, whilst duck liver parfait had confit leg, toasted sourdough, cornichons and fig chutney. Moroccan prawns Pili Pili had tomato, chilli, garlic and basil, whilst crispy goats cheese was with caramelized pecans, baby beets and toasted pumpkins. I could have gone with any of them happily but settled on an asparagus and ricotta tart (€9) as it promised a crispy hens egg! Very nice it proved too, a tranch of rectangular puff pastry filled with the creamy ricotta, topped with green asparagus spears and a fine sized ball of crispy egg balanced on top. Brendan had lightly sautéed baby squid (€9) dressed with pumpkin seed pesto, chilli and lemon aioli, which he mopped up with a selection of delicious breads. Good breads arriving early are always a crowd pleaser!
Mains €14.50/€24.50 included cider roasted pork belly with fennel, gratin potato and confit apple, as well chicken Tandoori, Bombay potatoes, wilted spinach and minted raita. A choice of 10oz ribeye or fillet steaks were there with all the trimmings both at €24.50 – a particularly good price for fillet steak. A burger option also features for the carnivore. Brendan had a delicious hunk of sautéed monkfish (€22), off set with three monkfish scampi, a nice touch for texture and variety, sitting on a mattress of crushed potatoes with chorizo and lemon herb and caper sauce. A rose veal sirloin (€24.50) for me was pink and tender as could be, served with a brace of champ croquettes, butternut squash puree and topped with caper butter sauce – thoroughly delicious. We didn’t have any sides but they are there at €3.50 a pop – Parmesan thyme fries, gratin potatoes, Pistachio Pesto French beans……
Desserts €6/€7 included lemon posset, espresso crème brulee, hot chocolate pudding and a strawberry and pistachio tart. We shared a “gooey” almond meringue (€6) with flambéed banana covered in butterscotch sauce and vanilla mascarpone. It was the only weak point, in that the meringue was of the hard to eat variety that requires tackling with the care and precision of a Kango hammer as you know it is not going to give up easily – and it didn’t! Wines had something for all pockets and with a bottle of easy drinking fruity fresh Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2011 (€26.50), and passing on coffees, our bill with optional service came to €107.00.
There is also a neat wine bar downstairs offering a bar food menu including a beef burger, prawns Pili Pili, a charcuterie board or cheese plate.
Sassy nosh from an assured hand – book before you go!
The Table Restaurant & Wine Bar,
1-2 Portobello Road,
Dublin 8.
Tel: (01) 473-6727