Restaurant Review - Frites Haus
Tuesday 11 March 2014
Oh dear! I've had a couple of iffy experiences with "take it or leave it" service of late. I hope we're not heading for the situation of restaurants losing the plot again. Restaurants are opening all over Dublin, but, in this era of tight belts, they need to remember there is value to be had, the competition for business is stiff, and they can't be treating customers as if they're doing them a favour.
I called up the new Brioche Restaurant in Ranelagh, which recently relocated from Aungier Street. French tasting plates are the thing, plus tasting menus, at €38/€45. Requesting a table for three people at 6.30pm, I was told they needed it back at 8.30pm. On explaining we would, perhaps, need slightly longer time to discuss our business and might not want to be rushed off the table, I was told that they felt two hours was sufficient time to eat! Disappointed, I said, "I wouldn't mind if it was even a Friday or Saturday, but on a wet Wednesday in early February?" "We have been very busy in January," I was told promptly.
I have had chef patron Gavin McDonagh's food previously, and it was good, but it is not on to expect people to pay – nay, digest – €45 for a five-course tasting menu, feeling they are going to be rushed out the gap! This is where some restaurants really miss the point.
A restaurant experience is not just all about good food, or worshipping patterns on a plate. It is about the service, the atmosphere and socialising with friends without pressure.
And so to Camden Street, which has become the international fast-food dining corridor of Dublin. Here you can partake of decent Thai, Lebanese, Indian, Spanish, American burgers, rotisserie chicken, et al, from breakfast through to dinner, at good prices, with an ocean of cocktails to wash it all down!
The latest to join this coterie of chow-down food is Padraic Hayden's Frite Haus. So, what does the Frite Haus bring to the multinational party? Hayden, who also has the Camden Kitchen, lived in Brussels and has now ticked the box here for whopping great, German-style frankfurters and authentic Belgian fries in his Belgian fries and sausage house, but he's using top-notch high meat/low-fat sausages by individual producers, Jane Russell and Ed Hicks.
There are six varieties (€6.95-€8.95) including the classic hot dog, bratwurst, venison or currywurst sausages, as well as a 'Pigs on the Green' black pudding and onion sausage, embellished with everything from yellow mustard ketchup and crispy onions to house-made sauerkraut, German mustard gherkins and smoked Gubbeen cheese, all served in fab Bretzel Bakery rolls. There are also 16 sauces, 50/90c each, from Parmesan and truffle sauce, to ponzu emulsion!
So, what else can you get? To find out, we kicked off with delicious roasted tomato soup with great breads (€5) and spicy, free-range chicken wings (€7.50). I am not a chicken-wing fan, but these were the best I've ever had, with a little pail of fab Cashel Blue cheese sauce and crisp celery sticks. Himself then wrapped his chops around a classic Frankfurter (€6.95) with yellow mustard ketchup and crispy onions and fab fresh frites (€3.50).
I had the spicy chorizo (€7.95) which was also as good as it gets, with green olives, rocket, more frites (€3.50) and four shared sauces (€2) to dunk and dip galore.
And so to classic, deep-pocketed Belgian waffles (€5/€5.50) – vanilla, cinnamon or Belgian chocolate. Wow. We went the whole hog, as it were, sharing a mighty cinnamon waffle (€5.50) topped with three scoops of ice cream, before waddling like Hercule Poirot out on to the Camden strip.
With two glasses of Erdinger beer (€8.20), a Coke (€1.95) and a coffee (€2), our bill, with optional service, was €59.55. Great service in hip surroundings. Sausage heaven, plus bubbles and beer!
Frite Haus, 87 Camden Street, Dublin 2. Tel: (087) 050-5964 www.frite-haus.com
www.lucindaosullivan.com
FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT