Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

About The Restaurant

It takes real guts and endeavour to set up a business the size and proportion of Fallon & Byrne. Paul Byrne and his wife, the former journalist Fiona McHugh, took an enormous leap of faith when, in 2006, they took over the massive old Art Deco style Telephone Exchange building in Exchequer Street and opened a vast New York style food emporium with a deli on the ground floor, a restaurant on the first floor, and a casual eatery cum wine cellar ‘The Lower Depths’ in the basement.

Fallon & Byrne took off from the beginning but obviously their range of stock has increased greatly over the years. It is now undoubtedly the place to go if you want that little bit of something unusual, and they now have a restaurant in Dun Laoghaire and a new F & B to open in Rathmines. The racks in the center of the food hall are chocabloc with labels and names from all over the world standing shoulder to shoulder with Irish artisan products. Caiscina Belvedere Italian organic rice products stand beside Vertmont North American and Canadian specialty rice, whilst Edmond Fallot extra fine French gherkins and moutardes blend happily with the nearby Llewellyns Irish Balsamic cider vinegar - which is sitting alongside Verjus du Perigord - foods from all over the globe blend happily. There is also a great range of olive oils and Castillo di Canena 1st Day of Harvest 2020 by Manolo Valdes caught my eye. There is a huge range of exotic fruits and vegetables just inside the door, which leads you on to a casual coffee area where you pop up on a stool and watch the happenings all around. Walk around the periphery of the vast room and they have pretty well everything you could think of covered, the deli counters are laden with enticing salads and pastas, Irish and Continental charcuterie, pies, noodles, cheeses, fresh truffles, preprepared dishes such as gluten free Beef Bourguignon ready to heat up and eat in or take out. There is a gorgeous meat counter with all manner and cuts of meats and game, French trim loin of pork or racks of lamb, French saddle of rabbit or quail, Barbary duck legs, aged diced beef, tournedos of beef, whilst the nearby fish selection looks straight out of the water. Fallon & Byrne has truly become a social hub, a way of life for many people during their working week for that great value sandwich and soup  – or to browse and chill at weekends - but that is only the tip of the iceberg.

The Restaurant at Fallon & Byrne is upstairs and is one of the nicest and buzziest rooms in town in itself, with innovative well-priced food. There is a great value set lunch menu plus an a la carte selection, with dishes that also appear on the dinner menu. A lovely selection of starters cum small plates includes Jerusalem artichoke and green apple soup, tweaked with crispy bacon, while Pecorino and lemon crepes in broth are with chicken and scallop sausage and sour cabbage. Irish Hereford beef tartare is a real cracker with cured egg yolk, smoked Corleggy cheese custard, crunch pickled vegetables and soda bread. Another fave from this selection is scallops seared in cocoa butter with parsnip puree, shaved fennel and pomegranate seeds. Salads come as small or large as do pastas. Beetroot, endive and grilled Toonsbirdge halloumi are paired with figs, black walnut and anise, while from the pasta range there is a delicious dish of strozzapreti and milk-braised pork shoulder with beet greens and fennel. Dinner mains include Achill Island lamb with smoked sheep's yoghurt, sumac onions and cashew gremolata, while pan-roasted monkfish with Irish ceps and roasted salsify is tweaked with leek soubise and bone marrow vinaigrette. They also do a cracking Irish fillet of beef with your choice of truffle butter, brandy peppercorn sauce, or bearnaise.

The Lower Depths is a big arty room with communal tables, poster clad columns, walls lined with some of their 600 wine varieties on sale, and a distinct cosmopolitan vibe. This place is a hub. The wine list offers a wide variety of wines available by the 12.5cl glass, 50cl carafe, by the bottle – it also shows a takeaway price for these wines. All other wines on sale are also available to enjoy on the premises with the addition of corkage to the retail shelf price, particularly good value on  Mondays and Tuesdays with only a €1 corkage.

They do great casual food in the depths too with chunky Mediterranean Fish Stew being very popular as is confit duck leg with potato cake, buttered cabbage and cherry jus. They also do a fantastic sharing selection including baked Mont d'Or cheese with a splash of white wine, served with baguette for dunking and mixed leaf salad.  People can also bring their deli food down to the Lower Depths to eat it. Basically everything is covered at all times of the day and evening and they have a great kids menu also with proper food.

Fallon & Byrne in a few short years became a Dublin legend.

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