Tom Doorley Eating Out'Ivans is one of the best things to happen to Dublin eating in a long time'
It's never a whole lot of fun for a chef to have a restaurant critic dining out front. But when three of them turn up on the same night it must be a nightmare.
That's precisely what happened on the night I ate, very happily, at Ivans in Howth. Being a Tuesday in January, I had not bothered booking, but my colleague on The Restaurant TV series, Paolo Tullio had, being a gentleman and rather more organised than I am. He arrived five minutes after me.
And then a third critic arrived, who shall remain nameless as she works for one of the better restaurant guides. All in all, this is not the sort of serendipity that leads to serenity. Admittedly, it was a quiet night in Howth, but I take my hat off to the kitchen crew who played a blinder, albeit with a few lengthy pauses in service. But this is a very pleasant restaurant and the food was excellent, so resting between courses was no hardship.
The dining room is very cool, very modern, and the oyster bar next door is the last word in gastro-chic. It offers a good selection of deli products, wines, and what appeared to be particularly yummy patisserie. Howth is indeed blessed by this jewel in the Beshoff family crown.
The menu and the wine list are both short and to the point, and the cooking avoids the excesses of cheffiness that so often buries good seafood under a blanket of vain intervention. My Dublin abode is 40 minutes away on the Dart and I expect to be paying regular visits.
An amuse bouche of seafood soup was chunky and packed with flavour, clearly based on an exceptional fish stock, which is a rare commodity in this country. And then came an equally exceptional starter in the form of an omelette, at the heart of which was rich crab meat and lobster, with a touch of tomato, topped with nicely bitter and well-dressed frisée leaves. A bowl of soup followed by this would make a glorious lunch after a brisk walk on the pier.
Our other starter, of seared scallops with a very dinky boned chicken wing, was cleverly executed and perfectly cooked but, for some reason, I have never been wowed by any scallop. But if scallops are your bag, they don't get much better than this.
It's amazing how often perfectly good black sole is ruined by a well-meaning kitchen. It's either overcooked, often by mere seconds, or it's sinfully abused by the addition of interfering sauces. Not here. It was floured and cooked perfectly to the nanosecond, with the skeleton still showing just the faintest, rosy hint of pink. Impeccable.
Large and exceptionally meaty prawns wrapped in ketaifi pastry (which comprises myriad strands rather than layers) were too much for us, but they combined well with very finely sliced marinated fennel. This was a hearty dish, requiring not so much a brisk walk on the pier as a jog to the summit.
"Lemon panna cotta, blackberry doughnut" was the bald and, to be honest, not wholly enticing description on the dessert menu, but we were strongly encouraged by the restaurant manager to try this dish. And we did, with two spoons. It was utterly delicious, the panna cotta trembly and tart with lemon, the doughnut element light and crisp outside, with the warm flavour of bramble pulling it all together. A pudding to conjure with.
With sides of green beans in shallot butter, excellent mash, and broccoli with hollandaise sauce, this was a very generous meal. By the time we added a delicious bottle of white Crozes-Hermitage, coffees and mineral water, the bill came to €190. Had we headed out to Howth in time for a walk, we might have managed to taste one of the cheeses on offer: Fourme d'Ambert, Mount Callan Cheddar, Epoisses, Cooleeney, and ash-covered Sainte-Maure, selling at €9 for three or €12 for five.
Ivans is one of the best things to happen to Dublin eating in a long time.
tdoorley@irish-times.ie
Ivans Oyster Bar & Grill, 17-18 West Pier, Howth, Co Dublin, 01-8390285, www.ivans.ie
Wine Choice
The list is short and keenly-priced. Highlights include the ripe, but minerally Domaine Talmard Macon-Uchizy (€25), which offers so much more than the perfectly decent Alpha Zeta Pinot Grigio (€26); gloriously peachy Yann Chave Crozes-Hermitage (€34); Dona Rosa (€29), which is one of the best value wines from notoriously expensive Rias-Baixas; Phillippe Colin's tight-knit and generously-oaked Saint-Aubin (€65); Allegrini's silky Vapolicella Classico (€29), which can be drunk cool; and Altos Las Hormigas Malbec (€27), which is full of dark Argentine fruit. Maury Domaine des Schites is an unfortunate misprint (the missing 's' before the 't' makes all the difference), but a lovely sweet wine, especially with chocolate.