The Unicorn's big brother has opened its doors, but ouch! it's pricey, writes TOM DOORLEY.
GIORGIO CASARI, the ineffably charming proprietor of the Unicorn and now of Il Segreto, looks like a wounded puppy when I hint that the prices at both establishments are rather on the high side for the times in which we live. There follows a dissertation on rents and on the massive cost of converting what was once Sherry FitzGerald’s offices on Merrion Row into a comfortable restaurant.
And I have to say that he needs to sell a lot of food and wine to justify what turns out to be an unfortunately timed investment. Mind you, Il Segreto was humming on a Wednesday night, within little more than a week of opening.
This underlines Casari’s remarkable ability to get the punters in. Nobody could seriously claim that the food at the Unicorn is haute cuisine (although I have had a particularly good risotto there in the past). Yet Friday afternoons still see the place crowded with the rich and even some of the famous. They don’t go for the food, of course. The Unicorn is a cross between a meeting place and a club, a restaurant that turns out to be, for some people at any rate, much more than the sum of its parts. And that, to be fair, is something of an achievement, even if it tells you a lot about our local rich.
Il Segreto, it seems, is positioned a little higher in the restaurant stakes than its considerably older sibling. And it looks the part. There’s crisp white linen, good stemware (the industry jargon for glasses) and there’s a lemon bush laden with fruit right outside the door.
It’s certainly a brave move to list a starter at €27.50, this being culatello with buffalo mozzarella. However, to borrow a phrase from Kilmeaden, this is the fillet of prosciutto di Parma and can never be cheap. The bravery involves trusting the customer to know what the hell it is. In Italian, it means “little arse”, by the way.
Cheaper starters weigh in at €14.50 on the menu (but, curiously, charged at €12.50 on the bill). These included the ham-hock terrine with asparagus which I reckoned was worth about €8. Ham hocks cost €1 each to the trade, but my main gripe was that it fell apart, the asparagus (probably from Peru at this time of the year) didn’t add to the general gaiety of the dish, and the wrapping of cabbage leaves were of boarding-school character (that is to say, sulphurous).
Our other starter of warm “mackeral” – sorry, mackerel – salad involved beetroot, roast hazelnuts and rather overcooked chunks of fish, and was pleasant enough.
Spatchcocked poussin with caponata dressing and polenta “fritta” was very good indeed in a simple kind of way. The baby chicken was attractively marinated and just cooked through, crusty outside and very moist within. The caponata was not so much a dressing as a timbale – fruity, sweet and sharp, and the polenta cake was laden with butter and Parmesan and nicely crisped. I have spent €26.50 on much less attractive dishes.
Sangiovese risotto with quail for €3 less was pretty good, too. Sangiovese is a Tuscan grape while risotto is from the Veneto, but what the hell? Once red wine has been incorporated into a rice dish its identity hardly matters. The risotto was not as good as I’ve had at the Unicorn (the rice was a little too underdone) and it was capable of standing up whereas a real risotto levels out. But the flavour was good and the crisp quail provided a satisfying contrast of texture.
We shared a plate of cheese, all in good condition, to finish. The bill, with two large bottles of mineral water and a double espresso, came to €99. Add a reasonable bottle of wine and you will be paying about €135.
A year ago, this would have been par for the course, but it seems steep for a restaurant that is opening in the current climate. However, the staff make you feel appreciated and genuinely appear to want you to come back. This is something that is still missing from a lot of Dublin restaurants.
THE SMART MONEY
The very good lasagne verde Emiliana with a glass of wine and a coffee will set you back less than €25 at lunch.
No house wines as such but the entry level offerings, two of them under the Unicorn brand, are €26.50. The selection is almost entirely Italian and there are some wines that I’d be very happy to have, albeit not at the prices. Blange Arneis (€46) is made from a Piedmontese white grape known for delicacy and a whiff of ripe pears. Ferrari Maximum Brut (€60) might sound like an aftershave but it’s really a very elegant Prosecco, one of the best in fact. Ricasoli 1141 Chianti Classico (€32.50) is crisp, juicy and very Tuscan. And there are more rare wines from Angelo Gaja than you are likely to see elsewhere in Ireland, including the almost Bordeaux-like Sito Moresco (€85), his Brunello di Montalcino (€195) and the biggest, deepest one of all, Gaja Barbaresco for €350. Mind you, an indication of vintages would be a help, if only for theoretical purposes.