It’s fair to say that there have traditionally been a few areas where Ireland could have done with a bit of help from outside experts. First of all, we really could have done with some style advice. As a milk-skinned, mousy-haired people, we need all the help we can get, even if we are a bit of a novelty when we go abroad. My brother, in fact, once offered to sell me to a fifty-something, mahogany-coloured street trader in Rome – who was fascinated with my Daz biologic whiteness – in return for one of the plastic Pietàs he was hawking.
The other area in which we were left trailing, of course, was our lousy food. Memories of pappy sliced-pan sandwiches, sulphuric boiled cabbage and rubbery processed cheese are still vivid. Someone had to teach us that Easy Singles weren’t, in fact, the height of culinary sophistication.
Thank heavens, then, for immigration. Not only have blonde and chiselled-featured Eastern Europeans introduced a lifeguard into our gene pool, but we finally have an alternative to the auld meat and spuds.
h4. Substance over style
The area of Dublin’s northside that incorporates Capel St and Parnell St has seen the opening of a number of ethnic restaurants in the last few years. Some of the real hardcore places here sell fried guts, tongues and any other kind of innards that take your fancy, but there are some real gems here if you can look past the formica tables and bum-numbingly hard seats.
Hilan (Capel St), China House (Parnell St) and Han Yang (Parnell St) are highly recommended. Hilan is always full with an Asian crowd, snacking and chatting. Ignore the TV blasting away Korean soap operas in glorious technicolour and go for the lemon chicken, washed down with unusual Korean plum wine.
China House, once you pass through the beaded curtain at its entrance, has rock-bottom prices and serves mostly northern Chinese food, unlike the Cantonese cuisine that’s usually found in this country. The sweet and sour crispy pork is a million miles away from the day-glo gloop that normally passes for ‘sweet and sour sauce’ in Ireland, and the earthy lamb and cumin casserole is great value.
Don’t let the wax models of signature dishes sitting pretty in Han Yang’s window put you off. You can afford to go off-piste here and order food you’d never usually consider. It’s so cheap that you can afford to make a few mistakes. The menu includes starters like pumpkin porridge, Korean pancakes, cooked meat dishes, hotpots to share, and barbecue meats that you cook DIY-style on a gas ring that resembles a hub cap in the centre of each table.
Personally, I think the whole point of going to a restaurant is to have my food served to me already cooked (and have no washing-up), but maybe I’m just lazy.
Nevertheless, the marinated pork belly cooked in a seasoned sesame oil with kimchi (the national dish of fermented cabbage with chilli) is fantastic – but go easy on the soju, the rice brew, or your head won’t thank you the next day.
The recently-opened Byblos on St Andrew’s St is one of Ireland’s few Lebanese restaurants. It’s better value than its older sister restaurant, the Cedar Tree, and it’s beautifully decorated from floor to ceiling with traditional Lebanese tiles. Apparently, the owner’s family are in the tile business back in the old country. For a real taste of traditional Lebanese food, come at the weekend and try a mezze plate, ranging from €25 to €31 for two and consisting of enough small dishes to almost break the table. Half the fun is trying to match the names listed on the menu with the dishes in front of you.
The house speciality is nayye kibbeh (raw minced lamb with cracked bulghar wheat salad). Interesting wine selection, too.
h4. Meat-eaters’ paradise
Ireland may not have a very big Brazilian community, but Brasil Churrascaria, on Upper Stephen’s St, is a meat-eater’s paradise. There are a few token salads on offer here from a self-service buffet, but they’re really a bit sad-looking.
The attraction here is the platter of barbecued meat and sausages, which has enough protein to satisfy any Irishman who’s afraid to eat any ‘for-den’ food (say it out loud in a Dublin accent) like rice or pasta.
Try the refreshing vinho verde, the Portuguese green wine, and don’t miss the fantastic caipirhinha cocktails, made with plenty of the Brazilian spirit, cachaça. Service can be a bit surly, but after a few of those cocktails, no doubt you’ll be telling everyone in the restaurant that you love them anyway.
Of course, it’s impossible to ignore the influx from Eastern Europe. The Georgian restaurant, Nikala, has brought a little bit of Tbilsi to Talbot St. It won’t win Weight Watchers’ approval, but dishes like kharcho (turkey and walnuts), chakapuli (tarragon lamb) and kalmakhi (citrus trout) put paid to the myth that all Eastern European food is stodgy. Even the house wine here is Georgian – a light-bodied Tsinandali with an almost savoury finish.
With such a contingent of people from Poland taking up residence here in recent years, it’s surprising that Dublin has only one Polish restaurant – Gospoda Polska on Capel St (correct me if I’m wrong). There’s nothing fancy about this place but it’s great value, as long as you like dumplings, dumplings and more dumplings. I just don’t understand how Polish people can eat so much heavy food and not resemble one of said dumplings.
It’s not just Dubliners who are eating better because of these ‘New Irelanders’. Jola’s Restaurant, in Kinsale, Co. Cork, specialises in fine Polish cuisine and is more upmarket than Gospoda Polska.
Located in a stone cellar with a large, welcoming fireplace, the venison with sour prune sauce shocks Irish tastebuds out of complacency. Try the vodka with milk and honey, or the hot vodka with bullgrass. This restaurant even makes cabbage taste great, which is no mean feat.
h4. Authentic cuisine
Tucked away in the quiet village of Jamestown, outside Carrick-on-Shannon, is Al Mezza. This mightn’t be the first place you’d look to find authentic Lebanese cuisine, but owner-chef Milad Serham serves up first-class food. The 17-course (yes, you read that correctly) is great value, with processions of food being brought to the table, including hummus, stuffed vine leaves and grilled meats.
Although the ambience at the sumptuously-appointed St Cleran’s Country House (in Craughwell, Co. Galway) is traditional, its food certainly is not. Head chef Hisashi Kumagai brings strong Japanese influences to the menu. Once the home of film director John Huston, the beautiful presentation of the food here – always a feature of Japanese cuisine – means that each course is worthy of being immortalised on celluloid in its own right.
Although Irish palates are adapting and learning to appreciate more far-flung food, there will always be people who want chips with everything.
But half the fun is trying new dishes and challenging those tired tastebuds. Just remember that Heinz ketchup doesn’t really go with that kimchi and soju.
About Gary Culliton
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