Dublin's Osteria Lucio is Italian food at its finest while The Old Spot delivers Irish tradition

It's been well over a decade since food magazines started celebrating Ireland as a culinary destination, with Ballymaloe Cookery School and the restaurant scene in Kinsale grabbing headlines and gaining international reputations. When you think about great Irish cooking you think about exquisite local ingredients; fresh seafood, grass-fed beef, rich dairy products. You think tradition. What about foreign food? Can Ireland's culinary scene transport you to other shores?

In the case of Italian food, I'll offer a vociferous si! as I tell you about Osteria Lucio, as good as anything I've had in Italy. In fact, it's as good as both Locanda Locatelli and Murano, my two favourite ... and Michelin starred ... Italian restaurants in London. 

We'd been unsuccessful on the waiting list for Chapter One, the Michelin-celebrated restaurant that chef Ross Lewis founded. He stepped back from it last spring just before the restaurant gained its second star. Reports say he was weary of the day-to-day grind under the culinary spotlight and decided to put his efforts into Osteria Lucio, which he'd had an interest in for years but hadn't concentrated on. So, ironically, we got a touch of the magic we were seeking without even realising it. I knew nothing about Lewis, or the Chapter One connection until after our meal; but every colleague I talked food with said that this was the best restaurant in the docklands. How right they were.

Great Italian food is often simple, relying on extraordinary ingredients and cooking methods that coax essential flavours to extremes. It makes you pause in wonder, asking how a tomato, or a mushroom, or a bit of cheese could pack that much of a punch. At Lucio, it was a peach.

My companion started with a roasted peach sat beside an egg of burrata, with a bit of red vermouth dressing below, a dab of rocket pesto and some rocket sprigs scattered across the top. From the look on her face as she took her first bite I knew there was something special going on, and a shared taste confirmed it. I've never had a peach more, well ... peachy ... than that one, warm and soft on the inside but still holding its shape. A perfect, explosive sweetness against the cream of the cheese and the bite of the dressing and pesto. It was perfection. And only perfection could have kicked my own starter into second place. Perfectly cooked, thinly-sliced octopus alternating with equally-sized disks of warm potato, complemented by black olives, tomato and parsley. Like the peach and burrata combo, this was all about balancing flavours: sharp and sweet, rich and light. My friend detests olives, yet admitted they worked beautifully here. 

We moved on to home-made pastas, though the suckling pig for two was tempting and the pizzas coming out of the wood-fired oven looked fabulous. I went for paccheri (short, fat tubes) with lobster, courgette, basil and chilli. Lobster pastas can be hit or miss, given how much can go wrong. It's easy to overcook the lobster, or overwhelm it with other flavours, or lose it completely in the bulk of the pasta. No such problems here, as the local king of shellfish was soft, firm, full of flavour and clearly dominant on the plate. The paccheri added bite, balance and substance. On the other side of the table, some of the prettiest ravioli I've seen formed flowers on a ground of mushroom sauce.

We couldn't resist dessert. Our waiter's favourite was the unusual lemon posset, another miracle of balance between the sharp citrus, smooth dairy, rich pistachio ice cream ( a fine addition!) and sweet strawberries. We also tried the tiramisu, something I rarely do in restaurants because I've rarely had one as good as the recipe I use at home. Mine is labour intensive, with alternating layers of a fussy zabaglione and whipped coffee cream, so impractical for restaurants who consider this an easy mass catering option. Lucio didn't use that zabaglione layer, but the balance of coffee, cake, chocolate and cream was far more sophisticated than the average. 

In addition to great food, Osteria Lucio has a fun atmosphere. It's in one of the few older buildings standing amongst the gleaming offices of the docklands, and its main dining hall snuggles beneath one of the arches of the suburban train line. It's a cozy retreat from the world outside and will be my first reservation the next time I head to Dublin.

The Irish, of course, still do their own food, and our other star of the trip was a gorgeous gastropub near the Aviva Stadium called The Old Spot. The decor is warm and cozy, local memorabilia balancing with some really beautiful works of art capturing landmarks and landscapes nearby. The staff is cheerfully chatty, wonderfully well-informed and incredibly helpful. On our second visit, when we were running late for our reservation because of the over-running football game and feared we'd miss the kitchen closing deadline, they worked with us to get in orders by phone and had the food ready moments after we arrived.

The limited timeline of that second visit means we were limited to burgers. That was no sacrifice as they were exemplars of the art: a juicy meat feast, loaded with extras, local cheese bringing bite to the richness of the protein. And if you don't like thick, crispy, perfect chips, then you can opt into addictive fried shoestring potatoes. 

Earlier in the week we'd had the time to range more freely through the menu, including succulent local oysters with home-made Guinness brown bread, haddock arancini (more Italian influences dressing up what's essentially a tasty fishcake) and grilled duck. We'd also spent time at the bar pre-meal, where the bartender delighted us with a range of local gins and mixers we'd never encountered. They also have a really interesting wine list and staff who will work through it to come up with interesting choices. 

This is another place I'd want to book well in advance of another trip to England. Especially if that trip were for a rugby. Unlike American football, you can accurately predict the end of a match, and it will probably be early enough for a long, leisurely dinner. The Old Spot would be the perfect place to celebrate an English win, or be consoled about the Irish victory by their fine food and hospitality.

Head to the Silicon Docks for a more modern, relaxing and gourmet take on Dublin

You may think you know Dublin. Molly Malone. Temple Bar. Distilleries and breweries. Traditional music and Irish dancers. Museums, poets and James Joyce. That cute bridge over the Liffey. Dublin is an experience that seems to hover someplace in a Georgian-built past un-blighted by religious division, foreign overlords or problematic potatoes. But that’s tourist Dublin. 

Locals give Temple Bar a wide berth and … like any of us and our home towns … sheepishly admit they don’t get to the culture as much as they should. There’s another, very different, Dublin driving the modern Irish economy, and we lived a working week and two glorious weekends in the heart of it. Traditional tourist sights, and therefore traditional tourists, are thin on the ground in Grand Canal Docks, but it’s high on convenience and fabulous restaurants. It’s also within walking distance of both the tourist centre and the Aviva Stadium, which made it a perfect location for the ultimate point of the trip: an American college football match. (Of that, more in my next article.)

Throughout the week, and especially during the action-packed second weekend, we found the quiet sophistication of the Docklands a relief. Dublin city centre is a legendary party zone. We found retreating to the corporate suburbs for our bed and board a welcome counterpoint to all the festivities.

WHERE TO STAY

We took over a houseboat floating inside the docks for nine nights, moored beside McMahon Bridge at Charlotte Quay. The location was superb for our purposes: working weekdays, with the ability to walk into the city centre of an evening if we wished, the Aviva Stadium an equal walk in the other direction. The maritime lodgings were great fun, and cheaper for our group of three than two hotel rooms, but did have some drawbacks.

But first, more positives. The Sunny Barger is charmingly decorated, in beautiful repair and offers more room than you might expect. There’s a sizeable sitting room with galley kitchen, and a “bridge” area where you enter that can seat four at a table when you put the folding one up. It made an excellent shared office for two for the week, with solid broadband that could handle both of us on different conference calls when required. The front had a double mattress with a bit of space to walk around it, and the back two mattresses somewhere between twin and double a bit more like a cocoon you could crawl into. There was a toilet in back, and a bigger bathroom with toilet and a larger-than-expected shower off the sitting room. You could also clamber onto an upper deck above the back bedrooms to sit outside and watch the world go by. 

The weather on our visit was fantastic, which deprived us of the ability to start up up the wood-fired stove and have a cozy night in. We did stay in a few times to consume ready-meals and gourmet titbits from the upscale Fresh grocery across the water, but we sat out on our poop deck and watched the world go by. Our hosts were tremendously helpful, including a mid-stay check in to make sure we had everything we needed and to top up our water.

The drawback, as on any boat, is tight spaces. Large people will have challenges: wide ones squeezing through doors with latches and knobs liable to bruise skin or rip clothing; tall ones required to duck through every door and unable to sit up in any bed. There’s a lot of clambering and scrambling, with multiple changes of level that won’t suit bad knees. I was delighted with my stay, but am perhaps past the age and fitness level where I’d do it again.

WHERE TO EAT

Thanks to all those corporate offices and the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, the Docklands are awash with excellent restaurants and cafes, and I got top tips from my local colleagues. We’d originally imagined we’d be walking into town a lot to hit the traditional venues at night. A quick exploration convinced us there was no need to go anywhere else during the working week. In fact, we never had a dinner in town. Our top picks, Osteria Lucio and The Old Spot, were so excellent they will get their own story. Here’s our round-up of the rest.

Il Valentino - This Italian-style bakery and cafe reminded me of places I knew as a child on “The Hill”, the Italian neighbourhood in St. Louis. Conveniently located just on the other side of the bridge from our house boat and 200 metres from my Dublin office, Il Valentino serves up artisan breads and pastries every morning, with lashings of southern sun. Croissants filled with pistachio cream. Succulent fruit danish. The best cannoli I’ve had anywhere between New York and Sicily. Thank god this isn’t on the way to our London office; I’d be in real trouble.

herbstreet - The Sunday queues and the collection of positive reviews from glossy magazines on their website are a good indication of this place’s popularity with the locals. Our first Sunday brunch experience was so good we immediately booked for the next week. Spicy and sweet bloody marys  and fruity cocktails offer glamorous “hair of the dog” to kill those hangovers. If you like your brunch sweet, there are thick and sticky waffles and stacks of fat, fluffy American pancakes swimming in maple syrup. Or go savoury with rich, comforting eggs Benedict with local ham or spectacular, spicy jumbo shrimp po-boys. Yes, the American spirit runs strong here, but the hospitality, servers and locals are all resolutely Irish.

Charlotte Quay - With a pan-European bistro menu and elegant modern decor, you could be anywhere in the world, and wherever you were you’d be glad to have landed there. Charlotte Quay has a particularly fortunate location. The main docks are “L” shaped; the restaurant sits on the inside corner with frontages looking over the vast majority of the waterway. There’s a generous pavement between building and water hosting a bustling happy hour on weeknights and special events, including weddings, on weekends. I ate here twice, as well … unsurprising as it was stumbling distance from our houseboat. The starters are especially sumptuous and one night we made a meal of just a collection of those, tapas style: deep-fried soft shell crab, tuna tartare, pork croquettes, stone bass ceviche, burrata and heirloom tomatoes. Interesting and wide-ranging wine list. 

The rooftop bar at The Marker Hotel - If money were no object, you’d be staying in this outpost of the luxury Antara chain, and would discover its rooftop options as part of your stay. Most tourists wouldn’t even realise this luxurious resting place with its magnificent views existed. The roof is supposed to be exclusive to hotel guests unless you make reservations, but if you’re a loquacious type who remembers
servers’ names and likes to chat you might be able to talk your way in. And once you’ve been up once, you’re more likely to get in again. I’d recommend it to anyone visiting Dublin. It’s a low-rise town with few vantage points for elevated, sweeping views. The one everyone knows about is the Guinness storehouse. The Marker will cost a bit more but you’ll have better food and be less jammed. Whether it’s the secret nature of the place or the tough admissions policy, the rooftop proved pleasantly uncrowded in an otherwise tourist-packed city. Most tables were full but there was plenty of room between them. Cool jazz plays on the speakers and conversation stays at a low buzz. The whole vibe is marvellously relaxing.

And the views are remarkable. You don’t see much of the city centre from here, but rather the docks below and the intriguing mix of modern architecture, much of it incorporating interesting lighting schemes. Beyond is Dublin Bay, the coast going south and the green hills where suburbia gives way to the Irish countryside. There’s a fun cocktail list (I will be trying to recreate the amaretto cherry sour at home), grazing boards to pair with them and some surprisingly substantial main courses for an outdoor menu; the spare ribs were memorable enough to come back for.

Surprise! Dublin's now a credible foodie destination

My culinary expectations of Dublin were low. Unlike Barcelona or San Sebastian, where food research and pre-booking restaurants is part of the holiday planning, It never occurred to me for the Irish capital. I just counted on turning up and tucking into some comforting, traditional pub grub. A famous Irish fry-up to start the day. A burger, or a steak and Guinness pie, to end it. Nothing fancy or expensive.

How wrong I was!

We never did get that fry-up. Our hotel kitchen was out of commission. My favourite breakfast spot of memory, the historic and lavishly decorated Bewley's Oriental Cafe, is closed for a major renovation. The cafe we found on our Sunday morning wander delivered something deeply average. Thankfully, everything else we encountered was a delight ... though a good deal fancier and more expensive than I'd anticipated.

Basing ourselves between St. Stephen's Green and Trinity College turned out to be an inspired choice on the food and drink front. Tempting menus beckoned from a score of establishments within a 5-minute walk. We ended up drawn repeatedly to a small stretch on Merrion Row, where fine options cluster cheek-by-jowl.

O'Donoghues pub is the perfect place to start ... or finish ... any evening thanks to their robust tradition of Irish music. A stone's throw away is Bang, an elegant, modern restaurant with three floors of dining space each open to each other, rising like treads on a spiralling stair. It's earned "plate" accreditation in the Michelin Guide (just below a star) and the accents of the diners on a Saturday night suggest it's a clear favourite with the locals. (We probably should have booked; somehow, we got lucky.)

This is a typical modern, fine-dining establishment, stressing seasonal, local produce and presenting dishes with artistic flair. We were impressed by starters of perfectly-griddled tuna (caramelised on the outside, pink in the centre) with wasabi puree and seared foie gras on house cured duck ham. A short mains menu majors on rich proteins: duck breast, lamb rump, sirloin, halibut. Deserts like chocolate delice with cherry gel and caramel ice cream, or salted caramel parfait with honeycomb and mango sorbet, packed a flavour punch.  Without any planning, we had started very well indeed.

The next night we were across the street and down a few doors at Hugo's, a marvellously cozy French establishment with enough lush fabrics, wooden panelling, mirrors, brass and chandeliers to suggest the heart of the Left Bank rather than Dublin. There's an impressive wine list, offering mostly French options but adding interesting options from around the world, with more than 50 possibiities by the glass ... all at fair prices. As with Bang, there's an emphasis on local sourcing: Dingle Bay Crab, St. Tola's goat's cheese, Kilkeel scallops, Irish beef.  When envisioning comfort food in Ireland I hadn't thought of Tournedos Rossini with a glass of velvety Burgundy, but this is comfort food indeed. The comfort of kings. Hugo's did it as well as I've had anywhere.

A leisurely 15-minute stroll across town, closer to Dublin Castle and in the shadow of the impressive Victorian facade of the George's Street Arcade, we found another pair of delicious and noteworthy restaurants a stone's throw from each other. This time, in both cases, we'd unwittingly fallen into the hands of celebrity chef Dylan McGrath, who owns a cluster of eateries around this obviously trendy area.

Fate seemed to be guiding our steps. Turns out McGrath cut his teeth at L'Ortolan, our local and much-loved Michelin starred restaurant, had earned a star at his own first establishment in Dublin and is now the anchor chef on MasterChef Ireland. If I'd done any research, I probably would have ended up at one of his places anyway. Instead, we wandered into Fade Street Social without any context, in search of Sunday lunch.

The concept here is Irish "tapas": homey favourites given a gourmet twist, served in small, sharable plates. Three choices per person produces a satisfying buffet of a lunch. Chunks of pork belly served crostini-style, beautiful fresh prawns, strips of rare sirloin. The outstanding dish was an amazing crab sandwich cut into soldiers you dipped into an eggshell filled with freshly-made mayonnaise, served with wickedly delicious fries. Turns out there's a regular restaurant, as well (they weren't serving that menu on Sunday afternoon) and a cool, elegant roof bar. My only problem with tapas-style dining, of course, is that I feel you always end up spending more than yo would have for a traditional two courses. But there's no denying that the quality here was exceptional.

The next day, with these three fine dining experiences behind me and still disappointed on the Irish breakfast front, all I wanted was a good, simple burger. Peering in the windows of Brasserie Sixty6, something reminded me of an American diner. A hamburger led the lunch menu. We plunged in. Once settled, I realised the mood was ... as the name implied ... more busy Parisian bistro, with menus chalked up on boards, plush banquettes and lots of mirrors. Though the lunch menu was filled with simple favourites, a drinks menu with a beguiling list of artisan gins and vodkas hinted at a more sophisticated place. The burger, with smoked applewood cheddar, bacon, homemade chutney, three-onion creme fraiche, thick cut chips and aioli, showed off how a simple dish can be elevated to greatness when packed with flavour. It was outstanding. And, at £10, probably the best deal we had while dining out in Dublin. Naturally, there was a hefty list of artisan beers and ciders to go alongside.

We finally got our traditional pub grub on our last night, when we headed out to the Abbey Tavern in
Howth. Though this picturesque coastal village surrounding a ruined abbey feels like rural Ireland, it's only 45 minutes from Dublin, linked by train and a popular neighbourhood for affluent commuters. The "world famous" (according to their web site) Irish pub puts on a show of traditional Irish music and dancing accompanied by a three-course meal from a set menu, followed by Irish coffee. It's a description that screams "tourist trap" and I wasn't expecting much. Somehow, they manage to make the experience feel both intimate and authentic. I wrote about the music in the last entry. On the food front, smoked salmon followed by beef and Guiness pie, with Bailey's cheesecake to finish, was obviously the stuff of mass catering, but flavourful and put together from quality ingredients. Far better than I had anticipated from what I thought would be a tourist factory.

If you get a chance, cast aside your skepticism and head to Howth; the Abbey's Irish Night is an atmospheric summary of the island's hospitality. And it's good to know that, while much of Dublin has gone posh and foodie, the traditional places are still delivering their simple comforts, too.