Eating out:You need to be very brave, or possibly foolish, to open a restaurant these days. And during these dark, cold winter evenings there must be many restaurateurs who, having filled their coffers during December, are wondering if the good times will ever roll again.
It's a good question. They may roll, but perhaps not quite as recklessly as they have done over the past few years. And customers tend to get more demanding, a touch more grumpy, when they are engaged in belt-tightening exercises.
Ronan Ryan and Temple Garner had a very busy 2007, opening South Bar and Restaurant, in Sandyford in Dublin, and, more recently, Bridge Bar & Grill. This is a reinvention of Frank's, which never really got going. Perhaps it was the location (under a railway bridge and not exactly in the heart of fashionable south Dublin); perhaps it was the way it was managed. I simply don't know, but I liked its informality and its straightforward menu.
Ryan and Garner have done relatively little to the layout, with the exception of putting in some luxurious booths opposite the bar. But the menu has become earthier and at the moment is highly seasonal, with plenty of hearty offerings suited to the current climate. Prices seem a shade keener than at Town Bar & Grill (the fons et origo of the Ryan-Garner thing) and South.
The thing about Garner's food is that he never loses the run of himself. He's driven by seasonal considerations and the pursuit of gutsy flavours without getting too cheffy. There's an Italian accent, but he's never afraid to fuse other influences into his menus. Above all he's a chef who is content to do things simply, and I suspect he has a deep suspicion of the cooking for effect that is so widespread these days.
I was completely seduced by ribollita soup with ham hock. This meal-like soup involved borlotti beans, swede, carrot, onion and parsley with strands of ham throughout, all bathed in a silky broth. It was topped with Parmesan and a little croute spread with salty, tangy tapenade. This was a winter dish that delivered a considerable degree of sunshine.
New England crab cakes were less successful. Had they been flatter and shallower they would have had better texture. As it was they were too mushy within, but they tasted pleasantly crabby. And that's what crab cakes should be all about. Lamb's lettuce and spicy mayonnaise were good.
A main course of venison was a model of restraint and simplicity. Cooked rare, but not raw in the centre, it was thickly sliced and served with sweet-and-sour red cabbage, splendidly ginny juniper berries and a kind of timbale of creamy dauphinois spud. So much better than your average steak.
If I were to carp - oh hell, why not? - the other main course, of undyed smoked haddock, was too salty, but that's just me. Doubtless others might have reached for the salt cellar. However, it was a fine piece of flaky fish, and the softly poached egg and hollandaise sauce, with just a suggestion of horseradish, were inspired partners. It all sat on buttery mash with greens.
Although not a great pudding fancier, I was persuaded to have some proper vanilla ice cream over which was poured a glass of Pedro Ximénez, the intensely sweet, treacly dessert wine that is, frankly, too cloying to drink. Its main use is as a sweetener for sherries made from the unrelated Palomino grape. Anyway, this combination was a knockout, described by the companion as "affogato for grown-ups".
There are plenty of wines by the glass, and we each had several, which is a more expensive approach than sharing a bottle. But on this occasion it meant we could enjoy proper matches with the very different dishes that we ordered. With a couple of glasses of very elegant Montaudon champagne (to help dispel the January gloom), espressos and mineral water, the bill came to €120. Grand Canal Dock Dart station is less than five minutes' walk, by the way.
Bridge Bar & Grill, the Malting Tower, Grand Canal Quay, Dublin 2, 01-6394941/01-6390032, www.bridgebarandgrill.ie
WINE CHOICE:The lovely Italian A Mano house wines, Primitivo and Fiano-Greco, are very sound buys at €22.95. Highlights include the dry-as-a-bone Cesconi Nosiola (€32), zippy Loimer Grüner Veltliner (€30), Seghesio's Californian take on the Piedmontese Arneis grape (€44), Selvapiana's chunky Chianti Rufina (€32), juicy Mezzacorona Teroldego Rotaliano (€31.50), the smooth, oaky Azamor from Portugal (a bit steep at €30), Seghesio Old Vines Zinfandel (€54) and the utterly lovely Château Laville Sauternes, at €35 for a half-bottle. The Auslese from Alois Kracher, who died just before Christmas and will be sadly missed in Austria and elsewhere, is a mere €20 for a half-bottle.