Bodytonic are growing up. Once purveyors of club nights and basement raves, their offering in the last few years has stretched to include family friendly barbecue festivals (The Big Grill Festival) and local boozers with great cocktails (MVP in Harold’s Cross). Many a Dublin clubber shed a nostalgic tear at the news earlier this year that The Twisted Pepper on Middle Abbey Street was to close. The space has been refurbished by the Bodytonic team and reopened as Wigwam in late November.
And the space itself is more open than ever before. The wall and door that used to separate the bar and the venue is gone, leaving a long, narrow room. The iconic red speakers and giant disco ball remain, but the stage is now home to a comfy sofa. The room has been brightened immeasurably. The small upstairs bar has had its roof removed to make room for a sunny rooftop terrace.
Fans of Bodytonic’s Big Grill Fest might recognise the Brazilian chef Pedro Feraz at the helm at Wigwam, whose feijoado garnered him fans at the Herbert Park barbecue festival earlier this year. His influence is at play here at Wigwam with the pincha rump steak and Brazilian style oven baked eggs and avocado. The Pickle Me Senseless sandwich (€7) is pickled brisket on rye with a delightfully spicy black pepper mayo, melted cheese and gherkins. It’s like a classic Rueben with an additional kick. I don’t like the salad greens that have been added . They are unnecessary, and have become wilted in the toasting process. I prefer my salad on the side. I order the Minty Picnic Salad (€8.50) with quinoa and kidney beans is simple and refreshing. It comes with a slice of batch bread toast, and it would have been nice to have something to spread on the toast.
My flat white is perfect. Vice Coffee Inc, one of my favourite coffee shops in the city, is back in its ground floor home. I love asking the baristas here questions, like “what makes a perfect flat white?” They tell me things I didn’t know, about grams of coffee and extraction methods, and how steaming milk makes it sweeter, hence many baristas’ aversion to adding sugar to foamy coffees. Vice is one of the four independent businesses that Wigwam will play host to, alongside the Boxcutter Barbershop downstairs, the Brewtonic’s Drink Shop and the Wig Your Wam costume kiosk which will be open late Friday and Saturday night for all your 1970s disco costume needs.
Wigwam is open for brunch and lunch everyday, and there’ll be late nights on Friday on Saturday.
