The food's decent and the service outstanding. If the plates weren't so cold Darwins could be a great place to eat, writes Tom Doorley
The porch of Darwins is festooned with framed restaurant reviews, a feature that surprised me: restaurant critics have clearly been beating a path to its door while I remained in blissful ignorance. I suspect they drive up Aungier Street a lot more frequently than I do. It would seem, at any rate, that they have been effusive in their praise.
Some readers may have noticed that framed reviews by me are a bit of a rarity. This is not because I'm impossible to please (a common theory, I'm sorry to say). I reckon the reason is twofold: many places to which I have applied unalloyed praise are a bit snooty and would never dream of sullying their premises with snippets from a mere newspaper; and unalloyed praise is not something I spew out very frequently, as eating in Irish restaurants tends to be something of a curate's egg. Hence the generally rather positive review with the but-bloody-hell- what's-this? bit at the end.
Darwins was pleasant, but it could be better, especially if it eschewed live music, heated its plates properly and relaxed a little. Service could not be better, and the admirably short wine list offers good value and plenty of decent wines. You can see that Darwins is keen to fill a gap in the market.
Starters were pretty standard: a reasonable mushroom risotto made with dried ceps, very meaty in flavour and texture but lukewarm bordering on cool. A good smoked-duck spring roll was crisp and neatly presented, angular slices standing on their ends. The sweet chilli sauce was good and hot, in the spicy sense, but the plate was stone cold.
Lamb tenderloins wrapped in prosciutto were indeed tender; they came pinkly moist in the centre, making a curious picture. The concoction looked rather like a slightly underdone shank. It came with a rich, buttery mash on a rather cool plate.
My rib-eye steak was fine, a big, brazen piece of meat, cooked medium rare in the Irish sense: it was pink in the middle rather than the red I had intended. I have only myself to blame. In Dublin medium rare means pink; in the country it means grey; in France it means the blood vessels need to be clamped for dainty eating. It's important to get your location firmly fixed in your head. There may be a role for GPS technology here. Good, thick Béarnaise sauce was served on the side.
Which brings me to the fries. Or was it French fries? I can't remember. Anyway, you would think this would indicate chips, but no. There is a countrywide conspiracy to dish up glorified potato wedges instead. And they are never crisp. Most of us want thin, crisp, perfectly cooked chips with our steak.
Potatoes cooked in fat are bad for you, so if we're going to eat something bad we want it properly bad, crisply bad, shoestring-chip bad.
Bread-and-butter pudding was a fancy-pants version involving very thin slices of bread forced into a timbale mould and coated in creme anglaise. It simply underlined the fact that the old-fashioned childhood dish requires no cheffing up. A lemon tart, on the other hand, was sharp and silky, encased in a crisp pastry shell. Which made it quite a rarity.
We emerged well fed but not quite dancing in the street at a culinary discovery. Darwins is eager to please, its food straightforward and not overly ambitious. Were the plates as warm as the service it could be a pleasant little place to eat. The bill came to €102, including water, two glasses of white wine, a bottle of red wine and coffees.
Darwins, 16 Aungier Street, Dublin 2, 01-4757511
WINE CHOICE Our velvety, oaky, ripe Bierzo Dominio de Tares (€25) was a lovely Spanish discovery on an eclectic list. Equally good value is Raimat Abadia (€18.50). Fox Mountain Chenin Blanc/Chardonnay (€19) and Fox Mountain Syrah are two excellent house wines. André Dezat Sançerre is fairly priced at €33. Louis Jadot Chassagne-Montrachet is €58. The lovely Bouvet Saphir Brut, a sparkling Saumur, is budget fizz at €32, while Drappier Carte d'Or is very proper champagne at €50. The most expensive wine is the very drinkable Château Marquis de Terme (€65), an elegant 1997 Margaux. The cheapest is Cono Sur's dull Tocornal (€17).