EATING OUT:One of the loveliest dining rooms in the capital has now got a fresh sense of identity
I’M ON MY KNEES peering under a radiator in the newly opened Locks Brasserie on Dublin’s Grand Canal. No I haven’t just taken reviewing to a whole new level (although there’s not a dust mote in sight). I’m trying to fish out something dropped by my youngest son, who’s raiding the grapes from the cheese trolley when he’s not dropping things in awkward places.
We are here for Saturday lunch on a golden last day of autumn. The trees outside are blazing defiantly before winter winds bite them bare. The world and his dog is taking the clear sunny air on a walk, trot or cycle. At one point, a man balancing an antique picture between crossbar and handlebars pedals past.
Locks has long been one of Dublin’s loveliest dining rooms. It had a beautiful makeover in 2007 in a brave but doomed venture by young restaurateurs Teresa Carr, Kelvin Rynhart and chef Troy Maguire. They were hobbled by high set-up costs and disastrous timing and, after a struggle, the shutters clanged down last winter.
The Dublin restaurant story is a sisterhood tale these days. Little sister operations are happening everywhere. There is the Cliff Town House, a sister of the Waterford hotel, the new Kinara Kitchen in Ranelagh, a sister of the Clontarf original, and The Butcher Grill, a sister operation to Dillinger’s in Ranelagh.
The formula makes sense in these lean and scary times, sharing food, staff and running costs between two arms of an operation. Here in Locks, the big sister is Pearl Brasserie on Merrion Street, where French chef patron Sébastien Masi has kept things on an even keel for just under a decade.
We arrive with two of our sons. The place is warm and bright, shimmering with canal sunlight. The fire is lit and staff are attentive and friendly in smart Locks Brasserie olive-green aprons. Although the Saturday brunch spots in the area are packed we are the only diners here until two more tables of two arrive. A long table is being prepared for a big booking later in the afternoon.
Little has changed. Everything is still here, from the comfortable chairs to the menu clips with their fanlight logo. There are still no high chairs, though, and that means our small guy sits on his comfy chair for all of four-and-a-half seconds.
We’re here to try the €19.95 two-course menu and our eldest son is offered fries and hake. Fantastic. I go for a salmon starter and halibut for main course. Liam has the chicken liver parfait and the daube of beef for main course. We ask for a side order of French beans. The free-range youngest decides on red grapes from the cheese trolley and he gets several bunches from a smiling waitress.
Our starters arrive on two roof slates slotted into timber chopping boards, which makes me feel cranky at first. Is it time to start a campaign for real plates? But I get over it because the food on these widescreen backdrops is delicious.
My salmon has been marinated lightly in lemon and rolled in fresh herbs and sliced. There is also a small mound of chunks of salmon in a lemon and chive crème fraîche. Liam’s slice of parfait has a three-sided lid of butter and comes with thought-bubble blobs of pear purée growing in size from tiny to bigger, and two tasty slices of brioche. Top right is a mound of spicy brown fig and apple chutney. The parfait is gorgeous, tasty and lightly-whipped and the fig chutney is a wintry treat.
Our son’s fish has arrived, a great skinless darne of hake, fried in butter to a nutty brown on top. It comes with good chips and an unasked-for pot of ketchup. He loves it and cleans his plate, which is just as well because it’s priced pretty steeply at the end.
My halibut comes on a bed of haricot beans and halved semi-dried cherry tomatoes in a thyme and tomato sauce. There is a butter-coloured foam on top of the fish, which is wonderfully cooked; soft flakes of flavour with the nutty beans and a tang of tomato and thyme make it light but warming at the same time.
I’m sticking to water and Liam has a glass of Syrah, a Les Hauts du Monteillet 2007 (€9.50). His beef also comes with a foam, a white one. The daube of beef is perfect, collapsing alluringly under the weight of his fork, the meat drenched with flavour. A celeriac purée, whole pearl onions and tight brown mushrooms, come dotted round the plate. He also gets deep-fried shallot rings, which are so fantastic they disappear before I even get a look at them. Great green beans are served with slices of browned garlic and a butter coating.
A bowl of three good balls of vanilla ice-cream is the boys’ dessert while we have some excellent coffee with chocolate truffles rolled in flakes of darker chocolate.
It has been a wonderful lunch, great food, terrific service. There is a serious kitchen cooking very good food here, and it deserves to be full. The weekend neighbourhood preference seems to be brunch and soup with the papers spread out on the table.
Locks Brasserie feels like the perfect venue for a family special occasion, and needs a properly priced children’s option, and a couple of high chairs. My one niggle? The €15 for hake and chips feels steep when two grown-up courses cost €19.95.
There are two gorgeous private rooms upstairs. And there’s a lot to be cheerful about. This is a glamorous baby sister, lighting up the canal again and banishing the lonely sight of a darkened premises.
Our family lunch came to €77.50.
LOCKS BRASSERIE
11 Windsor Terrace, Portobello, Dublin 8, tel: 01-4200555
Music: Light easy listening
Facilities: Vintage bathroom fittings and a fireplace in the ladies, which is upstairs
Wheelchair access: Only to the dining room
Food provenance: Not a lot of provenance stated on the menu, but Irish beef sourced through Donald Russell, and Vanilla Venture, based in Newbridge, supply the cheese