Make tracks to Mackerel, in the Bewley's building on Grafton Street, writes Tom Doorley
Things are looking up. Not only does Dublin have a new and keenly priced seafood restaurant, but it also has evidence of civilisation among property developers. How heartening to see Treasury Holdings' deep and tender concern for the Bewley's building on Grafton Street. Last month Treasury, as landlord, spent loads of loot at the Four Courts to ensure that the listed building remained intact as its tenant turned it into a complex of four restaurants. Surely this means that it has seen the light and that it would never dream of trying to turn the building into a hotel, for example, or a clothes shop. And there was I thinking that property developers were hard-wired for sheer profit. It fair brings a lump to my throat.
Anyway, the Cafe Bar Deli operation is up and running on Grafton Street, and I can report both that it smells just like Bewley's when you walk in and that it really is worth hoofing up the stairs to Mackerel, where Eleanor Walsh is wielding the pans. Walsh persuaded her colleagues Jay Bourke and Eoin Foyle to let her open a seafood restaurant here in part because it was something she had always wanted to do and in part because of the inverse relationship between our wonderful and abundant fish and the number of restaurants specialising in its preparation. Perhaps Friday abstinence casts a long shadow. Fish is still penance for some.
Not for us, though. We went to town on the menu, ordering in a fashion that would have done justice to Billy Bunter, all so we could file a comprehensive report. And so we could, er, deal with considerable hunger pangs, not having eaten since breakfast. We larruped into olives and anchovies (both outstanding) with a couple of glasses of dry, subtly salty manzanilla. Any establishment that offers this sherry deserves to be taken seriously.
Our dinner kicked off with ceviche of lemon sole, a dish in which the fish is "cooked" by being marinated in citrus juice. It was lovely - firm and subtly flavoured - but perhaps just a hint too sweet. Then there was carpaccio of tuna, thinly sliced, again uncooked and encrusted with pepper on the outside edge. This stuff melted on the tongue.
This is not a menu that draws a clear line between starters and main courses (although the specials, on a blackboard, are pretty substantial), so we carried on with Eden smokies: undyed smoked haddock with cream, scallions and cherry tomatoes. This is an assertive little dish: salty, smoky, earthy and just my kind of thing. We mopped up the juices with Mackerel's exceptionally good bread.
Then, rolling up our sleeves, we got stuck into pollock - a big, meaty steak of the stuff - fried with filaments of chorizo and some crunchy rocket. This was sublime - and a great surprise, as my only previous encounter with this very common fish was not very memorable.
Next came splendidly traditional desserts: a creamy lemon jelly mousse, poured into a 1950s sundae glass and let set, and an intensely rich and silky Valrhona chocolate pot. Excellent Bewley's espresso - much, much better than expected - concluded this delicious, fun but slightly mad meal. You can have two specials, preceded by two starterish dishes, a bottle of decent wine and coffee and come away with a bill in the region of €80. Less restraint will land you with something around €100, which is still excellent value. Our Bunterish exploration weighed in at rather more than that.
Mackerel is a very user-friendly restaurant. You can go for a blowout without breaking the bank or for a special with a glass of wine and an espresso for little more than €20. This is proper seafood with sensible Cafe Bar Deli pricing. It deserves to flourish.
Mackerel at Bewley's, 78 Grafton Street, Dublin 2, 01-6727719
WINE CHOICE Wow. Château-Grillet, glorious Viognier from Condrieu (and the smallest appellation in France, unique to itself), is €75, roughly half-price for this very rare wine. This sets the tone. The ripe and glorious Muscadet 2003 from Domaine Saupin is a great buy at €26, as is the hard-to-pronounce but utterly lovely Spanish Txomin Etxaniz (€42). Pewsey Vale Riesling (€32) is ripe but steely, and there's a fruity rosé, Cave Alignan du Vent Montarels, for just €20. Serge Dagueneau's Sancerre (€40) is one of the best if you want to be conventional. Martin Berdugo Tinto Joven is a juicy red from Ribera del Duero for €26.