First Look: Library St, chef Kevin Burke’s addition to Dublin’s buzzing restaurant scene

Dublin’s restaurant scene is buzzing, against the odds after such a troublesome time, with a string of new openings in the works. Friday sees no fewer than three high-profile city centre venues opening to the public for the first time.

Lennan’s Yard, a restaurant, gastro pub, wine and cocktail bar, from the people behind Asador in Ballsbridge and Prado in Clontarf, has a first phase launch at its Dawson Street site on Friday evening. On the same night, Allta Winter House, the follow-on from chefs Niall Davidson and Hugh Higgins’s summer residency at Slane Castle, welcomes its first guests to the top floor of the Trinity Street car park. And at the former Allta premises, off South Frederick Street, where Kevin Burke has taken over as head chef, it’s the first of two soft opening nights for Library St.

Allta is a big part of me, and we are still all great friends, and I wanted to respect that but bring it in a different direction

“I’ve got so much history with this room. I got engaged here, I had my ceremony and I got married here, and now I have the chance to make it my own. I’m really attached to it,” says Burke, who joined the original Allta crew two weeks into their opening in December 2019 and was part of the team up until six weeks ago. “I’d just moved back from London. I came in to help out for a week and I stayed almost two years.”

Now though, its time for Burke to forge his own stamp on the restaurant, which he is opening with the backing of Singapore-based investors Stanley Quek and Peng Loh, whose Irish portfolio also includes Sheen Falls and Castlemartyr Resort, as well as Trinity Townhouse, adjacent to Library St.

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Diners who previously visited Allta will be struck by the changes Burke has made to the dining room. The central communal table is still there, but its orientation has changed, significantly opening up the space. “I was here at around nine o’clock at night and I was walking around the room, pulling tables around – and this isn’t an easy table to drag,” Burke says. The experiment worked, and with the addition of a wall of bench seating, the space can now accommodate eight more covers.

“Allta is a big part of me, and we are still all great friends, and I wanted to respect that but bring it in a different direction,” Burke says. “I wanted more of an organic feel and a lighter feel.” The artist Ronan Dillon, who created the original artwork for Allta, was commissioned again, but the work is very different this time, and a dried flower installation hanging above the communal table is by Patsie & Co. “They did the flowers for my wedding as well. I said I wanted a meadow from the sky coming down.”

The launch menu for Library St, which will open reservations on Saturday for bookings from next Wednesday, features the mix of snacks and starters, three main courses and two desserts. It’s a formula that is working well in lots of places and reflects how people want to eat these days.

“The main focus with the food is that I really want it to be for sharing. I want people to go along with that way of eating, in terms of things coming to the centre of the table and sharing with whoever you’re with. The bread service sets the tone: tartine organic sourdough with Abernethy butter comes sliced nearly all the way through, but not quite. I want the guests to tear it, and share it around.”

Burke is keeping his menu hyper-seasonal, and will change it regularly according to what’s at its best with his Irish suppliers. “Right now the candied beet and yellow beet are literally just out of the ground at McNally’s Farm. When I see stuff like that, it’s going straight on [the menu]. We have lovely mackerel and pheasant coming next.”

From the snacks and starters, choux logs with horseradish and Cantabrian anchovy (€3.50 each), and crispy boned and stuffed chicken wings with chanterelle and tarragon mayo (€6), look likely to become signature dishes. There will always be a salad on the menu, this time it’s a pear and radicchio with walnuts and Velvet Cloud sheep’s yogurt (€11), and either a pasta or a risotto, and for the launch it’s a Delica pumpkin risotto (€12.50).

Chargrilled Porcupine Bank langoustine (€16), chargrilled monkfish (€28), roast saddle of lamb (€36) and chargrilled pork chop (€30) have shades of Allta about them, but Burke is bringing his personal style to how he is preparing, presenting and finishing them.

The drinks list is extensive, with a wine list curated by restaurant manager Anne-Marie Duignan, along with former Allta sommelier Ian Fitzpatrick, now working with Neighbourhood Wine, cocktails by mixologist Karl Cooney, a canned beer selection and non-alcoholic options.

A laid back, convivial vibe is what the team is striving for. “I want the people to make the room. I want people to be interacing, enjoying a glass of wine. I’m not here to say, be quiet, it’s all about the food.”

Burke is joined in the kitchen by three chefs de partie, Audrey Cahatol, Dom Klecina and William Gnudi, and the assistant manager is Savi Skrzypic. “Everyone that I want to work here has to have the same sort of attitude and a calmness to them and a willingness to work with others in a nice fashion,” Burke says of his team.

The downstairs private dining room has also been given a facelift, and will be available to book for groups of 10. Burke will agree a set menu with groups who book this space, and the minimum spend will be about €90 or €100 a head. Library St will open for dinner Wednesday to Saturday, with lunch on Friday and Saturday beginning next month.

Not content with opening a restaurant, Burke and his wife Claire are also moving house soon. “I just got my mortgage last week, I’m buying my family home, the house I grew up in in Castleknock. My brother bought it off my parents years ago, so now we’re buying it off my brother.”