Eating out:This tiny restaurant has potential, and I have no hesitation in suggesting that you give it a try, writes Tom Doorley.
When I was a teacher, many years ago, there was an unwritten rule that writing "could do better" in a school report was beyond the pale. Even if this was the clear message, it was important to couch the advice in more helpful and practical terms, and I have to say it really did concentrate the mind. It was much easier to be constructive if the pupil was intelligent and of a pleasing disposition, and so it is with restaurant reviews.
I was put in mind of this when I visited, rather appropriately, the Blackboard Bistro, but I realise that those of my colleagues who stuck with teaching are now coming to terms with the new version of chalk-and-talk, in the form of interactive whiteboards, God help them. Restaurant reviews are probably easier.
The people who run the Blackboard Bistro (which does, indeed, feature a large blackboard of the sort I used to use in the classroom) are certainly intelligent and very pleasant, and they can do better.
But the young French chef who is manning the kitchen is struggling with two problems. Firstly, because this restaurant was clearly launched on a tight budget, he is using a domestic cooker in a tiny kitchen. Secondly, I think he may be fearful of pushing at the boundaries. This is perfectly understandable, as Irish punters are notoriously wary of anything even a little out of the ordinary.
Hence the "penne pasta with chorizo, red onion, cherry tomato, fresh parsley and Parmesan shavings", which I didn't order because it sounded too much like something I'd rustle up at home when tired and hungry.
But this tiny basement restaurant has potential, and when you add delightful, friendly service and a wine list that is as compact as it is yummy to the equation, I have no hesitation in suggesting that discriminating eaters give it a try. In doing so, they might encourage a sense of adventure in a chef who is undoubtedly capable of doing good food at keen prices.
The menu is short, too, because it has to be, given the scale of the kitchen. A starter of vegetable soup was wholesome, comforting and home-made in the best sense of the word: it featured diced root vegetables, a lot of pungent celery and a proper stock. Of how many restaurants can we say that? Terrine of confit chicken livers, on the other hand, was not quite confit enough. Wrapped in bacon, it was too dry despite decent flavour and the chunky home-made brown bread that accompanied it.
I normally avoid any chicken dish when eating out anywhere other than the few places that use the best and most flavoursome raw material, but the roast chicken fillet with rosemary, wrapped in bacon and served with a wild-mushroom ragout, was as comforting as the soup. Rosemary and chicken are a curious combination, but it was pleasant on this occasion. The mashed spud was like you get at home.
The potato featured, too, with the companion's grilled fillet of beef, which was moistly pink and reasonably well flavoured, its red wine sauce doing proper service as a lubricant. True, if I had not made a note of it at the time, I would probably have forgotten it within hours, but it amounted to decent home cooking. Again, of how many restaurants can we say that?
I'm afraid that neither of us wanted to try the dessert menu, which comprised banoffi pie, tiramisu and blackcurrant cheesecake.
I'd love to see what the Blackboard Bistro would do if it could trust its customers to be a little more adventurous. I bet it could do a good celeriac remoulade with charcuterie and a rich beef-in-red-wine stew. And maybe a simple tarte tatin to follow. I have a shrewd notion that this is what the chef would like to do.
The Blackboard Bistro is a lovely idea, and if you want to encourage a team that has its heart very much in the right place, go there and reassure them. With two glasses of Champagne, two of Mâcon and a bottle of superb Saint-Chinian, the bill came to a little over €120.
The Blackboard Bistro, 4 Clare Street, Dublin 2, 01-6766839
WINE CHOICE
This list contains 11 well-chosen wines and the delicate and little-known Alfred Gratien Champagne NV (€65 a bottle, €11 a glass). Our Domaine Talmard Mâcon-Uchizy (€28/€6) is keenly priced for a white Burgundy that combines ripe fruit and a steely backbone. Domaine des Homs Viognier (€30/€7) is peachy and delicious, and there's a Sauvignon (€21/€5.50) from the Coteaux du Giennois. Our L'Oiselet Saint-Chinian (€32/€7) was a stunner: fragrant, dark, profound, long and plummy, a lovely expression of proper Old World Syrah. I don't know Château Tour de Biot Bordeaux 2003 (€24/€5.50), but it should be full of fruit.