Can you still be thrilled by food?You can at Canteen

WHEN restaurants were allowed to reopen we critics needed somewhere new and exciting to review. After months of lockdown, that was, as they say, a big ask, but fortunately the Marlin Hotel in Dublin city centre, had secured James Sheehan for its restaurant.

James had caused quite a stir with Canteen in Blackrock, before bringing it to Celbridge. In my review of the Blackrock incarnation I mentioned that “we ate in virtual silence” so enthralling was the food.

Well, no change there, I can report. And I don’t say this lightly. The last meal I had had in a restaurant was at The Greenhouse. The food, by Mickael Viljanen and Mark Moriarty, had made me reflect “this isn’t cooking, it’s a kind of magic”.

Well, there’s some magic going on in Canteen Mark III and the €58 four-course dinner menu offers outstanding value for money. The limited choice, just two for each course, is highly reassuring.

This broad school of food is meticulously detailed, employing elements that invariably amount to more than the sum of its parts. It’s very hard to define.

John Wyer in Forest Avenue was one of the pioneers in Dublin and it was refined further, in a sense, by Ciaran Sweeney when he was at Forest & Marcy. Damien Grey’s cooking at Heron & Gray (I have yet to eat at its successor, Liath) was framed similarly. Its most refined form can be experienced The Greenhouse, and its boundaries are pushed hard by Keelan Higgs at Variety Jones.

We’re talking about an attitude rather than a style. All of these chefs do entirely their own things but they seem to share a certain sensibility. And I’m very glad that they do.

Anyway, to table! It’s clear that we are in good hands as we bite into a tiny onion and brie tart; it literally melts on the tongue as it explodes with creamy, deeply savoury flavour. And then there’s the crisped Jerusalem artichoke skin that forms a caramelised shell for the classic pairing of artichoke purée and toasted hazelnut.

A starter of tartare of mackerel, an exercise in freshness, with a gentle mineral kick from an oyster emulsion, all counterbalanced by the crisp tang of pickled kohl rabi.

The other starter featured heirloom tomatoes contrasting with creamy burrata (the creamiest form of mozzarella) and just a touch of subtle dashi broth to bring a hint of the sea.

The sea — represented by seaweed butter — made a further appearance in a dish of braised cod, cooked to the nanosecond of just-doneness. Sweetness was in form of little peas and pea shoots, earthiness from tiny chanterelles, and further savouriness from baby artichokes — the globe kind — thinly sliced and caramelised.

The prettiest dish of the evening was almost certainly the tail and cannelloni of lobster. The two little pasta tubes, for want of a better word, were featherlight and filled with sweetly fresh lobster mousse. There was a rich, buttery lobster reduction and sharpness was added by little pieces of pickled baby courgette.

The scale increased slightly with the next course. The best pork crackling in Ireland — light, crisp but not tooth-endangering — sat atop barbecue pork jowl. The word barbecue suggests something altogether cruder than what appeared on the plate: as tender as butter, almost jelly-like in texture, subtly smoky.

Further crunch was provided by scallions, sweetness by roasted

pearl onions. Roast new season lamb is perfectly pink and came with its breaded sweetbread along with gloriously soft and savoury boulangère potato, broad beans and aubergine with the salty kick of anchovy.

For pudding, there was an exquisite little strawberry tart and a sensational chocolate cremeux (think the silkiest, most chocolatey mousse) with cherries and the crunch of feuilletine, i.e. tiny crisped flakes of leaf-thin crèpes. There’s even a touch of praline.

Tables are very well spaced, there’s an attractive bar (where they do a first rate negroni), staff are masked and service is good. Canteen is excellent news in a troubled world.

THE SMART MONEY:

The dinner menu at €58 per person offers some of the best value, at this level, in the country.

The early evening menu, at €34 for three courses, is a snip.

AND ANOTHER THING...

Two things, actually. The restaurant is a bit too dark for me, but the side dish of potato and crisp pig’s ear is heavenly!