Burning bright
The new Ember restaurant looked trendy and was serving up some tasty, top-notch fine dining on their opening night, says Lucinda O’Sullivan. Watch this space, it’s sure to be knee-deep in hipsters and cool cats in no time
‘Love, love me do, you know I love you”, the iconic 1960s Beatles number, was coming over the music system as we crossed the threshold of the new Ember restaurant in Milltown on its first night. Looking around at the smart bar, and chicly kitted-out room, it felt like being in Madrid, and we were loving it already. As I looked at the number of lithe, leggy blondes and handsome bearded guys arriving in after us, it cemented my view that this would be far more than a run-of-the-mill neighbourhood restaurant — this was going to become a destination in itself, which would draw the hip crowd who frequent Ranelagh and Dundrum for their cocktails and casual contemporary fine dining.
Greg O’Mahoney is the chef patron. He was first drawn to my attention by Tom O’Connell of O’Connell’s in Donnybrook — a man who knows his onions! O’Mahoney fine-tuned his culinary skills in some of the best kitchens in Ireland, including Chapter One, L’Ecrivain, and Pichet. He has also worked in San Sebastian, which has more than its share of Michelin-starred restaurants, and he has brought some of these influences to the Ember menu with a Basque-style plancha (literally: on a metal plate) and a charcoal/woodburning oven.
Starters (€7.50-€15) included chestnut veloute, buttermilk potato and smoked chicken; while ‘Embered’ bone marrow was paired with razor clam, 63°C egg (cooked sous-vide), black garlic and sourdough. House-cured and smoked salmon was served with crab, avocado, caper flowers and black olive; and scallops were cooked a la plancha and served with chorizo, apple, squash and dillisk. All of these appealed, but the idea of a slow-cooked risotto involving squid, caramelised onions and Gruyere cheese won out. Needless to say, this was just perfect, with the right amount of moisture, yet retaining a sense of the grain. Surrounded by squid ink, and combined with silky slivers of squid and caramelised onions, a Gruyere foam was the icing on the cake and a real flavour burst. An excellent chestnut veloute, for my friend, was a dish of two halves. A pool of buttermilk potato arrived on one side of the soup plate, embellished with a quenelle of smoked chicken and a crisp; the chestnut veloute was then poured on the other side, creating a coffee-and-cream look.
Mains (€16.50-€32) included venison with celeriac, blackberries and chocolate jus, while steaks (€20-€32) covered all price options with an 8oz feather blade, a 10oz rib-eye, and the top-priced 8oz fillet. Sharing dishes included a 23oz cote de boeuf (€65), and halibut Basque-style with Boulangere potatoes (€55). I rather fancied the halibut, but reviewers have to try two different dishes, so it was hake (€20) for me. Again, it was perfectly cooked and delicious, sitting on scattered elements of artichoke, crispy mussels, rainbow chard, gnocchi, and topped with Chardonnay grape vinaigrette. My dining companion chose what I think will be a very popular staple — half a free-range chicken (€20), cooked three ways — barbecued; buttermilk; and braised in orzo and corn. With these, we had a side of fries (€3.50) and a light, healthy version of mac ‘n’ cheese (€3.50).
As it worked out, the dishes we had both chosen were on that evening’s two/three-course early bird at €22/€27 (from 5pm to 6.30pm), and so we proceeded on with a scrumptious apple crumble, and a zingy lemon meringue pie topped with a blackberry compote.
There’s an excellent wine list, and with a bottle of fresh, clean-tasting Ruedan Protos Verdejo 2015 (€32), and Aqua Panna (€5), our bill with service came to €110.
This ember sure sizzles. Unit 6 Milltown Shopping Centre, Milltown Road, Dublin 6. Tel: (01) 444-3783 ember.ie lucindaosullivan.com