Dublin has not been kind to blow-in chefs in the past and has seen off well-known names such as Gordon Ramsay, Jean Christophe Novelli, and Richard Corrigan.
The latest arrival is Jean-Georges Vongerichten who came to fame in New York where his Jean-Georges restaurant in the lobby of Trump Tower holds two Michelin stars (it held three until 2018).
Currently, he operates 60 restaurants worldwide and his latest is on the top floor of the fancy new boutique hotel The Leinster, owned by The Dean Group (formerly Press-Up).
No expense seems to have been spared in the fit out including a bank of indoor trees (a Press-Up Group signature), and it is nice to be up high with a view.
Sadly, while Paris got the Eiffel Tower and New York got the Chrysler Building, Dublin got Liberty Hall — mostly we could just see into the backyards of office buildings.
Baby artichokes (€15) were up first, dotted with a pretty bright-yellow ‘rose saffron aïoli’ which gave them a punchy smoky-earthy flavour.
This was a good beginning, but where were the ‘rose’ and the ‘aïoli’ flavours we wondered — there were no floral or garlic notes detectable.
Next was Jean-Georges’ signature shrimp salad which sells for $29 on his menu in Manhattan — €17 in Dublin sounded like a bargain. The recipe is on YouTube if you are curious, and this did look similar to J-G’s version.
The prawns were sweet and succulent and the avocado ripe, but we quickly got bored once the half-dozen or so prawns were gone.
The enoki mushrooms and peeled tomato added little except extra texture and there was proportionally just too many leaves — what flavour they had was hidden by the overly aggressive ‘Champagne vinegar dressing’ which became rather tiresome after a while (though our food editor loved this dish on her recent visit.)
Intense flavours is a J-G motif as those two courses demonstrated yet our next course was the opposite. Mushroom and walnut bolognese (€22) on rigatoni was pleasant but innocuous and forgettable.
Had the bolognese been served with smooth tubes of paccheri as promised on the menu it may have worked better, rigatoni’s ridges did not suit it.
Some good news — charred marinated duck breast (€40) with grilled caraflex cabbage, coconut lime infusion and homemade sriracha sauce was a pitch perfect intelligent dish.
The duck was pink and juicy, and the complex lime and chilli flavours did not overwhelm but lifted and focused the dish. The cabbage’s earthy sweetness added depth and this was easily the highlight of our meal.
Sadly my ‘grilled lamb chops with a smoked chilli glaze’ (€39) worked much less well — the glaze being sickly sweet and completely overwhelming the taste of the lamb.
This was doubly disappointing as this was clearly fine quality young lamb, with excellent new season roasted asparagus on the side. The sauce made zero sense however. The recipe is online if you are curious, it contains Heinz ketchup, molasses, and kecap manis.
Side dishes were another disappointment with two large lumps found in the otherwise nicely puréed buttery mash, rather watery ‘sautéed spinach’ needed longer on the pan, and skin-on fries simply weren’t crispy enough — the skins likely having trapped moisture.
The wine list is a work in progress we were told, and on the pricy side with very few wines under €50, but lots over €75 — hopefully some of the new additions will slot into the cheaper category.
I chose the Eschenhof Holzer Blauer Zweigelt (€55) which was bright and fruity and could cope with most flavours, however rather like myself it was defeated by the lamb.
Desserts cost €12 each and were on the conventional side, maybe that is why they worked so well — choices included carrot cake, rhubarb trifle, and warm chocolate cake. My guest opted for citrus pavlova which was feather-light and pleasingly sticky once excavated while a blood orange sorbet added tang and freshness.
Butterscotch pudding also worked — a sort of crème caramel in a glass topped with salted toffee and whipped crème fraîche with some buttery shortbread biscuits on the side.
Staff on the night were attentive and knowledgeable and they did their best to help us through a very uneven meal.
It’s early days for Jean-Georges, and maybe we were a little unlucky (eg, the mash and the spinach) and things will improve — either way the glitz of the space will probably ensure its survival just fine.
- Food: 6.5/10
- Drink: 7/10
- Service: 9/10
- Ambience: 8/10
- Value: 6/10