Tabletalk: Ear it is - The Pig's Ear
With a TV celebrity chef and a former manager of a Michelin-starred restaurant at the helm of this new eaterie, Lucinda O'Sullivan can't understand why it's not more inspiring
Sunday November 09 2008
'Dumpity dumpity dumpity dum/ Dumpity dumpity dumpity dum." So went the familiar jingle on the website of The Pig's Ear Restaurant, with teasing annoyance. I couldn't get a handle on it until my animator son, looking at the pig-outline artwork, said immediately: "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
It came flooding back -- the dumpy little master of mystery and suspense, who had a penchant for ice-cool blondes as his leading ladies. I couldn't quite see the Hitchcock connection to the restaurant, save that the famous director was born in the Chinese Year of the Pig -- a tad too clever for me.
Behind The Pig's Ear are Stephen McAllister, the freckle-faced chef who was on The Restaurant on RTE, and Andrea Hussey, the former restaurant manager of l'Ecrivain.
The Pig's Ear is located in what was Jacob's Ladder, an upstairs premises close to Kildare Street. I was meeting Kathy Littler of RTE's Afternoon Show for a bit of girlie catch-up gossip.
The room was cool and clean-lined, with a bar in one corner holding a vase of Stargazer lilies, the smell of which Kathy found reminiscent of a funeral parlour! It was early in the week; two other people arrived at the same time, we took up corner tables at opposite ends of the room, and that was how it remained for much of the evening.
There wasn't any sign of our bubbly TV star, but a Spanish waiter and chef courteously looked after us. The menu is retro, and more than bordering on the kitsch, with old-fashioned shrimp cocktail, sherry trifle, jelly and ice-cream, and Battenberg cake.
Starters ranged from €6.95 for leek and potato soup, to €14.95 for lobster and pea omelette. Lobster is the new foie gras -- it's everywhere at ever-lower prices.
Organic smoked salmon (€11.95) had big ribbon curls of cucumber, mixed leaves, beetroot and horseradish, which Kathy enjoyed.
Lobster and pea omelette in a little copper pan was bubbling and hot. For me it didn't work as a starter, with too much eggy omelette, and very hard-to-detect lobster. Not good value at €14.95, when you can have half a lobster for €18 in Bentley's, and for €16.95 in Il Vignardo at Hotel Isaacs.
Mains (€17.95-€28.95) were very much down-home style, and included shepherd's pie, roast beef, and roast free-range breast of chicken.
"Is this the Southside's answer to The Winding Stair?" I asked the waiter, looking at the mammy -- as opposed to yummy mummy -- food on the menu.
Kathy had bacon and cabbage (€20.95), which consisted of two big tranches of bacon, a pile of mash, cabbage, and parsley sauce. Heart-warmingly pleasant. Dithering between slow-cooked pork belly, accompanied by baby sausage roll; and roast hake, the waiter gave me the nudge by saying the hake was a healthier option!
They certainly looked after my health, for the hake (€25.95) was a diet-sized piece, topped with pickled cucumber scales, and a quenelle of tomatoey crushed potatoes to the side. Both elements were lukewarm, and the hake was overpoweringly salty.
Puddings were €7.95 and size-10 Kathy, having demolished smoked salmon then ham and spuds, also demolished Agnes' apple and rhubarb crumble. Sherry trifle, in an old-fashioned glass compote dish, was a solid, jellified version. Not trifle as I know it. They took it off the bill.
As well as your usual desserts, they had little treats, which is a nice idea, so we had to try the Battenberg cake (€3.95).
"That's what my Daddy would call a pint-of-tea cake," said Kathy. The sponge was a real sinker, and the almond paste like pale, slimy fat.
Our bill, including a bottle of La Raia Gavi 2007 (€29.95) and optional service, came to €134.95.
The Pig's Ear,
4 Nassau Street,
Dublin 2.
Tel: (01) 670-3865
www.lucindaosullivan.com
- Lucinda O'Sullivan
