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Chequer Lane restaurant review: ‘I have nothing against Jamie Oliver but our experience was disappointing’

Our critic is unimpressed with the food at the TV chef’s new Dublin venue

The interior of Chequer Lane by Jamie Oliver on Exchequer Street, Dublin 2

Katy McGuinness

October 20 2022 12:00 PM

"Let me show you straight to Siberia,” says our host. Of course, that’s not what she actually said, but that is how it felt. Open less than a wet week and Chequer Lane by Jamie Oliver is as busy and noisy as you’d expect at half eight on a Friday night.

Anyway, the host attempts to seat us at a single table on its own by the bar, away from the action, set for four. We tell her we’d prefer to be in the main dining room and miraculously she finds us the table for three we have booked, which is more to our liking.

The decor features too many colours with upholstery in red, terracotta, teal and a soft green, while the walls are covered in William Morris-style floral wallpaper and bright green paint. The acoustics are dreadful.

Chequer Lane makes a big deal about its whiskey cocktails, so we try the Apple Three Ways, with Green Spot Single Pot Still whiskey, Calvados, cider, apple and honey, which proves unremarkable, along with a passable negroni and decent mojito.

It’s not a long menu, but a significant number of dishes are already sold out. Among the dishes we can’t order are the baked oysters with garlic butter crumb, the crab toast, and the burrata. Also unavailable are the market fish and the lamb chops, which sounded interesting with their coffee rub, harissa and salsa verde. I’m assuming the mixed grill, which includes said chops, is off too.

We begin, so, with whipped cod’s roe and naked oysters from the ‘nibbles’ section. The tarama doesn’t come with the promised seeded crackers but a semi-toasted seeded bread. Nevertheless, it’s the best thing we eat all night — simple, smooth, deeply flavoursome — and it costs a fiver.

There’s no indication on the menu as to the producer of the oysters, but they are as fresh as fresh can be, and the topping of green chilli and, I think, pickled cucumber on three of the six works well. Our waiter isn’t sure why the kitchen can’t generate the baked oysters when there are oysters on the premises.

The description of mushroom toast — porcini ragu, creme fraiche, white wine, tarragon — is mouth-watering, but the dish turns out to be a dull version of the mushrooms on toast you might make for your WFH lunch.

Scallop crudo with yuzu, orange, radicchio, shallots and pink pepper is better, and looks pretty, but for €16 I’d have hoped for greater generosity with scallops and more zing; instead the dressing is overly sweet. I’d seen some chatter online about the punchy pricing of the 32oz T-bone steak at €80. It’s meant to be shared between two, and comes with sticky onions, watercress, and a choice of bearnaise, peppercorn sauce or garlic butter. You pay an extra €5.50 for chips.

The sharing steak benchmark in Dublin is widely accepted to be the cote de boeuf at Etto, which costs €84 and comes with watercress, crispy garlic potatoes, and both bordelaise and bearnaise sauce. While the pricing at Chequer Lane is on a par, the dish is significantly inferior.

Our T-bone arrives with two sad little pots of sauce, neither of which looks like the bearnaise we’ve requested. I ask the young man who has delivered them to the table what they are, and he tells me they are peppercorn sauce and garlic butter, because the kitchen has run out of bearnaise. The steak itself is cooked way beyond the medium-rare we’ve ordered, and the meat lacks flavour. The peppercorn sauce is horrid. The chips we’ve ordered never show up, despite a couple of reminders. We don’t finish the steak (we do bring it home for the dogs) and are not charged for it, and three glasses of wine arrive from the manager by way of apology.

Chicken Kiev is one of those nostalgic dishes everyone loves. To Chequer Lane’s credit, the chicken here is free-range from Rings Farm in Co Kilkenny, but there’s no exuberant flood of garlic butter when the knife cuts through the meat — to the contrary, the quantum of garlic butter (the whole point of the dish) was below expectations.

Of the desserts listed on the menu, only two, plus ice-cream, are available. The Hot Chocolate is everything a gooey baked chocolate mousse should be, while a liquid dessert of Irish Cream — like posh Baileys with Guinness — is nutmeg-illy delicious. With a kale salad, the three cocktails, a 500ml carafe (€22) each of the house red and the much better Framingham Pinot Noir (€41), our bill for three comes to €208.50 before service, with the T-Bone not charged for but a portion of those missing chips included.

Our waiter is personable, but there’s not much he can do about the chaos emanating from the kitchen. I’m surprised later when he and the manager explain the restaurant is operating at reduced capacity while they sort out any teething troubles, as I’m not sure where and how they are going to pack in those extra diners.

I have nothing against Jamie Oliver, who is often a force for good in the UK, and at least Chequer Lane, which was due to open over two years ago, is a partnership with an Irish businessman rather than an outpost of a British chain. But our experience was disappointing.

Earlier in the week, I saw people discussing the restaurant online and saying that while they had no interest in going, they thought “your mum” might like it. Well, I’m “your mum” and I’m telling you that she’s disappointed.

Budget
Whipped cod’s roe followed by grain salad will set you back €22.

Blowout
Share the seafood platter and T-bone steak, with sides and desserts, and you’re looking at €160 for two before drinks or service.

The rating
5/10 food
7/10 ambience
5/10 value
17/30

Chequer Lane by Jamie Oliver, 27 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.

chequerlane.com

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