Here, finally, almost exactly four months after our return, is my last restaurant report from Dublin. We spent six very nice weeks in the city across July and August, and had some very nice meals (at Fish Shop, Mister S, Sichuan Chilli King and other places). This dinner at Bastible was, however, easily the best of our meals in Dublin, and indeed it was one of our best restaurant meals of the year (I’ll have the full list this weekend in my year-end post). The main thing that drew us to Bastible over various other contenders in its price range—not cheap but not crazy expensive either—was the fact that it was just about a 10 minute walk from where we were living. But I can tell you that if we ever go back to Dublin, we’ll be happy to take the bus across the city to eat there again. Herewith, the details.
Bastible is a small restaurant located on S. Circular Road in Dublin 8. It is named for a traditional Irish cast iron pot and while there’s nothing traditional, in a direct sense, about the cooking at Bastible, it does take its cues directly from Irish ingredients, which are front and center on the menu. Also present in many places on the menu are a wide range of fermented and pickled ingredients. These can be seen in jars on the dining room-facing side of the counter of the open kitchen, where the chefs can also be seen doing their thing. The dining room is not tiny but it’s not over-large either; maybe 25-30 seats across a scattering of two and four-tops and a few larger tables; one side of the room features a long counter with seating. There’s good light through the front windows in the summer.
The menu is in a tasting menu-only format. I don’t believe it was always this way but that’s how it is now. As to whether that was the cause or consequence of the Michelin star they received last year, I don’t know—and perhaps I shouldn’t mistake correlation for causation in either direction anyway. I’m not sure how often the menu changes. Ours said “August 2023” on it but I have a vague memory of our server referring to it as their summer menu. At any rate, it was a very nicely composed menu and there wasn’t a thing on it, from the house-made sourdough and cultured butter that was set down when we sat down to the petit fours at the end, that we did not like very much.
Many things we loved a lot. Among the early smaller bites, these included the cured scallop and an exquisite seaweed custard with mussel and caviar. But the shaved golden beetroot served on a cracker and the beef tartare were not very far behind either. The larger courses began with a lovely piece of wild bass with heirloom tomato etc. and concluded with excellent roasted Curragh lamb served with preserved ramson (a type of wild garlic), green bean and turnips. Both were sauced at the table.
Finally, a flurry of dessert. Preserved Wexford strawberries were at the heart of the main dessert, along with sheep’s milk yogurt but I’ll be damned if the star of the course was not the unlikely cucumber-lovage sorbet served along with it. I don’t know if I would have enjoyed quite as much of the sorbet just by itself (though I am now also remembering the excellent cucumber-dill sorbet served as a palate-cleansing pre-dessert at my dinner at Canis in Toronto in 2019), but it was dynamite along with the strawberries etc. And just when we thought it was over, came a lovely tart as part of the petit fours, of which my notes say only that it was incredibly good. Did the main component involve maple? brown butter? That I cannot remember has only to do with the fact that I didn’t take careful notes and am now writing this up four months later. I do remember that we liked it very much and thought it was better than dessert proper at most restaurants of this ambition.
Drinks? We began with a cocktail each. I got their take on the Americano and the missus got the White Linen (gin, St. Germain etc.). I followed up with a glass of a French orange wine.
For a look at the restaurant, the menu and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down for thoughts on service, to see how much it all cost, and to see what’s left to come on the blog in 2023.
Service was very good as well. Relaxed and informal without being over-familiar. And our server was able to easily answer our questions and provide detail (though I wish I had been as good at recording it). The price was 85 euros per head for the tasting menu. This seems to have risen sharply in the last couple of years: Jay Rayner’s review in the Guardian in 2020 lists it at topping out at 65 euros (but that was when the menu was structured differently and there was a different head chef, recently arrived from Noma). With drinks the total came to 203 euros before tip. Certainly not cheap but excellent value for an outstanding meal. Consider that we paid almost as much at Delahunt for a meal we were less convinced by. I recommend Bastible highly to anyone visiting Dublin (people who live there don’t need my recommendations).
Okay, so that’s Dublin finally done. I do have a few reports from Belfast as well—I took a side-trip there sans the family for a week—but I’ll probably put those up in digest form in January. My last restaurant report of the year will be of another excellent meal, this time in New York (in October), at Foxface Natural. That’ll be on Saturday. Tomorrow I’ll have my last whisky review of the year. And on Sunday, I’ll post my look back at the year in food and drink.