Sometimes I love the joys of modern technology! I'm sitting here on my balcony blogging in the sun and it's making it a little easier for me to reminisce about all the good food I ate in Dingle, who knows when somebody else is going to cook for me again! Though I do promise that I'm done talking about ice-cream. I did, however, promise to tell you about our meals in Dingle and as I'm not entirely comfortable in the role of restaurant critic I hope you'll be gentle.
You may have noticed from my last post that we seem to follow a very similar pattern every time we go to Dingle, Murphy's (sorry,) Fungi, aquarium and wandering, and this place is another regular haunt (so much so that some of the floor staff recognise us from one year to the next!) Novecento is an authentic Italian restaurant on John Street and we went there on our first night in town, me for the mushroom and asiago cheese starter, my little one for the pizza she had been promised. The restaurant opens around 5.30 with an early bird menu that runs until seven and a children's menu. We got there a little before 7.30 and got the last table as this place is popular with families, couples and larger groups alike, though it is more suited to kids earlier on in the evening (it says on the website that the kids menu finishes at 7.00 but we had no trouble ordering after this time.) The interior is simple but atmospheric with rustic stone walls and a huge fireplace and the staff are friendly and attentive, although a little surprised that I didn't order a glass of wine!
They make their own pasta and gnocchi on site and be prepared to wait for your food, everything is prepared to order so it can take a while between courses. Seafood as you would expect plays a leading role on their menu. The restaurants in Dingle take full advantage of their busy pier and any seafood on the menus should, hopefully, be freshly caught that day. Lamb, steak, tomatoey ragu, creamy sauces and fresh vegetables also feature and the ravioli comes highly recommended (by me.) With the menu barely in my hands I ordered the mushroom with melted aged asiago cheese (€10.50) to start and we shared it with a basket of bread (good cultural mix of ciabatta and Irish soda bread.) If you can get a hold of this piquant, straw-coloured cheese you have got to try it, it is just heavenly. I have never seen it anywhere else, or in the shops, so I am usually fidgeting in my chair until they put it down in front of me. Served in a (very hot!) terracotta bowl with lightly seasoned sauteed mushrooms it's like your own little private fondue and everyone else just fades into the background for a while.
Keeping in mind a belly full of melted cheese and bread I had ordered a tagliatelle with suitably spring-like spinach, peas and buttery shallots while my little one ordered her pizza margherita. Children have a choice between a spaghetti ragu and the pizza, with a drink and ice-cream included for €12. The pizzas are made in the Novecento Gourmet Shop just up the road and have that thin-based, shatters into shards, crust that only the best pizzas have (for a similar experience in Limerick try our own La Cucina.) While she was wide-eyed and content I was able to concentrate on my pasta. The tagliatelle was perfectly al dente and the vegetables vibrant green and full of flavour. A thin sauce coated the dish lightly, I think there may have been a little cream in there but only a touch so as not to be cloying. They're portions are generous so I uncharacteristically decided not to order dessert and sat back while my daughter happily devoured her vanilla and chocolate ice-cream. From past experience both the affogato and the tiramisu are excellent. The bill came to around €35 with our only drinks being a jug of tap water. They only charged €10 for the children's menu as my daughter doesn't drink fizzy drinks (not due to any parenting skills of mine I confess, she just doesn't like the bubbles.) So, we left content and with every intention of returning next time we're in town. As usual.
We passed The Old Smokehouse (I'm sorry I can't find a website for it) on Lower Main Street, on the way back to the B&B and the menu looked tempting enough to pop in and book a table for the following evening. What follows next is an exercise in pure gluttony but in our defence we did spend the day at the beach and were pretty hungry. The restaurant is opposite the famous pub An Droichead Beag (The Small Bridge) and with it's dark purple exterior it should be easy to find. The main interior is, like Novecento dimly lit, simple and homey with stripped, craggy stone walls. Off this, where we were seated, is another, brighter room with a wall of windows overlooking a stream. The service, again, was friendly attentive and all the staff seemed to be in a good mood.
The food can be best described as modern Irish with staples such as beef and Guinness pie and plenty of seafood. There is a specials board based on what fresh ingredients are available on the day. When we were there they had pan-fried Dingle Bay mackerel with a garlic and almond butter that sounded amazing. We were going for three courses, all beautifully presented. I had deep-fried Brie with a redcurrant jelly sauce to start and the little one had potato and leek soup. The Brie was perfectly oozing inside its crisp breadcrumb shell and the sauce was sharp and sweet. The soup was smooth, creamy and well seasoned, though she graciously said that the Nigel Slater version we make at home is better.
That was as far as her adventurous spirit went that night and she had home-made chicken goujons and crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside, home-made chips for her main course (she's not a fan of chips so I was forced to sample some of these) I had a mushroom, spinach and leek crepe (I like my greens), with goats cheese and a cream sauce. Served with a medley of fresh vegetables this was tasty and substantial and light years away from from the usual fodder vegetarians get lumped with in restaurants. The veg were well cooked, the greens still green and the red cabbage deep purple.
Struggling slightly, we were shown the dessert menu which included apple tart, pavlova, chocolate mousse and sticky toffee pudding. The little one made a beeline for the mousse, I chose the sticky toffee pudding. The mousse looked gorgeous in a glass piled with whipped cream and chocolate curls, my slab of pudding was surrounded by toffee sauce. Needless to say, she was enchanted and announced that it was much better than anything I ever made (what they give with one hand they taketh away with the other.) My pudding was fluffy but moist soaking in the dark, rich sauce.
The whole meal was lovely and as the restaurant filled up there was a real sense of people enjoying their food, that had been prepared by people that enjoyed making it and presented by people who got genuine enjoyment from the expression on the punters faces as their huge white plates were put in front of them. Our bill came to €45, again with no drinks other than tap water, not cheap but excellent value, and we left, slowly and utterly defeated with every intention of making this another regular.
I'm just going to mention quickly something about the entertainment in Dingle, even though I was in bed by ten every night I was young once and used to do the rounds of the pubs in search of good music. Thankfully it's not hard to find, with sessions going on in most of the pubs in town. My favourite though was always An Droichead Beag. Here there are sessions until the small hours every night of the year and if you're lucky some famous faces may turn up now and then to join in. Over the last few years the RTE music programme Other Voices has been recorded in the 200 year old St. James' Church on Main Street. This is a fantastic show featuring all the best artists in the music industry at the moment (recent performers include Amy Winehouse, Damien Rice and Josh Ritter.) It is recorded in the depths of December, and is now in it's fifth year. I would love to get down for it this year, even if you can't get into the gigs themselves I'm sure it's worth being in town for all the sessions that spill over into the pubs in town. Mike Scott from the Waterboys was there last year and posted a rather detailed diary of his visit.
So, there you have it dinner and a little bit of the craic (Irish style) in Dingle. I hope I haven't rambled on and over-romanticised the town and it's stunning surroundings, (you may have guessed I don't get out much) but it really does seem to put a spell on all that visit it and the food (for me at least) is a large part of the magic. While you may not find your meals here reclining on a bed of whatever, or bathing in a sea of jus, you will find good food, good drink and good music. And that's enough to feed body and soul.
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