One New Chapter In Dublin
Saturday, September 25th , 2021
Daffodil Mulligan in Shoreditch, despite its Irish name and Irish chef, serves not particularly Irish food, with dishes such as pearl barley risotto with squash, tuna tartare and lemon syllabub. It does, however, make these dishes very well, and in combination with fair prices and friendly staff mean that this fairly casual restaurant has become pretty popular.
Chapter One (pictured) is a Dublin restaurant with some considerable history, but recently its long time chef/patron retired from the kitchen, and Mickael Viljanen, who achieved a well-deserved two Michelin stars at The Greenhouse, has been recruited to take over. Based on this early meal the prospects for the place are very good. The restaurant now has far fewer covers, and Mickael is clearly striving to not just match but to exceed his previous high standards. His signature foie gras royale dish is now even better (with a top notch foie gras supplier), and several details of the meal were outstanding. Michelin are hard to predict, but multiple stars beckon. Incidentally, this was my first trip abroad since March 2020 and the Covid pandemic. Ireland is in a common travel area with the UK, so other than a brief Irish government locator form to fill in, flights from the UK to Ireland and back are pretty much like flying pre-Covid other than the face masks: no Covid tests needed.