Fine Dining in Dublin: Pichet Restaurant
When I was prepping for my one day in Dublin, a reader very thoughtfully sent me his recommendations for where to eat. After looking at the reviews of Pichet, The Pig’s Ear, and The Exchequer, I wanted to spend the day doing nothing but eating!
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, my good sense kicked in and I decided to only visit one restaurant. I couldn’t decide which, so I planned to walk by each of them and check out the daily menus and make my choice that way. It was a tough call, but I ultimately decided on Pichet.
I had foolishly assumed that I wouldn’t need an advance reservation for a table for 1 at 5:30ish on a Saturday. But when I walked in, it was already fairly full and they couldn’t seat me for another hour, unless I was willing to sit at the bar. I was very hungry and tired, so I accepted and was soon sitting in one of the bar’s 6 seats.
I had not expected to find amazing food in Dublin and I definitely hadn’t expected it to be competitively priced with the US. I’d planned to order a la carte, but the options on the 3 courses for €25 menu looked great. They also had a fairly extensive and reasonable wine menu.
I started with the crispy hen’s egg, with porchetta, leeks, bacon & caper dressing, and mustard aioli. I hadn’t known what to expect, but it was amazing.
Truly crispy and wonderfully flavorful!
I surprised myself with my choice for the main course. I don’t usually like mussels, but something about the cod, mussels, chorizo & basic fricassee appealed to me over the other options.
And I’m sure you can guess, it was quite good! Despite the generous serving I was able to polish it all off.
And I definitely had room for dessert. I couldn’t choose between the brownie with the candied popcorn and salted caramel ice cream and the lemon creme with soft meringue, lemon curd, and raspberry sorbet. My server recommended the latter and after the earlier rich courses, the tangy lemon and multiple textures hit the spot.
At first I was the only person at the bar, but the restaurant rapidly filled and I wound up making friends with the various folks who came for a drink while they waited for their table to be ready.
And while the bartender was too busy to be very talkative, the service was excellent. When I asked about a wine pairing with my main course, he brought the manager over (who apparently knew more about pairings) to recommend a selection.
I definitely recommend Pichet, just be sure to make reservations in advance! I’ll be coming back the next time I visit Dublin!
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The Pig’s Ear is definitely worthwhile too. Especially if you get the tasting menu in their private dining room. The owner is very nice and showed me the dining room and introduced me to the chef when I was there. If I had known that reservations were needed a day ahead of time for the tasting menu I would have done it in a heartbeat.