Aoife Cox visits Bang in Dublin

Bang Café impresses Aoife Cox with skillful cooking and skillful service.

Dang!

The plan, having completed the requisite perusal of the menu in Bang, was mackerel followed by John Dory. Good plan, I thought, and so it was, until the discovery, just at the point of ordering, that neither was available.

Fish supper, it seemed, had become fish scuppered.

It was the kind of opening that either heralds the onset of some Fawlty-esque dining or provides an opportunity to impress through graceful handling. At Bang, happily, the latter was the case. Demonstrating that there were, indeed, plenty of other fish in Phil Yeung's kitchen, the slot vacated by mackerel became home to salmon - cured and served in narrow strips on an avocado purée, and flanked by the freshness of radish and cucumber - while pan-seared halibut - which appeared alongside crab tortelloni, with a chorus of greens and a gauzy ginger foam - behaved as if John Dory had never been in the frame. Like well-rehearsed understudies, the players they replaced were soon all but forgotten.

The dishes presented, on the other hand, were, for the most part, anything but forgettable. In addition to the artful ensembles of fish, a deep-fried and breaded egg - crispy without and runny within - was served with black pudding, pancetta, tomato relish and wild garlic mayonnaise, and tasted, in a good way, like breakfast for dinner.

Pork cheek, rendered crisp as you like, was balanced by a tender parcel of confit pork belly and apple, and complemented by pearl barley, carrot, bok choy and a caramelised baby squid.

The desserts did not, perhaps, scale the heights of the other courses - a pecan tart with Earl Grey ice cream was a straightforward affair, but worked well, while a light and delicate rhubarb posset with orange granita was somewhat overwhelmed by the presence of punchier pistachios.

Overall, though, it was an accomplished performance - not cheap, mind, and you can expect to pay a goodly number of bucks for your Bang - but with that comes the promise of well-considered and thoughtfully executed dishes, a busy, buzzy atmosphere, and with highly polished and friendly service to match.

They might even have the mackerel and John Dory next time and, dang, if that doesn't make me want to go back.


Bang Restaurant, 11 Merrion Row, Dublin 2 Tel: 01 400 4229 www.bangrestaurant.com

@dailyspud       @BangRestaurant1