Vivid. If you were allowed only one word to summarise Helen Cunningham’s Phoenix Cafe, then the word has to be: vivid. The food is wonderfully vivid: the flavours are bright and focused all the way through a gorgeous lamb and chickpea tagine, all the way through a superlative ham and Wicklow cheddar quiche, all the way through a superb beef lasagne.
The salads are vivid – meticulously cooked lentil salad, crisp and tangy carrot salad and an especially vivid kimchi, all of them delivering healthfulness under the guise of deliciousness.
But it’s not just the food. The atmosphere in the rooms, the alertness of the staff, the casual comfort of the customers, all combine to grace this not-so-well-kept secret with a pulsing, energised character. The Phoenix is one of those happy rooms where the energy comes from the fact that everyone eating here knows that they are onto A Good Thing: you get the impression that everyone here has been to The Phoenix dozens of times.
And that food explains everything. The spicing of the tagine, the meltingness of the quiche, the comfort of the lasagne, everything so precise and, well… vivid. After eating food this good, you want to slip on the trainers and get out onto the paths of the Phoenix Park to do a quick 5k. Cooking this good enervates and enlivens you because, like all the best cooking, it is healthful food, health-giving food. Ms Cunningham and her team have thought deeply about how they do what they do, and the result is that they do it superbly, and with gas in the tank. A great destination.
