I was worried about words.
A little nervous, perhaps, about describing no less than the eagerly awaited, hotly anticipated, opening-of-the-year - that of Eamonn O'Reilly's Greenhouse restaurant, with chef Mickael Viljanen newly lured from the starkness of The Burren to the urban heart of Dublin - an event which would be causing every critic worth their fleur du sel to salivate and evaluate in equal measure.
I wondered would I have words - the right words and enough of them - words to describe the je-ne-sais-quoi of one of the most exciting chefs at work in Ireland. So I packed my bag with adjectives, stuffed my pockets with superlatives, and brought my camera for when words might, inevitably, fail me.
And these were the words that came.
Velvety: a word which could be applied equally to the plush blue-green seating and to the dish of foie gras, royale and frozen, with apple, walnut and celery; ethereal was the other word that sprang to mind - not for the seating, mind - but the foie gras? most assuredly;
Surprising: a composition of celery, rhubarb, rose, white chocolate and dill; I'll grant that there is precedent for using celery in a dessert - before that unfortunate incident with the volcano, the populus of old Pompeii were given to eating roasted celery with honey and ground pepper - but I think I can safely say that Mickael's creation would knock the socks off anything that the ancients ate;
Harmonious: the matching of edibles with quaffables by sommelier Lorraine Harmon, including a ginger and pastis soda to match that celery-based dessert - I'll bet the ancient Italians didn't have anything to compare to that either;
Worth-crawling-into-and-licking-every-last-bit: an amuse bouche of Parmesan custard with mushroom velouté, served with Parmesan and vinegar crisps - would that I could buy such crisps in a Tayto-like bag;
Playful: said Parmesan custard served in a precisely decapitated eggshell;
Tastes-like-liver: duck hearts - tiny little half-hearts, to be exact - which came with celeriac baked in rye, truffle, hazelnut and sorrel;
Heroic: that the petit fours, which ended the meal, included a macaroon of potato and white chocolate makes Mickael, officially, my hero;
There were, of course, many other courses and many other words that I might apply - accomplished, innovative and inventive, to name but a few. Memorable, though, is the word that will undoubtedly linger.
Joshua House, Dawson Street, Dublin 2 info@thegreenhouse@ireland.com www.thegreenhouserestaurant.ie
Tue-Sat lunch noon-2.30pm, Tue-Sat dinner 6pm-10.15pm
Photo: Aoife Cox
