Dublin Delights

Dublin is becoming our second home at the moment with all our different projects going on their, but we are loving the chance to explore the great local food scene. We visited Amy Austin last week, and two things struck us about this great little restaurant on the ground floor of a car park of all places.

1. The quality of what our industry can deliver from incredibly small spaces continues to amaze me. One thing that really helps this, is the popularity of “small plates” and the flexibility that this gives chefs to serve dishes as they are ready, rather than the more traditional 3 course “service a la Russe”. We sat at the counter and watched the chef as he would prepare multiple versions of the same dish that would then be delivered to various tables around the restaurant. This small difference makes service so much easier, rather than trying to co-ordinate multiple different dishes to be ready at the same time.

2. Great foodservice offers are consistently able to operate in off pitch spaces because they can draw their own footfall. However, the distance that they can draw that footfall might vary, being down a side street in a busy city centre is one thing, but being completely remote is another. Also, the better value off pitch space really is one of the life bloods of our industry, giving entrepreneurial chefs the chance to shine, but only if occupancy costs are reasonable.

Do you have any "small plates" heroes or "off pitch" champions you want to share - we're always up for trying something new.