School's outfor winter

EATING OUT:Olivier Quenet could do better is the consensus after an expensive dinner at a new restaurant in The Schoolhouse, writes CATHERINE CLEARY

HOPES ARE HIGH. When the chef at one of your favourite Dublin restaurants dials his food up a notch in a new venture, it’s a day to line up a light lunch, a good dress and an understanding babysitter.

Olivier Quenet has been an impressive gadfly on the Dublin restaurant scene since he brought good gastropub food to the burbs in Vaughan’s of Terenure and turned his city centre bakery, Maison des Gourmets, into a gorgeous little restaurant. The Breton chef, who worked in The Commons and Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, opened his first Olivier’s over O’Brien’s pub in Leeson Street (now The Sussex) and now he has landed in The Schoolhouse in the heart of the office and embassy belt of Dublin 4.

Sister operations are everywhere but this is no new baby sister. It’s a very grown-up sibling, larger than La Maison, and with the kind of trappings, such as linens and crumb scrapers, that are being widely ditched in the rush for the early-bird euro. “I’m so past posh,” a friend declared hotly when I described it. In this and the a-la-carte prices of more than €20 for a main course, Quenet is a salmon valiantly swimming upstream.

It has taken months for this operation to get up and running (the move was first flagged in September) and you can see where some of the time was spent. When the maitre d’ has been to the farm where the carrots were grown, things auger well for the food ahead. Scallop fishermen and pig farmers are name-checked here. This is dinner that almost comes with a herd number.

We arrive on a freezing Saturday night (have there been any other sort of late?) and peer through the window at the church-like room that houses the restaurant. You could shoot a Laura Ashley catalogue here. It is arched ceilinged Victorian Gothic, with enormous pillar candles in the windows and a huge fireplace. Underfoot is a thick mushroom-greige- coloured carpet. High-backed chairs upholstered in the same colour are a world away from bare tables and Bentwood chairs. Thankfully, they’ve resisted the fussy miniature footstools on which one’s designer handbag can perch. But that’s the vibe.

The bar, to the other side of the entrance, is heaving with pint drinkers and live music, while Sinatra croons softly on the speakers here. The “fine dining” (a description that sounds clunky these days) experience is a culinary cabaret act. You get little surprise treats, dancing girls to take you from one course to the next. Tonight starts with a sugared shot glass of mulled wine, which is cinnamon-laced and warming, then pastry sticks baked with a line of intensely herbed tomato, a reminder of Quenet’s origins as the son of a Breton baker. Later there’s another shot glass with delicious shredded pieces of marinated salmon in a goats’ cheese foamy milk flecked with chives and tiny piquant shards of gherkin. Then there’s a miniature coffee cup of Jerusalem artichoke soup, velvet cream on a spoon. These are tasty punctuation marks, sometimes more memorable than the main offerings.

My hot oyster starter is great hibernobistro stuff, three quintessentially Irish ingredients combined brilliantly. The Carlingford oysters are in their shells surrounded by a Guinness sabayon and scallion fondue, baked crisp and brown on top. It’s a stand-out starter. Liam’s autumn salad of salsify, walnuts, mushrooms and young leaves is much better than it sounds on paper, warm and tasty, covered in a slick dressing of walnut oil, though a little skimpy for €12.

The mains are a bit of a let down. Liam’s Saddleback pork, a rare breed from a Carlow farm, is surprisingly tasteless. There is a punchy gravy with it, a quenelle of black pudding and caramelised apple and an artful smear of parsnip puree. The black pudding is soft, not crisped on the outside in a way that makes this heavy offering more tasty. By combining all the elements on the fork the dinner makes sudden sense. But without its companion flavours, the pork is a bit underwhelming.

My Scottish salmon is good, with a perfectly crisp skin. It comes with carrots cooked four ways. They’re here as whole baby specimens, grated, sliced and pureed. Fish and one veg may not be everyone’s idea of heaven, but I like it. The four variations are like hearing the same refrain played on different instruments.

A final taster portion of mascarpone with lemon curd and almonds is lovely, tart and unsweet, to shift us gently into dessert mode. Here’s where I was hoping to do some eye-rolling and smiling because Quenet’s chocolate soufflé dessert in La Maison is one of the best. Unfortunately, the shared chocolate plate is just okay. A chocolate sponge that is too dry might be saved with a vanilla ice-cream partner, but there is a chalky chocolate mousse instead. It looks like a menu tweak has been made to install what looks like a posher version of the Maison chocolate soufflé with the mandatory vanilla ice cream.

We have three glasses of wine, one white, a Loire Côteaux du Giennois (€9) which is crisp and clean. A Crozes-Hermitage Equinoxe (€10) chosen to go with the pork tastes a little thin, but a Sicilian Rossojbleo Nero d’Avola (€8.50) is more robust.

The talent in the kitchen is undisputable and if you factor in the lovely extras you are paying less than you would for more ordinary restaurant food. But it is a cruel truth that restaurants are about more than the food. Here the room is a little flat and stiff, with conversation never rising above a self-conscious back-of-church whisper. The Castle Market location that makes La Maison one of the best spots to eat alone and watch the world go by is missing here. It will take a bigger crowd of diners than are here tonight to dispel that hotel restaurant feeling of slightly out-of-season despondency. If his fans will travel to Northumberland Road, Quenet will make this work. And there are early bird, lunch and bar food options for anyone wanting to enjoy his cooking without taking the posh option.

Dinner for two with three glasses of wine comes to €113.50

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