A few years ago, I saw a commercial premise on Upper Clanbrassil Street come up for sale, and I had a little fantasy of purchasing it, renovating it and living upstairs while letting out the little unit downstairs. The property eventually went off the market, only to recently resurface lately as the home of Clanbrassil House restaurant, an off-shoot from the lauded Bastible, which is situated just around the corner.
The decor is plain and simple, even austere, with clean white walls and dark wood tables with the dining space split into two cosy rooms. There's a small front room with high tables, and a second room to the rear with sit down tables. The rear room has a wide pass into the kitchen, with a ringside view of the wood burning grill and occasional wafts of smoky goodness hitting our table. We settle in and order a bottle of Portuguese Dao red wine from Niepoort (€38). The menu starts with a selection of snacks before breaking into small plates (starters) and items from the charcoal grill.
A special starter of beef tartare is satisfyingly beefy, accompanied by already famous and delightfully crunchy beef dripping toast (€9). A bowl of celeriac ravioli with hazelnuts and apple balsamic is bang on the current trend for buttery ravioli and is the veritable stuff of pasta dreams (€10). the smooth creamy filling and buttery sauce is beautifully balanced with little dabs of balsamic zing.
Beef tartare with beef dripping toast |