L'Ecrivain is located in the center of Georgian Dublin and is operated by Chef Derry Clarke and his wife, Sallyanne. It features classic French style cuisine with modern influences and excellent local and fresh Irish ingredients such as Wild Irish Trout and Wicklow Venison.
We arrived on time, however we were seated and asked to wait in the bar area. We were surprised to have to wait 30 minutes before the restaurant opened for service, but it turns out a little "emergency" had occurred in the kitchen. Despite this minor mishap, once we were seated in the spacious main dining room upstairs, the service turned out to be excellent, and we really enjoyed the rest of our evening.
Our amuse bouche was a delightful corn veloute with truffle foam. We loved the wonderful aroma of truffles followed by the smooth and velvety fresh summer taste of corn.
The freshly baked breads offered were outstanding, including a delicious Guinness bread.
We enjoyed a Goat Cheese raviolo for our first course. This was a single raviolo with a nice center of goat cheese in the filling. The goat cheese was sharp and flavorful. The accompaniments were lovely, including pickled purple artichokes, an aubergine tart, and truffle dressing. The aubergine tart featured both sweet and savory flavors, delicately and masterfully seasoned, and I thought it was actually the best component of this dish.
A lemon ice and apple gellee provided a wonderful palate refresher. I especially liked the lemon ice on top, infused with aromatic herbs.
Our main course was truly the star of the evening, consisting of suckling pig "three ways": crispy pork belly topped with a slice of apple caramelized to perfection; a pig cheek, served tender and delicious; and pigs feet, deep fried in batter to perfection, surprising us with its delicacy and wonderful flavors. A side of new Irish queen potatoes seasoned with rosemary offered a nice seasonal addition. We appreciated the original presentation of this dish in an elegant square white plate, with each component presented on a quarter slice. The portions were very generous, particularly the serving of pork belly. In fact, while we loved the meal, this course would have been even more perfect if the pork belly portion had been somewhat reduced to balance with the other elements.
A pre-dessert of raspberries, with creamy coconut mousse at the bottom and an airy chocolate mousse on the top, was a heavenly concoction.
A chocolate pistachio tart with cherry sorbet was amazing, offering a great balance between the richness of the tart and the light refreshing flavors of the sorbet.
A perfectly made Irish coffee was an excellent way to end the meal.
This was an excellent meal, comprising local cuisine with a confident elegance, definitely worthy of a Michelin star!
