chocolatebuddha » Archives » Mint Restaurant Dublin

It’s shameful to admit but let the new year begin with a healthy dose of honesty. While most of you were feasting with roast, sipping champagne and licking up the last of that absolutely sinful but heck it’s Christmas chocolate cake, I had something else at the other end of the spectrum with cold Tesco roast chicken (eaten barbarically sans utensils) for Christmas eve and self-packed ham and cheese sandwich from the only store open on Christmas day in Dublin – for breakfast, lunch AND dinner.

A suitable punishment after a more than fabulous meal in Mint where we swooned over by chef Dylan McGrath. Being just two years older, he had definitely worked very hard based on his showcase the night of 23 December, the last service for 2006 in the restaurant where we were fortunate to secure a reservation without having to dine with a time limit.

And it began with a pre-dinner glass of Chablis which we chose over Champagne. Though sometimes we grappled with the wait staff’s Irish accent, overall we managed good enough to know exactly what we were served. A square rattan basket arrived with many varieties of freshly baked bread (Chef Dylan insist on serving only bread baked fresh in the kitchen, from no where else they can be sourced).

First came the day’s showcase compliments from the chef in three shot glasses – celery jelly, cauliflower foam, potato foam and duck cassoulet were all I can recall. The clear taste of vegetables was refreshing and the final potato foam with duck cassoulet served warm, as if to lead us up into the real dinner.

When my starter of salmon mousse arrived, I almost couldn’t eat all that prettiness. Dollops of cream cheese, piped salmon mousse and other moussed seafood dotted with dark blooms of black caviar were then sprinkled with fine green herbs filled the entire plate. Next to me, the Other Half’s Mallard duck breast was equally stunning with a small architectural sheet of beetroot flavoured crisp towering tall.

Do forgive the absent-mindedness, we had more than enough wine that we left the restaurant in a cab instead of catching the tram. Between then and now, I believe some braincells were destroyed by alcohol and inactivity during the holidays!

For our mains, I stayed on course with seafood to have turbot served with celeriac foam and crab ravioli while the Other Half, being the man, had Roast Partridge that came in three separate dishes – the patridge, cabbage and potato rosti and finally gravy to be poured after serving for that dramatic final touch. Even by now, we had trouble recalling our first course!

Dessert came as well in elaborate three dishes – lime sorbet, warm ginger pudding with ginger ice cream was my choice (heavenly!) and the Other Half had mango foam and mango sorbet, and of course topped with sauce. Despite going just for a 3-course, our stomachs were already filled almost to the brim.

Finally, yes finally, petit fours came. Here, it was not just plain chocolate truffles. Looks like chef Dylan is all out to impress. At least twelve (12!) varieties of handmade sweets stared at us decorated in colourful glory. On the left laid three dessert spoons of red, green and yellow – dollops of raspberry, pistachio and orange mousse. There were cups of fruit flavoured foams and also several lolly sticks of prettily shaped caramel. The petit fours finished the meal in a bang – just like a fireworks display!

We only left the restaurant at 10:30pm, four hours later after we arrived and luckily there was no time limit imposed. We wouldn’t have enjoyed all those wonderful things in any time less.

Strange how when you had such a great meal, you forget most of its details and yet just remember enough to recall it to be fantastic. Now, my new year resolution – is to eat like this just once every year. No more, no less.