Il Posto

Review

There are some very good and very famous restaurants on St. Stephens Green. Thornton's, Shanahan's and Peploe's occupy the two sides of the Green at the top of Grafton Street. In amongst these is Il Posto, which while prehaps less well known, is serving some very good food in a comfortable and relaxed setting, and has the added advantage of having tables outside in the Summer. There are few enough opportunities for dining al fresco in Dublin, and these last few days with the city feeling more like Barcelona or Naples, Il Posto offers an opportunity to make like La Ramblas and dine outside while the city passes you by.

The room is a large rectangle, with well spaced tables and comfortable wooden chairs. The walls and decorated with romanesque frescoes and the effect is welcoming and informal. The tiled floor and general atmosphere lend themselves to a laid back experience and the banter from the tables around us was reassuring and infectious rather than annoying. It's the kind of place people are obviously having fun, and sure if you can't beat them....

The restaurant is owned by sisters, Susannah and Amanda Jackson, and surprisingly enough while most of the staff are Italian, the head chef is an Irishman, Sean Drugan, who learned his Italian repoiretoire in Daphne's, a well known south Kensington Trattoria, and a further five year stint in Valentino's in New York. The food is authentic Italian, and uses fresh sea food and meats to great effect. The wine list has an extensive range of Italian wines, including the well known greats and some lesser known gems.

The menu has about ten starters al priced at under €10 and include Risotto of crab & chilli with cucumber tagliatelle , calamari in a light crispy batter with a hot red pepper sauce & coriander pesto, Steamed mussels in a white wine, cream, onion & garlic broth and mozarella and tomato salad. Main courses include a selection of pasta dishes, fish dishes including tuna and dover sole and a selection of meat courses including escalope of veal filled with sage, duo of duck breast & lambs liver with braised balsamic lentils and the intriguing fillet of beef with proscuitto, spinach, red pepper & buffalo mozzarella cheese baked in herb pastry with a trio of sauces; basil pesto, sun dried tomato pesto & thyme jus.

The starters were discussed and dissected before choosing the calamari for me and a special of field mushrooms for Deirdre. The main courses were easy, the duck dish and the fillet jumped out and demanded to be chosen. Bread and water arrived, this was unfortunately a driving night for both of us, and the starters soon followed. My calamari was arranged in a tower on a bed of pesto, with the chilli sauce in a little jug on the side. throwing caition to the winds I poured it over. The sauce was hot without being overpowering, the calamari cooked just so and the pesto combined for an interesting take on this staple. Deirdre's more rustic mushroom dish was the star of these two, the flavours intense and the portion more than generous.

On to the main courses and my anticipation of these two dishes was rewarded. The duck brest was served on a bed of lentils, with two pieces of pan fried liver balancing the plate. Also on the plate was a small copper saucepan, the contents of which turned out to be a caramel/toffee sauce, which worked really well with the duck and gave herself a pleasant surprise. I have had rabbit with chocolate from Thornton's before, but in a mid-priced italian this was an unexpected treat. My fillet of beef, rare and baked in herb pastry with mozzarella, red pepper and spinach was another revelation. Two unusual dishes well executed is a nice surprise when you eat out as often as we do. So many restaurants all serve the same menu, it really is nice to have something different.

We were defeated as far as desserts went and coffees completed the meal. Il Posto is a busy, buzzy room with friendly staff and an Irishman confident enough to present an interesting Italian menu. Go along, have some fun and if you even remotely like duck, try their take on it.