Amy Austin (Dublin)

Serving up what they describe as an internationally-inspired array of small plates, Amy Austin in Dublin was recently awarded Michelin Bib Gourmand status and stands out both for its interesting location (on the first floor of a downtown parking garage…) and its unique cocktails with less conventional ingredients.

These unconventional, wonky cocktails mix in items like saffron and beetroot, white port, walnut bitters, sherry with milk, etc. (Not all together in the same unhinged super cocktail. But hey, I’d probably try it if they did that).

The result? I’d have to say that on the scale of “would this overload Gwyneth Paltrow’s fight or flight reflex,” all these unusual drinks are easily high up in the danger zone - right there with stiff breezes, non-purified tap water, and poor people.

Ratings / scores here, as with other postings, will be out of 25 possible points to allow for a more standardized framework and comparability across restaurants. 15 possible for food (both taste and presentation), 5 possible for service, and 5 for ambiance / atmosphere.

Food / Drinks (7.5/15):

I can’t say this is how I wanted to kick things off food-wise here in Ireland.

The clear highlight was the Iberico pork cheek with ajo blanco, salsa macha and gooseberry glaze (below). Perfectly garlicky, spicy and complex, this was one of my favorite dishes of the year so far. It showed that Amy Austin CAN deliver dishes at a very high level. Which is important to note, because it makes the lack of success on the subsequent courses all that more frustrating / baffling

The wheels started falling off after that. Next was their Chili Garlic Cabbage with sake foam, Parmesan and herb crumbs. SUCH a promising description. Was expecting to get punched in the mouth with flavor, lots of chili, spice, color. Instead it turned out whiter than my dance moves at prom.

The chili was nowhere to be found, and the garlic / spice mix on top tasted like it was sprinkled straight from one of those pre-mixed seasoning packets you buy at the grocery store. More specifically, it felt like the chef opened a packet of hidden valley ranch powder and dumped it on. Which is fine for Midwest dive bar food. But not for Michelin-distinguished cuisine.

The smoked egg yolk toast with caviar sounded equally promising on the surface but also fell flat. I just think they chose the wrong bread for this dish, a whole grain bread that fought with the subtler caviar and egg yolk flavors on both taste and texture. The balance of bread to toppings was also off, such that most of what lingered after each bite was just slightly-stale wheat bread. Reminiscent of the bone-dry whole wheat turkey sandwiches that adults would try to make you in grade school, when they thought white bread would turn your brain to mush. Well joke’s on them. I would rather lose brain cells (if I even have brain cells left to lose) than eat your dusty sandpaper bread.

A nice, thin, toasted brioche or numerous other buttery bread-related vessels would have been FAR more successful.

Finally we had torched scallops with green apples, chestnut velouté and champagne foam. Again, a very interesting combination of ingredients.

I started off enjoying this dish for the first few bites. Some form of the chestnut, apple and champagne notes combined to produce a mild coffee-like taste, which was initially pleasant and creative.

However, as the large amounts of champagne foam melted, the dish became increasingly sweet and overwhelmed by that coffee taste, and the textures started getting funky. By the end it felt like skimming the top of a foamy “scallop cappuccino” with a fork, which uh, probably isn’t what you’re looking for. Unless you’re big into seafood flavored coffee….

Service (4/5):

Friendly, attentive, willing to help with recommendations. It’s not that they did anything to lose a point out of five. It’s more than 5’s are reserved for truly over the top / amazing service.

Atmosphere / Ambiance (3.5/5):

Let me start by saying that this is all about the restaurant design and not about the atmosphere, which was buzzy, fun, and attracted the attention of basically every person passing on the street.

Design-wise, this space is very small. They have two larger tables in the middle, a bar that overlooks the kitchen, and then what I guess can be described as a “counter” that wraps around the outside windows.

The window counter has the fun bonus of getting to look out onto the street and watch the flow of people passing by. But beyond that (and I never find myself complaining about this), the counter seating is horribly uncomfortable. Picture having about half the space (both vertical and horizontal) of a normal counter seat, such that you need to be ACUTELY aware of your neighbors and your elbows at all times during the meal (so as to avoid accidentally TKO’ing the couple next to you while reaching for a fork).

It’s a shame. Otherwise I’d give this atmosphere a 4.5 or 5.

Overall (15/25):

Some flashes of creative and skilled cooking, but overall a disappointing experience considering their accolades and other reviews. Wouldn’t recommend a stop here in Dublin. Although it’s worth nothing that the food is very reasonably priced