Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Search for Delicious 6: Dublin (Surf)

If I was a bit taken aback by the dynamism of Dublin's terrestrial fare, I was blown out of the water by its seafood.  Located right on the coast, Dublin and its surrounding environs offer a cornucopia of fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and shellfish.  After almost being blown away while walking around the cliffs of the seaside fishing village Howth, I stopped in for a late lunch/early dinner at King Sitric Restaurant. 



Unfortunately they were out of oysters by the time I got there, and I wasn’t in a position to order their two person seafood tower.  But I was still able to treat myself to an order of crab mornay and a cup of their Howth seafood chowder with a glass of white wine from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France.  The smooth and creamy chowder was chocked full of the local catch, and the mornay elegantly walked a tight rope of sweet and savory.  The slightly tart wine cut through both like a hot knife through butter.

The best meal of my trip was also my last one in Dublin.  I popped in for lunch at Matt the Thresher, a slightly more upscale restaurant famed for its maddeningly fresh and local seafood, all sourced from the immediate area, like the bay that’s no more than half a kilometer from the restaurant.  I ordered the Dublin Bay prawns, two oysters on the half-shell, and another glass of white wine. 



The prawns were poached, a form of preparation I had only previously seen used with eggs, and they were amazing…tender, sweet, and bathed in just enough garlic butter to add flavor without blurring the delicate flavor of the prawns themselves.  The poaching left the prawns cooked, but still juicy and very fresh, somewhat similar to the cooked-but-not-cooked texture of ceviche, although obviously sans the cold and the lime. 

The oysters were out of this world.  The experience of eating an oyster, especially an oyster of this caliber, is a multi-phase affair, a succession of different flavor profiles and textures from the moment you put it in your mouth to when you swallow it.  Much like sushi, each bite is an event in and of itself, a collapsing of the act of eating into separated and powerful bursts of flavor.  The oysters were served with lemon and Tabasco on a bed of ice. 

A little bit of lemon and a little bit of Tabasco and down the hatch.  The bright tang of the lemon is soon followed by the heat of the Tabasco, after which a swell of seawater takes over your mouth as the oyster itself gently gives way to the softest bite, and you swallow and have to take a second, a bit like taking a shot of liquor, your body both thrilled and a little unsure of what has happened.  An experience to be sure, and one that reminds you of the power of food, divorced from the so often banal and necessary act of eating, a liberating reclamation of your own taste buds, for only 2,90 €.  It’s also common (and this place offers specials apparently) to pair oysters with Guinness in Ireland, a combination that I find absolutely no fault in. 


Matt the Thresher is also open late into the evening, so if you don’t want to shell out the cash for lunch or dinner, you can just come eat oysters and drink beer.  They also had rave reviews from both Michelle Obama and Anthony Bourdain on the front door, so pretty much it’s solid gold. 

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