A while back, we posted about a trip to Dublin when we got a booking for the two Michelin star restaurant The Greenhouse, with head chef Mickael Viljanen and we stayed at the famous Shelbourne Hotel, which you can read about here. However, times have changed and Mickael Viljanen was made an offer he could not refuse by Ross Lewis, owner and head chef of Michelin star restaurant, Chapter One – come to my side and you can have half the business. At least, that is how the papers and magazines reported it….. So, with this new venture, we felt it was in our best interest to see how things panned out.
We arrived into Dublin pretty early and after a little window shopping, we headed to our digs for the night, the very fine, Merrion Hotel. As we were still a tad early, we grabbed a drink in the old-fashioned but comfortable lounge area. After the drink, our room was ready. The room is a fantastic size with an enormous bathroom with two sinks, full-size bathtub and a double shower and everything was spotless.
We had no plans for lunch so we opted for the on-site restaurant as it was convenient. It is a good size dining area with a nice view out to the garden. Once seated, we perused the menu which had pretty much all the bases covered, chicken, fish dishes, beef along with the usual veggie option which can be made vegan, if that’s your thing. To start, I ordered the Burren smokehouse salmon which, in our view, is probably the best you can get. C went for prawns which were coated in kataifi pastry. The prawns were fantastic as was my simple salmon starter – things were off to a good start.
For mains, C opted for fish with a lemon cream sauce with roasted veg and I went with chicken, something I never really go for, for lunch but it read well on the menu, plus we were a tad peckish. The chicken was served with onion puree, a thyme and butter jus along with a tasty potato croquette, it was delicious.
Then I did something I never do for lunch, go for a third course, as it’s not something you see on a menu too often – a raspberry soufflé. The soufflé arrived with raspberry ice cream and a raspberry cracker of sorts along with a raspberry coulis which was poured into the soufflés, it was fantastic.
After the fab lunch, we spend most of the day doing a little shopping and later in the evening, we ventured into the always interesting National Gallery to pass an hour or so, which we highly recommend if you have not been. Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for dinner which was booked for 8:00 pm.
We were extremely excited about Chapter One, not just because we have never been, but with Mickael Viljanen onboard and given his huge success in the Greenhouse with his two Michelin stars, there was good reason for the excitement. We arrived right on time and were greeted by the very friendly member of staff. The first thing we noticed was the amount of floor staff, there seemed to be one server for each table. Add to this, the service as well as being completely professional was easily the most jovial we experienced in quite a while, it was fantastic. Of course, that’s all fine and dandy, but we are here for the food so let’s get things rolling, I’ll let the photos do the talking.
We left Chapter One on a high, the food was fantastic and the service excellent, a return is certainly on the cards. After our meal, all that was left to do was grab a cab which was requested by the front of house staff and we were on our way back to the hotel for a good night sleep.
The following morning, we had breakfast in the same restaurant where we had lunch the previous day. Again there was a good choice of items. It was unfortunate that, in the times we live in, we could not help ourselves to the buffet. Still though, table service was fantastic, I went with the full Irish breakfast and C opted for poached eggs with mushrooms, all washed down with some tea and coffee.
This was one of our more enjoyable nights in Dublin and the Merrion is ‘the’ best hotel we have visited in the centre of Dublin, it was fantastic. Chapter One lived up to the hype and chef, Mickael Viljanen and his team put on a fantastic show of excellent service and fabulous food, we look forward to visiting again.
Until next time,
Bye for now,
C&J
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