I don’t know what took me so long to check out Richmond, I’ve passed by it so many times since it opened. I think these days I try not to rush to places too early, so much so that I end up late to the party, oh c’est la vie! To be honest I decided to visit Richmond after seeing some of the pictures of dishes posted by chef David O’Byrne on Instagram lately. Social media can be a powerful thing!
Richmond is located in Portobello, not too far from the canal. There’s a red neon sign outside to lure you in and the interior is nice, with exposed red-bricked walls. The room downstairs isn’t big but it’s welcoming and feels cosy, there's also another room upstairs.
We visited on a Friday night and the place seemed awfully quiet. We were informed by the lovely man who served us that they had quite a few cancellations that evening.
Richmond is open for brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 3pm and for dinner from Tuesday to Sunday. They have ‘a la carte’ options as well as a tasting menu on Tuesdays (€29.95 for 5 courses) and an early bird menu (€23/€28 available up to 6.30pm Wednesday to Saturday and all evening Sunday).
We were brought some bread with curry butter to nibble while waiting on our starters.
Mr. FFID kicked off the meal with the duck starter (€10.50). The duck cake was perfectly crispy, served with some pickled red cabbage, an earthy truffle lentil cream and a sprinkle of crushed pistachio. A mix of flavours and textures that worked well together.
My dish consisted of a rolled Kilkenny veal breast (€11) with crispy parmesan polenta, chard, green olive, wholegrain mustard and pine nuts. It was good but I had a serious case of dish envy and preferred Mr. FFID’s duck dish.
While the burger (€16.50) or rib eye steak (€27) sounded tempting on the menu, we both went for the same main. This was a deliciously tender slow-cooked lamb neck fillet, a crisp lamb shoulder croquette with a potato rosti, wilted wild garlic (the first of the season I ate), sprouting broccoli and carrot with star anise (€22.50).
For dessert I had a simple but well executed rhubarb crème brulée and shortbread biscuit (€7.50) while Mr. FFID had the date pudding with toffee sauce, salted peanuts and gingerbread ice cream (€8). I don’t think I managed more than one spoonful of his dessert, which was by far the winner.
Dinner in Richmond was enjoyable, good cooking and honest flavours in a cosy neighbourhood restaurant with friendly service.
This is an independent review, I paid for my meal.
Richmond restaurant
43 Richmond Street South
Dublin 8
