Cliff Townhouse, Dublin

It’s not often that I get a trip to Dublin, and to be there on a beautiful sunny Sunday was just perfect.  Up early morning and after taking in Dublin’s historic sights to work up an appetite, I then made my way to Cliff Townhouse Restaurant located in a beautiful Georgian building next to St. Stephen’s Green with intention to work my way through their Sunday Lunch Menu.

The art deco inspired dining hall is bright and simply decorated with light jazz being piped into it.  I was sat near the window to take advantage of the light for some photos and was presented the menus.  The wine list is brief but with a good selection of wines and after ordering a glass of Sauvignon Blanc I started to read through the food offerings while my wine was promptly served and I was disappointed.  The wine glass was very evidently dirty with a distinct brown soap residue around the lip!  Not what I expected at all!  To be fair, once pointed out, the waiter quickly apologized and served another glass.  Not a good start and it distracted me and I started to notice small things as my eye wandered – torn tablecloth on my table, dirty cornices, air conditioner covered in dust.  Needless to say the food had a lot of work to do.

I decided to start with a selection of oysters that were of excellent quality and very fresh.  I can honestly say I have never enjoyed oysters as much as I did these.  Next up the Tuna Ceviche…

The Tuna Ceviche!  Wow!   A dish that inspires poetry.  Fresh tuna ceviche, chunks of sweet watermelon, fresh coriander and topped with a stunning avocado ice cream.  A perfect blend of contrasting flavours and textures that set the bar extremely high for what was to come out of the kitchen next.  This was, undoubtedly, one of the best ceviches I had ever had.

For the main course, the excellent waiter recommended the Roast Rib of Beef and being a Sunday lunch it seemed fitting to go with his selection and I was truly not disappointed.  The beef was a perfect, tender medium and served with a freshly baked, crisp Yorkshire Pudding and fresh root vegetables and all of this swimming in a delicious gravy and onion sauce.  Again, another fabulous dish that had me soaking up my gravy with scraps from my bread basket!

I was reluctant to surrender my now-licked clean dinner plate but with the promise of dessert I succumbed and, again, decided not to ignore my server’s recommendation and went with the Warm Dark Chocolate Brownie with Caramel Ice Cream, which when it arrived looked stunning!  A spoonful later and I was the most conflicted I had been the whole meal.  There is no other way to describe this but sweet and flat.  I was expecting a decadent dark chocolate brownie with the sweetness riding the bitterness of the chocolate served with a delicately salted caramel ice cream – but all I got was sweet.  Quite a disappointing end to an otherwise excellent meal.

The Cliff Townhouse Restaurant is a good restaurant with generally good food coming out of the kitchen.  The service is great and it does represent fair value for money.  It is bordering on being an excellent restaurant and with a little bit of a clean and tweaking that brownie it could be outstanding.  However, you will not be disappointed dining here.

The numbers (please read the About Me section for an explanation on the ratings)……

Food 4/5
Service 2/2
Ambience  0/1
Value 1/1
‘Triple F’ Factor 0/1
Overall 7/10

Cliff Townhouse Restaurant
Tel : +35316383939
info@clifftownhouse.ie