Mint

An obituary for a blissful place – Mint Restaurant – Dublin

I never met the Michelin starred chef Dylan McGrath. There was much controversy about the way he supposedly mistreated his staff and his superb Ranelagh restaurant was forced to close in April 2009 following a creditors meeting – another victim of the global financial crisis. However I would like to write this review as a belated obituary for one of the best meals I ever ate.

We visited Dublin in late June of 2008 and, this being mid-summer in Ireland, it was of course pouring with torrential rain. The traffic driving into Dublin was at a standstill and we arrived at our hotel at the same time as our dinner guests. We eventually arrived at Mint in a somewhat frazzled state. What followed was balm for the soul and bliss for the tastebuds.

The restaurant was tiny (perhaps one of the reasons it couldn’t make money). There were less than 10 tables and, as one would expect in a Michelin establishment, the staff almost outnumbered the guests. Highlights of the meal included the most superb palate cleanser of pureed apple served in a glass. The glass was divided by a clear sheet of plastic – on one side there was a cold cloudy apple puree, on the other a clear, warm apple juice. As the glass was placed before us a waiter whisked the plastic away and we drank the liquid even as it melded together – the cool and the warmth and the interplay of textures was extraordinary.

Mint also produced the most exquisite petit fours I can remember. Foam was all the rage about 5 years ago in haute cuisine – and is still so present on some menus that you may as well eat them with a straw. Yet Dylan McGrath did something different with his foam. I have no idea how but two chocolate lollipops were presented to us covered in tear drops of foam which for some reason didn’t fall off the round chocolate surface. My dinner companions were all exhausted and replete by this stage but overcome by curiosity I bit into the lollipop. I expected a truffle of some sort, but I was confronted by a delicate mint foam, a crisp dark chocolate shell that exploded in my mouth and contained a cool wash of the most sublimely delicate mint flavoured liquid. Trust me – I am not a fan of after dinner mints but this left me speechless.

I can only hope that McGrath bounces back with another restaurant soon. If he does we will be there. And we also console ourselves that with the wines we ordered that night we did our own small part to help the restaurant turn a profit.