Review of Chapter One Restaurant

3 years ago

Starter:

Starter:
Super delicious marinated scallops (attached photo) with mussels, horse radish. Well done!

Main course:
Again very soft and nicely grilled John Dory fish alongside delicious mushroom paste, and placed above delicious spring onion bed. The portion of the fish is very small though, it is just a small strip... The main course can be eaten in max. 2-3 minutes.

Desert:
Warm and cold, sweet and salty, soft and crunchy at the same. All sensations are stimulated simultaneously. Well done, really amazing chocolate mousse.

Service;
Very attentive, kind and nice staff. Obviously they are asked to take care of all customers very well, I appreciate the assistance and the service provided.

However I find this much of attention and staff running around the table bit too intense, you can't relax. The whole concept is to make you feel special, a game of medieval aristocracy everyone calling you sir etc... super European concept. You can enjoy a nice meal and have a delicious food without treated like a feudal lord. I prefer places with genuine hospitality...

I am giving 4 starts because in the end this is not a museum, not a theatre but a restaurant and one of the primary missions of a restaurant is to fill people's stomach alongside other things (service, appeal to eye, entertain etc). Since the main course was not big enough and can be eaten in 2-3 mins I have taken 1 star down.

Places can be still "classy" and serve decent portions.

I am challenging the status quo and all-accepted values of fine dining. Restaurants should brake their chains from this restrictive and royal tradition of "small portions for prominent people" principle.

The history behind this is that royal people believes that they are so much liberated from their animalistic needs such as hunger (farmer thing to have) that they can nibble on tiny bits of nicely decorated expensive stuff of an awkwardly big plates and show how aristoricatic they are. The empty space on the plate on the table is more important than what is actually eaten. This tradition is very much in conflict with Irish cuisine and history therefore I expect Irish restaurants to have their own version of fine dining and fill the plate!

Delicious food, great service but a follower of mainland Europe fine dining tradition of tiny portions.