The Legal Eagle
1-2 Chancery Place, Dublin 7
★ 8/10
Often we’re asked by visitors to these shores where to find “Irish food” in Dublin. That question posed maybe 15 years ago would have left many of us scratching our heads. However, there’s been an awakening in the past decade or so and Ireland’s cuisine has risen in prominence and international attention.
We don’t mean notable, time-honoured stews such as coddle or beef and Guinness or things like boxty or drisheen, rather plates punctuated with incredible producers, name-checked and celebrated for their quality and flavour. Ireland on the plate, via the hands of visionary chefs. Gastro-tourism is a massive draw and a driving factor in modern travel habits. Ireland has gargantuan opportunities here, but there’s still a lot of work to do in demonstrating our culture via our cuisine.
When we consider where to eat “Irish food” in the city we’re conscious visiting tourists will want somewhere central, not too expensive or challenging and will, most likely, be traipsing across the cobbles of Temple Bar, for better or worse. More often than not we land on Elaine Murphy’s stable: the Winding Stair or the Woollen Mills (and the Yarn, which has been somewhat absorbed in the Mills’ offering), neatly nestled beside one another at the Ha’penny Bridge.
Why? Both are large enough to comfortably chance a walk-in with success but, more importantly, both are consistent in quality. The Winding Stair’s menu, in particular, is a paean to Irish producers and ideal for tourists to take a bit out of this lush, green island. For those a little more reserved in the palate or with kids or plain eaters, the Woollen Mills offers more crowd-pleasing, globally influenced dishes with Irish accents and upbeat service.
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Murphy is the esteemed restaurateur behind the group, unmistakable with her signature crimson-coloured locks. She also oversees the Washerwoman in Glasnevin and reimagined the Legal Eagle pub in Dublin’s Four Courts area as a contemporary gastropub when she took it over in 2016.
Three and a bit years into service at the Chancery Place venue, Covid came and rendered indoor dining redundant. It’s blurry in the rear-view but living through it truly was a perilous time for the industry. Lockdowns, reopenings, more lockdowns, repositioning, take-outs, boxed-up dining experiences, pop-ups, community pick-up spots … The pandemic was about survival of the fittest but post-pandemic is an ultra-marathon in resilience.
The Legal Eagle’s hiatus was extended indefinitely and it was almost resigned to memory until, finally, in September, it jolted back to life after exactly three years shuttered. It’s been six weeks since it reopened, ample time to reignite muscle memory and iron out kinks, so we duck our heads in on a Thursday evening for an early dinner.
The affable slant of service with which the Winding Stair Group is synonymous is present and correct. Kate Ruddy (formerly of 777 and Margadh RHA) leads the floor in a seamless performance of personable service. She’s a “match your vibe” sort of spirit, effortlessly advising, tailoring and running with what you’re feeling while toggling the speed to ensure optimum pace. Hers is the perfect balance between casual candour and razor-sharp precision. The Legal Eagle called her to the bar and this culinary court is lucky to have her.
We consciously take our time over snacks, maybe a half-hour to share the pickled veg, crisps and two gildas while sipping a glass of uivo (Portuguese pét nat) and a chilled glass of Austrian Puszta Libre zweigelt. The gildas — with bulbous Gordal olives — and the little terracotta tapa dish of diced pickled veg share a similar flavour arc: zingy, sharp, sour, sweet and a dash of fire. The crisps are good, if a little inconsistent (some thicker, some softer, some crunchier) with a smoky bacon topping that sits somewhere between a dust and a rubble. As a whole, the crisps cry out for a life-giving misting of vinegar to balance seasoning.
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Small plates follow from the executive chef Rowen Babe’s rejigged menu. A shichimi togarashi tuna tostada comes as three morsel-like bites commanding an austere €15 price tag, but what it lacks in generosity it makes up for in stellar, stark, lingering flavour. A duo of Curragh-caught, roe-on scallops come roasted in the shell, all alabaster and supple, but the chilli in the burnt butter is lost at sea. PX-braised ox cheek is the belly-warming stuff that colder season dining dictates, dappled with bone marrow and double crunch: green beans, smoky and fire-roasted yet still al dente and sliced, pickled garlic scapes with a sweet hum of allium and a pleasing chew.
Mains offer the smallest choice — the idea being to share between the table — so we opt for the whole, wood fire-roasted, stuffed sea bream. The wood-fired oven is the main feature of the open kitchen and we applaud the nimble dexterity, balancing dishes and timings for each table via the one furious beast. It’s a game of culinary Tetris.
The bream is nicely “caught” by the oven offering crispy skin above tender, meaty flesh with a spiking of sharp, verdant chimichurri. Cubed smoked/roasted Irish queens with a thin aïoli and cavolo nero lavished in garlic butter and pine nuts are the ideal supporting sides.
Treacle tart with clotted cream tempts us but could be fundamentally improved by a gentle warming before serving, while a chocolate ganache dish with whiskey caramel is sublime, like a grown-up version of those Rolo dessert pots from the supermarket fridge, topped with a perfect peanut brittle.
This is glorious gastropub territory in, let’s face it, an unusual and semi-challenging location with a dearth of dining, a forgone patch between Smithfield and Capel Street. Moreish snacks, a brilliant drinks list, tempting small plates and feast-worthy mains plus service that’s serious without losing its easygoing spark.
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The Legal Eagle’s wings haven’t reached their full spread just yet, but we’re exceedingly happy to see this great gastropub back in flight.
What we ate
Snacks and small plates
Crisps €6
Gilda (x2) €6
Pickled veg €3
Curragh-caught scallop with burnt chilli butter (2 pieces) €14
PX-braised ox cheek in bone marrow sauce €12
Seared tuna tostada €15
Sharing main and sides
Whole-roasted sea bream with chimichurri, tomatoes and prawn oil €38
Smoked Irish queens, roasted garlic aïoli €7
Gnomes’ black kale, pine nuts, garlic butter €8
Desserts
Treacle tart with clotted cream €9
Chocolate ganache, whiskey caramel, peanut brittle €9
To drink
2 x Claus Preisinger Puszta Libre (glass) €19.50
Uivo Pét Nat (glass) €15
Ube Palomino (glass) €11
L’Abrunet Garnacha Blanca orange (glass) €11
2 x espresso €6
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Total €189.50
If that, then these …
Great gastropubs around the island, take three more …
Balloo House, Newtownards, Co Down
A charming and characterful country pub a stone’s throw from Strangford Lough with a menu of pub classics and great Sunday roasts; ballooinns.com; @balloo_house
Mikey Ryan’s Bar & Kitchen, Cashel, Co Tipperary
For a taste of Tipp, this luxuriously styled gastropub in the shadow of the Rock of Cashel is an ideal stop-off, five minutes from the M8; mikeyryans.ie; @mikeyryans
Moran’s Oyster Cottage, Kilcolgan, Co Galway
Seven generations of service (if the walls could talk!) in this pretty, thatched cottage gastropub where seafood is sensational; moransoystercottage.com; @moransoystercottage
