Taste of Emilia was my eye catcher for 2010, with the best fare from Emilia-Romagna in a wonderfully informal setting. I will happily while away an evening with friends over a platter of meats and bottle of Lambrusco. In contrast, Eastern Seaboard Bar and Grill and its wonderful baking neighbour the Brownhound, stand out from all the rest of my Irish-oriented food trips (Sorry Cafe Paradiso - you came close) in 2011. I need to refresh my memory with a second trip very soon.
Terra Madre has already made its mark on me as perhaps the best local restaurant on the northside, if not greater Dublin. It is definitely the best Italian restaurant (in the purest sense) on the northside, with Plan B having burnt some serious bridges with price hikes no-longer justifiable for a bowl of meatballs and a decline in level of service. Peppe's the "ITALIAN RESTAURANT" in Stoneybatter is a quirky but reputable little venue, but has caved somewhat to the Irish palette...the obsession and need for cream added where it should not - it is by no means a stalwart of Italian cooking ingredients.
And so to the point - Terra Madre. I booked a table last minute on Saturday night for myself and four good friends - indeed my best-men included. I had fortunately, or unfortunately, just missed a call from James in Rigby's Deli who had a cancellation but fate drove us to the basement of No. 13 Batchelor's Walk. When we arrived, we were warmly greeted and I offered up my name for the booking......."Sorry, when did you book?". "Um, two hours ago!?".....as I scanned the twenty of so covers available, none looked like a free table for five. This was not to be a problem. I did not have to beat Ciaran Cuffe out of his seat in one corner, or the table of Italians, who were clearly in some way related by friendship, bed or blood to Marco and the crew who run this little spot.
But still I ramble. What of the food? The menu is compact. Two bruschetta, three anti-pasti, three pasta, & one meat. Either bruschetta would have kept me happy - one with caper sprouts ...a revelation....warmed slightly and dressed with olive oil and the other with Lardo di Colonnata... thinly sliced cured pork fat, again warmed onto the bruschetta. Both were excellent. Two of us opted for the anti-pasti - mine a 'carpaccio of porchetta' and the other a 'vitello tonnato'. I have always been quite thrown by the idea of vitello tonnato - thinly sliced veal served with a tuna mayonnaise. It sounds like never the twain should 'meat' but oddly it's a great dish and Terra Madre's version would hold its own in any Italian deli I have eaten it in.
I say three pasta but in truth it was one gnocchi and two pasta. We all opted for pasta - perfectly portioned bowls of fettucine with a rabbit sauce or tonnarello with a pheasant ragout. You can go wrong with neither but I did prefer the pheasant. The pasta is a fresh one, which is imported in from Italy, by a supplier who shall remain nameless, because they would not tell me.... but I could take a stab at it. It did raise the question - which is better - fresh or dried pasta? The answer is - it depends on the dish!
All of this was supported brilliantly by a big Primitivo di Manduria red. Puglian wines have been a revelation to me in the last couple of years, along with Umbrian. I will hands-down order either ahead of Chianti's, Barolo's or indeed any other Italian wines. At €20 a bottle for any of the three reds (not listed on the menu), it's a wonderfully simple, uncomplicated way to manage your wine-list.
And this is at its core what I loved about the meal in Terra Madre on Saturday night - it represented the simplicity and straight-forwardness that I love about Italian food culture. It's not fussy, pretentious or confusing and does not strive to be something else. Terra Madre is what it is, a room to enjoy good food with good people, just as they do it all over Italy.
Put Terra Madre on your list of 'go-to' restaurants in 2012. I cannot wait to go back.
Bill was €180 for five of us, including three bottles of wine. We all had desserts!
Tips -
- Have an espresso, at very least to taste the chocolate-ness of it....that dry unsweetened flavour you get from 90% dark chocolate. And then add sugar, for the 70% sweetened version.
- Have a slice of the fig jam tart - the winner by a margin of four to one.
- Do book. Phone: 01/8735300
- If you smell pizza being cooked out the back at the end of the night.....do compliment the smells and you might be lucky like us and get to taste it when it's ready.
