Who's driving Bentley's?

EATING OUT:RUMOURS HAD BEEN clanging around Dublin dining rooms for weeks. Rumours that make St Stephen's Green restaurateurs weak-kneed and glassy-eyed. It went something like this: "Richard Corrigan is leaving Bentley's; they can't afford to pay him anymore and the restaurant will close soon, as it's losing so much money." The rumour, unsubstantiated as it was, sprouted legs and went for a ramble around the Green. From chefs to kitchen porters, everyone had something to say.

But was it true? Well, yes and no, as a phone call to Richard Corrigan revealed. “We’ve had ongoing arguments with our landlords, basically. I find it difficult to pay more rent in Dublin for an 80-cover restaurant than I do in London’s Mayfair, for a 140-seater. I have put a lot of money and time into Dublin, and not to see a penny out of it is kind of heartbreaking.”

So is this end for Bentley’s Dublin? “Bentley’s will never peter out in Dublin. In the short term, maybe, but not in the longer term. I’m looking for a much better site where the rent is appropriate to what comes in the front door. You never know what situation could develop, but I think Bentley’s will find a much better home for itself in the near future.” Corrigan says his seafood brasserie is not losing money, but like a lot of other restaurants in Dublin, it is just about surviving, a result of the vanished expense-account euro. “This situation has left Dublin restaurateurs with a very lean bone to pick indeed,” he says.

Fortunately, that wasn’t too apparent on our recent visit. The €24.50 lunch menu, for the most part, is still excellent – in choice and value.

As we were offered the worst table in the room, we requested the bar instead, which was fine, except for the bartender, lurking just out of view but within earshot for the duration of our meal, which was slightly disconcerting. Then there was the banging of the coffee machine, which was wince-inducingly loud not just for us, but for anyone else who sidled up to the bar.

My mackerel starter with golden beetroot and orange dressing was a small portion, but perfectly flavoured and beautiful on the plate. Anyone who can make mackerel feel as delicate and extravagant in the mouth as this deserves no small pat on the back. For my partner in dine, Corrigan’s take on the 1970s prawn cocktail would have impressed its reputed inventor, Fanny Craddock, in spades: chubby, flavoursome prawns, a tart Marie Rose, fresh iceberg and no bloody nonsense, and just the right size for a starter.

As regards main courses, the braised lamb part of my dish seemed quite aged and, when I found a slip of paper beneath its herb crust, I was sure it was the old ram’s bus pass. But it turned out to be a square of grease-proof paper that the herb crust had been prepared on – a schoolboy error. I have seen Corrigan make carpaccio of chef for a lesser mistake, and on reading this I hope he doesn’t. It can happen and it’s not the first time I’ve found something foreign in my food. Nor is it the worst: I still remember my encounter with a braised contact lens at a well-known Dublin brasserie a few years ago.

My partner’s smoked haddock with rarebit was the better choice. If there is one thing guaranteed at a Corrigan establishment, it is textbook-cooked fish and this was exemplary. My dessert was excellent: a brioche bread-and-butter pudding with vanilla ice cream that really soothed the palate. My companion’s warm apple crumble with sage and walnut ice cream, sadly, didn’t match up: “My mother’s is far better.” Always a dangerous comparison. More granola than crumble, he claimed, although the ice cream was wonderful.

I have eaten in Corrigan’s of Mayfair and think what’s being served in Dublin, on a €25 menu, is of similar quality, so I cannot do anything other than recommend the experience wholeheartedly. Whether I am recommending Bentley’s of St Stephen’s Green or somewhere else entirely remains to be seen. Perhaps the landlord will realise, in the words of Mr Corrigan, that “we ain’t f**king Manhattan” and drop the rent. In the meantime, go while you can.

Lunch for two, with a 250ml carafe of Chablis (€16.50), coffees (€3.80), and a “discretionary” 12.5 per cent service charge (€9.13) came to €82.13.

Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill, 22 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, 01-638 3939, bentleysdublin.com