Email from Dublin
Writer Antonia Hart, who grew up in Dublin’s city centre, explains why there’s more to the ‘new Dublin’ than meets the eye – or stomach YOU COULD BE FORGIVEN for thinking that Dublin’s character has been diluted lately, by the same high street shops and restaurant chains that threaten to make the UK’s cities blandly uniform. Local government attempts at creating [...]
Writer Antonia Hart, who grew up in Dublin’s city centre, explains why there’s
more to the ‘new Dublin’ than meets the eye – or stomach
YOU COULD BE FORGIVEN for thinking that Dublin’s
character has been diluted lately, by the same high street
shops and restaurant chains that threaten to make the
UK’s cities blandly uniform. Local government attempts
at creating cool districts by design, like SoHo (South of
Heuston Station), the Village Quarter and the Digital
Hub have fallen flat. For pessimists, all of this is cause for
nostalgia about the Dublin that used to be.
But, in fact, much of what’s new to Dublin has brought
modernity and a more international feel, and many of us
have embraced the changes. Take Parnell Street, north of
the Liffey, for example: true, you can look west to where a
17-screen cinema and shopping centre sit on the ruins of
Georgian architecture, but why not look east instead, to the
blossoming ‘Chinatown’ where you can eat almost any kind
of Asian food, in restaurants run by people, not corporations.
Try Kim-Chi at the Hop-House (160 Parnell Street),
where in modest surroundings charming staff serve
authentic, tasty Korean and Japanese food, and afterwards
you can slip through to the bar for a karaoke session or
a big-screen football match, depending on the night. A
couple of minutes’ walk away, Zagloba [98 Parnell Street,
+353 (0)1 814 8648] is one of a fresh crop of Polish bars;
it serves 40 different kinds of vodka to the unexpected
soundtrack of darts matches, passionately played.
Of course Dublin is Guinness country, but there’s more
choice on the drinks lists these days, which feature not
just the ubiquitous cocktails, but lots of microbrewed and
organic beers, like the Carlow stout O’Hara’s. The latest
pub gimmick is tap tables, which you can reserve at the
Baggot Inn [143 Lower Baggot Street, +353 (0)1 661
8758; www.thebaggotinn.ie]. It has finally reopened after
an eight-year closure and you can now pull your own pints
in the new incarnation of the legendary venue where U2,
David Bowie and Bob Geldof have all played.
Despite whispers of an economic downturn, restaurateurs
continue to develop the foodie scene for hungry Dubs. Marco
Pierre White will open a Frankie’s Italian Bar and Grill here
next month. Reasonably-priced and family-friendly, the
location has yet to be announced, though locals are fairly
sure it won’t be on St Stephen’s Green, because that’s where
Irish star chef Richard Corrigan is setting up shop with a
new Dublin branch of Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill [22 St
Stephen’s Green, +353 (0)1 638 3939; www.bentleys.org].
To Dubliners, it’s not only reinventing the city that excites
us however. Our roots lie in savouring the packet of Tayto
(Ireland’s tastiest potato crisps) and the pint of plain, and that’s
why traditional spots like The Lord Edward [23 Christchurch
Place, +353 (0)1 454 2420], Mulligan’s [Poolbeg Street,
+353 (0)1 677 5582; www.mulligans.ie], and The Stag’s Head
[1 Dame Court, +353 (0)1 671 3701: www.thestagshead.ie]
will survive, boom or bust. They’re the fuggy old places which
still maintain the distinction between bar and lounge, even
if it’s signified only by the change from lino to carpet. As any
Dub will tell you, we like to know where we stand.
Antonia Hart is a columnist and contributing editor at
Irish magazine The Gloss
