L'Gueuleton

Dublin's L'Gueuleton does absolutely nothing new with its cooking. Elizabeth Field applauds their precisely delicious take on being unoriginal.

Happiness is a delicious commodious meal in a nice atmosphere at affordable prices. Unhappiness is when you can't get into such a place.

Declan O'Regan's newly opened L'Gueuleton falls into both categories. The restaurant delivers the quality and value that have been in such short supply in Dublin, but because it accepts no bookings and has only 40 seats, it can't handle more than about 90 covers a night.

Do the math, and you'll see that if you're not on line by 5:30 for the restaurant's 6 p.m. dinner opening, you either won't get seated or won't make it on to the (short) waiting list. Fortunately, Declan O'Regan owns the adjacent building, which he is converting to double L'Gueleton's capacity. It should open in about 3 months.

When my husband Bruce unwittingly stopped by L'Gueleton on a recent weeknight at 8 p.m. to book a table for the two of us for 8:45, there were none to be had, of course. Luckily there were 2 seats at the 6-seat bar, where the management kindly let him wait, sipping a decent merlot.

I walked in, gravitating like Pavlov's dogs, to the smoky, juicy aromas of charcoal-grilled steak and sizzling garlicky sausages - typical French bistro food that's hearty, gutsy and soul satisfying. The room, appropriately, is simple and unfussy. There are brick walls, a blackboard menu, stamped-tin ceiling, and closely spaced un-clothed tables. There's the nice buzz of happy diners; the efficient staff bustles around, garbed in traditional long white aprons.

The bar is actually a great place to sit. You sit at the curved end closest to the front of the restaurant, while down at the other end in a bare-bones kitchen, chef Troy McGuire and his team furiously grill chicken and steaks, assemble platters of snail and Roquefort pithivier with herb salad, or plate up chicken liver and foie gras parfait with cornichons and spiced pear. You watch the finished dishes making their way around the room, and observe that the crowd is tasting, sharing and engaging with their food. Sophistication-wise, you could be in any European capital.

Sensibly, the menu is arranged with no differentiation between starters and main courses. We had a nicely balanced watercress and parsley salad with ray wing, capers and warm poached egg; and creamy cauliflower soup enhanced with an abundance of plump, briny, delectable, poached Carlingford oysters.

To follow, I had the sirloin steak, which lived up to its promise: tender, juicy and perfectly cooked to rarish as specified, with a puddle of béarnaise sauce, a pile of excellent curly pomme frites, and a large peppery watercress salad. Bruce had a pleasant warm salad of grilled Jerusalem artichokes, mushrooms, asparagus and roast tomatoes, which left him ample room to finish off my plate-sized steak.

We ended with an outstanding dessert: candy-like roasted pineapple in a dark rum and Szechuan peppercorn sauce, with a soft, buttery rum baba, and gingerbread ice cream coated in light crumbs of pain d'epice.

All the details are right here: crusty sourdough bread from the Boulangerie des Gourmets; a nice Domaine Alary Daniel et Denis Cotes du Rhone 2003 from the wine list of mostly country French selections; and delicious coffee. The bill came to €91, before tip.

L'Gueuleton demonstrates finally how restaurant dining in Dublin should be. Happiness will be when more affordable restaurants of this calibre become the norm.

L'Gueuleton, 1 Fade Street, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 675 3708

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