Restaurant of the Month

Tribeca, Dublin

One hesitates to say of any restaurant that it seems doomed to succeed ­ the grub trade is way too slippery a business to predict anything with certainty ­ but if anywhere in Dublin seems to have hit smack bang on all the appropriate nodes and modes of its customer base, and to have those customers simply slavering for more, then it just has to be Tribeca. Godammit, they are even queueing up in the rain to get in for brunch on late-Sunday morning.

It's smack in the center of still-genteel Ranelagh, and Tribeca proves that smart siblings can imitate the success of wise parents. So, take the original Elephant & Castle from New York, transplant it to Dublin, and you get the capital's most successful informal restaurant of the 1990's.

From that, let a couple of E&C managers and cooks hive off the successful Dish restaurant, on Crow Street in Temple Bar, where they develop and expand the basic E&C ideas of informal, flavourful food and cool sounds. Then, allow Trevor Browne of Dish to take the idea southside to Ranelagh with Tribeca, and the success rolls on and on, seemingly instantly, seemingly unstoppably.

It's a success based ­ as if you didn't know ­ on those trademark spicy chicken wings. Here they are once again, as expertly and irresistibly done as they have been in the Elephant & Castle for the last decade. Introduce them to a chicken wing virgin (such people do exist, though not too many of them) and see the CWV going crazy with delight.

Like the unmissable wings, Tribeca's food works because it is smart, straightforward, based on good ingredients, and ­ best of all ­ pleasingly unpretentious: good salmon burger with grilled onions and thick, salty chips; hot and sour coconut prawns with egg noodles; a rich and soulful bowl of spaghetti with aubergine, tomato and ricotta; sweetcorn chowder with roasted red pepper and coriander; and along with the main events there are excellent sandwiches and good brunch omelettes, not to mention the figure-bustin' ice creams.

Mind you, the figure bustin' ice creams don't appeal to all; when we were eating, the glamour-puss at the next table watched her date scoff a mountain of nachos, while she had a cigarette. Then, for him, The Italian Stallion ­ a burger with roast peppers, red onions, salami, mozzarella cheese and basil pesto ­ while she had a regular coffee. Then they both ordered an espresso. Does this girl know ­ from the midst of her caffeine haze ­ just what she is missing?!

Large mirrors make the understated room seem enormous, blue banquettes match the baby-blue t-shirts of the staff, and the sounds are ace. All of which makes the mandatory waiting for a table almost ­ almost ­ bearable.

Tribeca, 65 Ranelagh, Dublin 6 Tel: (01) 497 4174