Review: Dinner at Tang
As I power walked (a girl’s gotta build up an appetite) across the city from The Tenters through the Grafton Street area and onwards to Cumberland Place, I passed group upon group of people sitting outside in the sunshine, faces tilted upwards and glass of cold beverage in hand. The Irish summer had arrived. In my mind’s eye, I imagined their heads turning slowly as the sun slowly declined towards the horizon. The Irish form of phototropism indeed.
I was on my way to Stephen O’Dwyer’s Tang, which now has three locations around Dublin City centre (Dawson Street, Abbey Street Lower and Cumberland Place). The latter has recently announced an evening food offering on Thursdays and Fridays promising small plates, big plates and wine. A small pleasant courtyard filled with tables adjoins the cafe, and there are even a few stools along the street side for casual glasses of wine in the sun.
We are seated indoors at the high counter, facing outwards to the street. With my Lilliputian legs, I personally never find such high stools comfortable, but neither are we planning to spend hours here so I can accept it.
The menu is Middle Eastern in style (a Palestinian flag sits proudly on the wall) with 4 Nibbles, 6 Plates and 2 Sides. Of these dishes, only 2 are meat-based, with the rest all vegetarian.
Suppliers are clearly and proudly called out on the menu, including Sean Ring chicken from Kilkenny, lamb from Ennis Butchers Rialto, mixed leaves and other vegetables from McNally’s to name but a few.
Aubergine with pomegranate and chilli oil (€8) is a form of baba ghanoush, full of flavour, and delicious smeared onto the thick chunks of sesame seed focaccia. A plate of five chunky baby carrots is dressed with thick creamy labneh, chimichurri, almonds and pickled onions (€12), while thick slices of grilled halloumi are divine with an intense harissa yogurt and sumac onions (€13). The yogurt is plate licking stuff.
We follow with two of the skewers, mushroom shawarma with tahini and chilli (€13) as well as chicken shish with tzatziki and hot honey (€13). And while I enjoyed both of these dishes, I felt as if they somewhat lacked the exuberant joy and completeness of the first tranche. Interestingly, the mushrooms come from Belvedere College and are a lovely meat alternative.
The wine list is short and sweet with just 6 biodynamic or organic choices supplied by the ever excellent Grape Circus and Le Caveau. A well-priced 1 litre bottle of Austrian Arndorfer Grüner Veltliner (€44) is sure to be a popular choice, but instead I chose bubbles in the form of Bulli Ortugo Frizzante, a lightly sparkling Italian pet-nat (€35). Life is always better with bubbles. In general, I am a snob when it comes to wine glasses, but the low, shallow tumbler style glasses proffered at Tang worked well when combined with the casual vibes.
Our total for 5 plates, plus bubbles, came to €94 before tip. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had a decent meal in the city centre without a three figure price tag. Service is friendly throughout but the various servers didn’t seem to be fully coordinated resulting in several people asking us multiple times if we were OK. To be fair though, evening meals are new territory here so a little bit of slack is warranted. Overall, it’s a very tasty meal, and the mixy-matchy vibe of the plates makes it perfect for groups.
We leave with the light of the setting sun in our eyes. The crowds outside the Gingerman have abated somewhat, but there are still some diehards basking outside. After all, you have to make hay while the sun shines.