The 101 Talbot is an institution in Dublin. It’s open for almost twenty years, which in restaurant years is ancient. However, about four years ago Neal and Jenny Magee took over the kitchen and front of house respectively and the food is imaginative and vibrant with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences.
101 Talbot is on the first floor, appropriately enough on Talbot Street in Dublin 1. This is a tough part of town to make a restaurant work, and while the 101 benefits from it’s close proximity to the Abbey Theatre around the corner and the cinames and Gate close by, for a restaurant to thrive here it really needs to be more than the sum of it’s parts, and that’s probably what has make it so successful for so long.
The entrance downstairs is a set of double doors painted red, and upstairs the dining room has a sunken floor in the middle with a higher level running around the edges, and it’s all dominated by a beautiful picture window. Nice modern canvases run around the walls and plants and foliage add to the charm. Simple wooden tables and chairs complete the ensemble.
They open daily for a busy lunch trade, and the local office workers devour their salads and light lunch. There are two dinner options, the early bird which runs until 7.45pm and is obviously very popular with the theatre crowd. It offers two courses and tea of coffee for €21. The A la Carte is also reasonably priced, starters run the gamut from €3 or so for olives or soup up to €7.50 for crispy confit duck and salad. Main courses can feature a mixture of fish and game during the winter, and you may see dishes like wild boar sausage with mint and pea risotto, half roast Wicklow pheasant, filet of haddock with gruyere cheese or slow roast pork belly.
Last time we dropped by we enjoyed starters of hummus with toasted pitta and celery and carrot sticks, which was garlicky and tangy and had chilli and coriander through it. A classic Caesar had tasty bacon bits, crisp lettuce and crunchy croutons, and a smart dressing. A main special of haddock and gruyere, was served on a bed of spinach and was perfectly cooked, with a creamy mustard sauce, while a vegetarian potato rosti on top of a bed of wilted greens was delicious, and kept a mostly carnivorous guest more than happy.
The 101 is always consistent, with food than is delightfully surprising. In a part of Dublin not exactly brimming with restaurants, it’s a sign of its quality it has thrived for so long. If you have managed to pass the last two decades without ever trying it, rectify immediately.
