Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

About The Restaurant

Perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to see the familiar face of one of Ireland’s billionaires already ensconced en famille on a long leather banquette beneath glittering Art Deco style chandeliers, as I walked into Simmons restaurant in the InterContinental Hotel in Ballsbridge.

From the front gate inwards, the five-star ‘InterCon’ exudes a kind of old-style Grand Hotel atmosphere, with service to match, and regularly attracts international celebrities such as Kylie Minogue, Rod Stewart, Cristiano Ronaldo, and indeed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and China’s President Xi Jinping.  

Naturally, there were a couple of local Maseratis, a few Porsches and copious Range Rovers sweeping up under the portico as I arrived, the glamorous passengers disembarking seamlessly as the hotel porters took their keys. It all reminded me a tad of Jilly Cooper’s Riders, geed on, I guess, by the fact that it was Dublin Horse Show week and, greeting us in the foyer, was a stunning floral display surrounding a statue of a show jumper.

A bucket of money was spent here on transforming the former Seasons into a smart Parisian-style brasserie with a central row of leather banquettes, a large cocktail bar to the rear of the room, and freestanding tables around the perimeter, including some in the window alcove where the fashionista and I both had a lovely view of the gardens and the room. 

The master of charm and hospitality, and a familiar face to many, Nick Munier is the perfect match for the five-star surroundings, meeting and greeting guests as maitre d’, a role he famously played for some 10 years with Marco Pierre White in London and on the prime-time reality-TV show Hell’s Kitchen. He was also co-presenter with Dylan McGrath on MasterChef Ireland and former co-owner and founder of Pichet restaurant. 

With the head chef of Simmons being Abhimanyu Behl, ex Carton House in Kildare, the menu is reassuringly Franco-Irish brasserie fare — not off the clock price-wise, something that I, and many others, love. 

On my visit, starters featured a leek and potato velouté, with a nori and leek terrine, chive oil and buttermilk, while a Simmons prawn cocktail with avocado was being served with Guinness bread. Crispy confit pork belly was there also, paired with marinated radish, sweet potato and apple. The fashionista had Connemara scallops, lavishly imbued with a warm sweetcorn salsa and a squid-ink emulsion, while I enjoyed some divine Ardsallagh goat’s cheese mousse fluffed up on top of wafers of brined beetroot with candied pecans and a raspberry crumb dressing. 

Mains included duck fillet with orange & carrot puree, while stone bass had a chorizo broth and samphire. Pan-fried chicken supreme was there also with ceps, pearl onion, peas and tarragon sauce. From the grill, there was a 10oz dry-aged rib-eye and a 10oz 25-day dry-aged fillet, both coming with pont neuf potatoes, watercress salad, and a choice of sauce — peppercorn, bearnaise, red wine or garlic butter.

The fashionista chose another high-end restaurant favourite in Dover sole, which was boned tableside with aplomb by Nick, and dressed with wilted spinach, beurre noisette, brown shrimps and capers. I, on the other hand, went for something I rarely have, a perfectly cooked, medium rare, deliciously tender fillet steak complete with its accompanying pont neuf stacked chunky chips, lightly dressed watercress, and a timbale of red wine sauce. All delicious. 

Desserts (and afternoon tea) here are always fabulously executed by the long-time pastry chef Orna Larkin and her colleague, Niamh Kavanagh. Warm pistachio doughnuts with cherry caramel and burnt milk ice-cream winked at us, as did a honey ricotta mille feuille and a caramelised banana galette. However, we ended up sharing an apple entremet, which proved a stunning creation resembling an entire fruit, revealing a light tonka bean mousse and Bramley apple compote.

Read more about accommodation at InterContinental Dublin
 

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