Restaurant review: One Ballsbridge could be the one to fill an infamous dining space

Can a location be cursed? Restaurant folk like to speculate on this, venues that can’t be successful no matter how many times they get a makeover with a new owner.

Personally I think the idea of a cursed location is occasionally true, but it is more often a myth — if a restaurant is good enough and the prices are right, success should follow.

One Ballsbridge is new from Oliver Dunne who first came to fame with Bon Appetit in Malahide. 

Dunne’s group runs 10 restaurants (no, I didn’t realise this either), and his new one is in a purpose-built space on Shelbourne Road in bustling Ballsbridge, previously occupied by Richard Corrigan and before that by Dylan McGrath. Can Dunne succeed where the others failed?

I visited with an old friend on the Tuesday after the bank holiday and found a bright, nicely lit space that seemed shinier and warmer than when Corrigan owned it. 

The theme seems to be nature, with paintings everywhere of flora and fauna, succulent plants all around, and an olive tree strung with fairy lights in the centre of the room. 

I’ve gotten used to seeing trees in restaurants, and when our charming server Maraue told us it was real with a specially created circulating water system in the carpark below to feed it we believed him. 

I was mentally calculating the cost and thinking of Dublin restaurants c 2007, before I realised he was joking.

One’s menu has lots of Italian influences (eg, arancini, stracciatella), but also some dishes that seem to have been put in for fun and because they taste good: 48-hour duck wings with hoisin sauce which seemed to be from a different restaurant’s menu did indeed taste very good.

All the starters had a focus on comfort food and we also enjoyed the burnt leek and Wicklow Cheddar croquettes which were properly crispy and filled with tangy cheese with a herbal note from the leek. 

Generously sprinkled with parmesan and with lightly punchy house made sriracha underneath, these were probably the bargain dish of the night at just €11 for three.

Lobster éclair turned out to be toasted focaccia piled high with chunks of sweet meaty lobster, fairly priced at €16. 

Less successful was the round of focaccia bread with black garlic aubergine purée. 

The bread itself was a little bland and needed some salt crystals or chopped rosemary and I found the black garlic aubergine purée dip far too sweet (although my guest loved it).

Sharing is encouraged in One so we opted to halve a plate of the hand-rolled pasta special of spinach and ricotta tortellini (€21). 

Four large tortellini which were decently silky in texture with a rich filling and creamy savoury sauce with spiced squash, crunchy walnuts and hazelnuts and finished brilliantly with crisp pangritata crumbs.

I remain rather unconvinced about the current trend for wagyu beef and would much prefer a focus on rarer Irish breeds such as Dexter or Moiled. 

Having said that the 225g wagyu picanha steak was cooked perfectly rare as requested and tasted properly beefy and meaty. 

Roasties were crunchy enough but need crispier edges (removing the skin would help hugely), cos lettuce chunks with green goddess sauce and pecorino were pungent and crisp while wild mushroom confit added umami richness.

The drinks menu has a clutch of classic cocktails, a solid Irish whiskey list and a good sized wine list including a number of wines under €40, a rare thing these days. 

My guest’s mocktail spritz with elderflower cordial and mint and lemon worked well and our glasses of Château La Fleur Cravignac Saint-Émilion 2018 were excellent. 

At €16 per glass I was expecting quality and was more than rewarded; rich and chocolatey with plush berry fruits and we ordered a third glass to share.

The dessert menu plays it safe with sticky toffee pudding and tiramisu, the latter a textbook rendition and worth ordering, the small twist of adding orange liqueur a nice touch. 

Chocolate budino worked even better, rich dense chocolate base topped with a pitch perfect hazelnut mousseline and mandarin slices to cut through the richness.

One Ballsbridge is barely open a month and our waiter mentioned a few times that dishes are still being tweaked and some do need further tweaks, but already I have a feeling that this might be exactly the restaurant that this space needs.

Verdict:

• Food: 8/10
• Wine: 8/10
• Service: 9/10
• Atmosphere: 8/10
• Value: 8/10