Restaurant Review: Howth's foodie scene harbours a real catch in Mamó
Interior Howth Mamó, Of The
There is something properly romantic about Howth, a busy fishing port, a walkers paradise, millennia of history, a haunted castle, and a feeling that you could be miles from anywhere.
It also has free parking, I tell you this because to not have to worry about predatory clamping vans is remarkably comforting.
Mamó opened in 2019 and was an immediate sensation with rave reviews. I confess I had not managed to visit before this review, but had written about their brilliant covid box for this newspaper.
The downstairs area is being turned into a mini wine bar for next year but we were seated in the comfortable dining room upstairs with views onto the harbour. Soft carpets, white table cloths, and a light-filled room with a view; we felt cosseted.
My guest was Spanish chef and food specialist Blanca Valencia as I thought a Mediterranean food specialist would be useful, so it proved.
Mamó offers a set lunch menu of €37 for two courses and €42 for three with an option to add extra snacks (€9-€12), which of course we did.
First up was Mamó’s signature dish ‘Cod Chip’ which is a paeon to fish and chips. Confit potato is shaped into an oblong chip, fried crisp, seasoned with salt and vinegar then topped with tiny dollops of briny piquant taramasalata.
Possibly the most perfectly formed amuse-bouche ‘snack’ in the western hemisphere.
Crusty, nutty Tartine sourdough came with a roast chicken and thyme butter that tasted as good as it sounds.
Preserved lemon ‘canoli’ snacks were slim cigars of brick pastry filled with preserved lemon ricotta and topped with roast pistachio, the flaky pastry giving way to savoury tangy cream cheese offset by the crunch of the pistachio.
On to the starters — hand rolled strozzapreti pasta had been mixed with shards of lightly confited pheasant, crunchy red cabbage and meaty oyster mushrooms all held together with a light savoury sauce.
The better of the two starters was Blanca’s Portuguese cockles which had been simply steamed and doused with grassy fruity picual olive oil.
Cockles are under utilised as they are a pain to prepare, needing to be soaked and rinsed to remove sand, but I may actually prefer them to their fancy clam brothers.
This dish was perfection, life-affirming in its shell-fishy freshness, the cockles cooked exactly à point.
“A few seconds more would have been too much,” said Blanca who knows about such things.
A game pie pithivier filled with venison, guineafowl, and pheasant had correctly flaking pastry, and a filling on the lighter side in terms of gamey intensity.
A rich sauce forestière held everything together while jewels of pearl onions and chunks of porcini added extra nuggets of flavour.
Velvety mash on the side was a judicious accompaniment and had a bonus barely there scent of fresh black truffle (no truffle oil obviously, that’s for charlatans and amateurs).
This sauce was packed with flavour but did not overwhelm; flavourful and complex, but also retaining subtlety somehow.
Tender generous ravioli on the side meanwhile had been filled with sweet crab and langoustine and topped with capers, nduja, and more sweetcorn to lift the flavours.
Mamó is right on trend with their wine list with solid bottles from Greece, Slovenia, and regional Portugal and Spain; as well as from more classical regions like Burgundy.
Prices start at €37 and there are creative options by the glass. Joseph Ehmoser Zweigelt Rosé from Austria was textured and crisp and Blanca’s Pilastri Pecorino from the Marche was floral, dry, and balanced — she ordered a second glass.
From a choice of Tomme aux Fleurs cheese or Howth honey parfait we chose to share the dessert.
A base of ginger sablé biscuit had been topped with a parfait made with honey from Howth, candied ginger and chunks of honeycomb finished with a pear sorbet.
The parfait was light and crisp, the pear sorbet delicate and lightly fruity and pleasing ginger flavours shone through and lightened the dessert.
Mamó is a jewel of a restaurant (as is their sister restaurant Margadh RHA in the city centre) — proper sourcing, proper saucing, proper cooking, and a proper welcome.
If Grace O’Malley ever comes back I think she should go there rather than that draughty old castle.
9/10
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8/10
- Mamó Restaurant
- Harbour Road, Howth, Co Dublin
- mamorestaurant.ie
- Tel: 01-8397096
- Thursday-Saturday: 12.30-3pm, 6-9.15pm
- Sunday-Monday: 1-7pm