The means by which you cross the threshold into The Pig's Ear as well as the brave design decisions taken within the dining room are reminiscent of Dublin's other prevailing and popular eatery, The Winding Stair. I can't work out whether The Winding Stair's location on the northern region of the city in comparison to The Pig's Ear's southern setting makes them seem, even geography-wise, competitors or sister bistros. Hopefully the answer will lie within the premises. The fuchsia pink door stands out like a ray of light in the midst of the more cheerless shop and restaurant exteriors on Nassau Street. This intriguing mode of entry really roused my interest.
Upon sitting at my table I was charmed by the sporadic splashes of fuchsia in a milieu otherwise populated by dark mahogany. Fuchsia-coloured menus, flowers and even a fuchsia rim around where the numbers flash up on the cash register left me subtly captivated. Each table featured one or two random items, often pig-related to generate a nice n' tenuous cohesion with the restaurant's name. Airtight glass sweet jars on the counter with pink and white chocolate mice and custard creams, pink steel watering cans, a traditional hat and coat mahogany stand, together with books for the more unconventional reader standing up by the counter such as the Phaidon publication 'Pork & Sons' with a light pink and white chequered covering akin to a delicate table cloth all work to further accentuate that already existing daintiness. On our table there was a white ceramic piggy bank and magnifying glass, whilst on another there was a travel sized old-fashioned dustpan and brush made from tin with oak handles. The unadorned clear glassware beautifully compliments the persnickety bric-a-brac and strips it down enough so that the knick-knacks never appear to overly embellish the interior.
Having opted for the two-course lunch menu for €15.95, I enjoyed a Warm Salad of Clonakilty Black Pudding, Potato, Broad Beans & Hazelnuts followed by a succulent Old Fashioned Pork and Barley Meatballs, Mashed Potato and Buttered Carrots for mains. This is tender Irish cuisine with a contemporary twist without compromising any of the time-honoured simplicity people have come to love about them.
The answer to the original question as to whether The Winding Stair and The Pig's Ear are rivals or more adjoining siblings is that they are neither. Yes there are similarities; the surreptitious door from the main street that takes you to the dining room smaller in size than initially anticipated, the ascending of the interior set of stairs to the dining room, the identifiable nature of the dishes that the restaurant serves in terms of traditional Irish cuisine with an unusual twist, a mixture of convention vs. idiosyncrasy that both restaurants endeavour to accomplish and contemporary dark mahogany furniture in the company of old fashioned knick-knacks, but at the core of both of their surroundings The Pig's Ear exudes something more engaging and a better cohesion exists between interior furnishings and cuisine than The Winding Stair where the design decisions fail to point towards excellence in food, nor any kind of distinction on the restaurant's part. read more