Just Ask Resturant of the Month for September - The Winding Stair

The “Just Ask!” Restaurant of the Month winner for September is The Winding Stair, Dublin

The Winding Stair has been in the news a lot of late and, following the well-publicised problems of the previous owners, the Thomas Read group, Dubliners were delighted when the highly regarded former manager, Elaine Murphy, emerged earlier this year as the new proprietor-manager of this delightfully characterful restaurant overlooking the Liffey.

This was great news for everyone who had come to love the real Irish feel of the restaurant, including the way it was expressed through simply cooked local Irish and artisan food – a real ‘good home cooking’ style that was at odds with the cheffy tall food fashions of the day when the restaurant opened in 2006, but is widely appreciated now.

There is no questioning that the heart of this wonderful restaurant is very much in the right place. They are members of Good Food Ireland, with whom they share the philosophy of using only seasonal Irish produce where possible, and they have close relationships with all of their suppliers and producers, who are checked out thoroughly before being named, with pride, on dishes throughout the menu – and helpful, well-informed staff are at hand to answer any questions.

Thus you may begin with an Irish seafood chowder with Fingal Ferguson’s chorizo and treacle bread, or be tempted by an Ummera smoked chicken salad with poached pears, toasted hazelnuts and Crozier Blue dressing.

After that you could enjoy a Fermanagh Black Pig pork Wellington with apple gravy, or go for a Goatsbridge Farm whole rainbow trout, from Co Kilkenny, with toasted almond butter, boiled potatoes and organic leaves.

To follow, apple and pear cobbler would make a nice autumnal ending, served with a honeycomb ice cream…or perhaps an Irish cheeseboard with homemade crackers and apple chutney.

And as if all this were not enough, the former ‘Pravda’ superpub nearby has also come under the Murphy wing - and is due to open shortly in a characteristically imaginative and useful form, as a multi-purpose venue, so there is the promise of even more good things yet to come...


SAMPLE MENUS - THE WINDING STAIR

A LA CARTE

Soup of the day €5.95

Irish seafood chowder with Fingal Ferguson’s chorizo and treacle bread €9.95

O’Doherty’s black pudding, fried with Gubeen chorizo, and Wexford baby potatoes with sourdough toast and salad €11.95

Baked Corleggy goats cheese on puff pastry with crushed walnuts and honey, beetroot balsamic crème fraîche and salad €11.95

Ted Browne’s Kerry prawns on toast with garlic and lemon and mixed leaves €11.95

Ummera smoked chicken salad with poached pears, toasted hazelnuts and Crozier blue cheese dressing €11.95

Potted Dingle Bay crab with toasted soda bread and organic leaves €11.95

Irish charcuterie board with homemade bread, pickles and relish €12.50

Burren smokery, Ummera smokehouse and John Rogan’s smoked fish plate with our Dillisk bread, crème fraîche, pickled cucumbers and caper-berries €13.95

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Char-grilled Kettyle Irish Aberdeen Angus sirloin with sticky onions, garlic butter and homemade chips €26.50

Bowl of steamed mussels and homemade chips with aïoli €21.95

McLoughlin’s spring lamb chops with white bean, broad bean and red onion stew and mint crème fraiche€23.95

Nicholson’s hand-smoked haddock, poached in milk with onions and white Cheddar mash €24.95

Kilkeel hake fillet with sweet potato, tomato, cockle and mussel stew and Dublin Bay prawns €23.95

Cider marinated O’Doherty’s Black Pig pork neck with roasted rosemary potatoes, shallots and apple, rhubarb and sage €24.95

Spiced Kilkeel sea-bream with baby potatoes, broccoli, samphire and peashoots €21.95

Roasted parsnip and cauliflower crumble with Mount Callan cheddar sauce and baby spinach salad €21.95

Savoy cabbage parcels stuffed with wild mushrooms, barley, Ardsallagh goat’s cheese, swede and potato mash and chive sour cream €22.95

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Mixed green salad €3.95 Mash €3.95

Organic vegetables €3.95 Homemade chips & aïoli €3.95

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Apple and pear cobbler with honeycomb ice-cream €6.95

Perfect with a glass of 2004 Clos Dady Sauternes €8.50

Irish Cheese board with homemade crackers and apricot and raisin chutney €10.50

Delicious with a glass of Baráo de Vilar LBV port €7.60

Rich chocolate pudding with caramel cream and pistachio praline€6.95

Ideally matched with a glass of 2006 Dom. Schistes Maury €7.60

Sticky pear and ginger cake €6.95
We recommend a glass of 2005 Dom. Cauhape Jurancon €8.50

Bread and butter pudding with whiskey sauce €6.95

Wonderfully complemented by a glass of San Emilio, Pedro Ximenez €5.50



WINDING STAIR PRE-THEATRE DINNER MENU

[There's an option of two courses at €24.95 and three courses at €29.95.]

Squash and carrot soup

Organic smoked salmon with duillisc bread and pickles

O’Doherty’s black pudding, Fingal Ferguson’s chorizo and new organic potato

salad with homemade rye toast

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Grilled Fermanagh Black Pig pork cutlet with crackling, roasted organic baby potatoes, turnips and carrots and apricot & prune jam and apple gravy

Winding Stair ‘mixed grill’ with homemade gravy and our own chips

Whole grilled mackerel with lamb’s lettuce, pickled red onion salad, boiled baby potatoes and wild garlic oil

Bowl of steamed mussels and homemade chips with aioli

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Selection of organic ice-cream

Irish Cheese board with homemade crackers, fig chutney

Apple and plum cobbler with whipped cream

Chocolate brownie with homemade lemon curd and organic ice-cream


WINDING STAIR LUNCH MENU

[There's an option of two courses at €17.95 and three courses at €22.95.]

Cauliflower and celeriac soup served with brown soda bread

Fermanagh free-range chicken and bacon salad with cos lettuce, garlic dressing and croutons

Dingle salmon Gravadlax served with dillisk bread, sour cream, pickles and organics leaves

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Homemade beef burger with roasted onion, cheddar cheese, tomato chutney and chips

Irish bacon collar with buttered cabbage, horseradish mash and parsley sauce

McLoughlins pork and herb sausages with colcannon mash and gravy

Fried ray in caper butter with chips and herb mayonnaise

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VIEW ALL JUST ASK RESTAURANT OF THE MONTH WINNERS

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“Just Ask!” is a public awareness campaign that aims to encourage consumers when eating out to look for information on where the food (particularly meat) on their plate comes from, and encourages chefs to provide this information on their menus. The programme supports both large and smaller artisan suppliers, encouraging both Irish diners and visitors from abroad to support restaurants that are in turn supporting their suppliers.

Here at Georgina Campbell Guides we have always been avid supporters of the ‘eat local’ concept, and we always enjoy reading menus that have a real sense of place. The dining experience is greatly enriched by knowing that the food on your plate is inspired by the produce and traditions of the area, and sourced nearby – and we would love to see more chefs sharing that precious information with their guests. 

If you are a visitor to the area, learning a little about local food and the people who produce it adds a special extra dimension to the visit – and, for residents, it reinforces a natural pride in the good things of their locality and makes a meal all the more enjoyable.

So, we are delighted by the high standard of menus that continue to be submitted for our ' “Just Ask!” Restaurant of the Month Competition', menus that really speak of the best of Irish foods – and the dedication of both the people who make them, and the chefs who select them to create wonderful dishes with real Irish flavour for our enjoyment.