While casual dining continues to be the big story, the most exciting restaurants are those with chefs grounded in fine dining.
Pickle, Sunil Ghai’s authentic Indian restaurant, ticks the box perfectly: an attractive casual ‘eating house and bar’ serving traditional food that has been beautifully finessed.
Ireland’s first regional Indian restaurant, multi-award-winning chef Sunil (arguably Ireland’s finest Indian chef) chose to leave the formality of Ananda in Dundrum where he hadmade his name in Ireland,to cook the dishes of his childhood and those from the Northern provinces of the spicy sub-continent.
The décor is the first sign things are different from your average Indian restaurant: colourful painted walls, vintage travel posters, green leather banquettes, patterned floor tiles, and clever lighting create a fun, chic and atmospheric space on Camden Street that’s broken up into three distinct spaces in addition to a small upstairs bar.
Diners looking for take-away classics will have to go elsewhere. Pickle’s menu is a thrilling combination of new experiences like fragrant goat mince curry with black cardamom, Stone bass fish simmered in slow cooked tomato & coconut curry tempered with purple garlic & dried mangosteen, Old Delhi style chicken tikka with fenugreek, ginger, green chilli & cardamom flavoured - velvety onion masala, finished with fresh cream. Sides like Okra tossed with cumin, onion, mango and ginger, yellow lentils tempered with ghee, cumin, garlic & fresh coriander with crispy lentil and excellent naans ensure a meal fit for a Maharajah.
Despite the casual setting there’s nothing laidback about the cooking. Sunil’s immense experience in top international hotels, like the Oberoi, and at the finest Indian restaurants in Ireland (he joined the Jaipur group in 2001 when he arrived here) shines on the plate. Traditional dishes see classic Northern recipes imaginatively tweaked to delight the modern diner.
Lunch is an innovative offering of the traditional tiffin box synonymous with Mumbai. Choose from prawn, lamb, chicken or cottage cheese with lentils, rice, naan, pickle, vegetables and kebab (a samosa for the vegetarian option.) The beauty of such food sees Pickle introduce a whole new audience to a wonderful dining tradition.
Old patterned tableware, hand-painted dishes, earthenware and traditional hammered metal serving bowls all add to the charm and Pickle’s staff, under the expert guidance of manager Benny Jacob, who came with Sunil from Ananda, have been well trained.
The wine and beer options have been well chosen to maximise your dining experience at this exciting new restaurant. Dishes are fairly priced but with such an intriguing menu it would be easy to over order; instead we recommend several return trips to work your way through the outstanding menu.
*In 2018 Sunil and his wife Leena opened a terrific little Indian deli and takeaway in Greystones, Co Wicklow, Tiffin by Sunil (www.tiffin.ie; Tel: 01 2876924 or 01 2876525). In 2020 this was followed by the charming Street by Sunil, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14 (www.streetrestaurant.ie; 01 557 0111); see separate entry.
