Lotus Eaters

What should we know about Lotus Eaters?

Up until a month ago it was The Pig's Ear, open on Nassau Street since 2008. Nothing and no one stays relevant forever, but it takes a brave restaurateur to upend a working formula for something totally new. In June they announced they were going to "park The Pig's Ear for now", and launch "a more casual but comfortable offering" to fit with "the zeitgeist of the moment" - Lotus Eaters.

The main gist is Japanese-inspired dishes with Wagyu burgers cooked over a charcoal grill, and with the two mains topping out at €20 a piece, they're aiming for this to be "a more affordable dining experience". The name comes from Greek mythology, from those who spent their time in a state of blissful forgetfulness after eating the Lotus plant. It also refers to someone who prefers to indulge in pleasure and luxury rather than dealing with practical concerns - sounds strangely familiar.

Where should we sit?

The room is still The Pig's Ear, apart from some new art on the walls and rows of sake behind the bar, and it jars a bit with the new concept. It feels like it's passing through before the original makes a return, and makes it hard to settle into as a totally different experience - we kept expecting to see a shepherd's pie or stripy pink bag carrying dessert coming out of the kitchen. The wine glasses still have The Pig's Ear branding on them too, and while we wouldn't be ones to advocate waste, it's another marker that makes you feel they haven't fully committed - and if they're not convinced, it makes you wonder whether you'll be.

The best seats in here have always been at the window, overlooking the College Park in Trinity, so request them if you can. There are two more floors above that (sometimes used as private dining rooms) that will also open if demand is there.

What's on the menu?

They get full marks for pushing the boat out with a menu that's very different for Dublin, although only having two "main" options of omelette or Wagyu hamburger won't appeal to everyone - adventurous eaters assemble. You can order as you go or leave it up to them for €60 a head, and the latter option means getting to try everything if there are two of you (bar the luxury add ons) - the menu says you'll get the hamburger, but they said we could sub in an omelette. Doing it this way means you get everything for €120, whereas if you ordered all of the parts separately it would come to €135.10.

The all-in experience starts with soba salad, a pile of buckwheat noodles served with a dashi dipping sauce (more like a broth). Our noodles had been overcooked so were missing bite, and while the broth is pleasant it's very subtle. Fans of big flavours won't find them here.

Oysters with nahm jim (a Thai dipping sauce with chillies, lime and fish sauce) and bonito (skipjack tuna flakes) on the other hand have the flavour dial turned to high, while masterfully managing not to overwhelm the delicate oysters underneath.

A grilled scallop arrived plump and juicy, sitting on pig's head pudding (made in house) that has the spreadable consistency of Spanish morcilla, as opposed to Clonakilty's finest. It's all swimming in Café de Paris butter, supercharged with herbs, spices and other savoury ingredients, and you'll struggle not to pick up the shell and drain every drop. Scallops and black pudding is an overdone, clichéd dish - this is how to do it for 2024. (If you're sharing the "leave it up to us" menu they'll bring two scallop shells with half in each).

We love crudo/sashimi/ceviche, but a plate of raw hamachi (young yellowtail) looked and tasted like it had been beaten with a blunt object, with the flattening treatment making the flesh taste more mealy and bitty than the firm, delicate pieces we were expecting. The tangy yoghurt felt too heavy on top of the subtle fish, and we would have preferred a more polished preparation along the lines of soy/yuzu/sesame/chillies and the rest.

The only thing putting us off the all-in menu was the tartare with brioche. We knew it was going to be dirty delicious after our trip to Toast downstairs, but it's a meal in itself, and eating half of a sandwich after everything that had come before, with a main and dessert still to come, will be too much for most stomachs. It's another good main option if you don't want the burger or omelette, expertly flavoured with all the textures, and a burnt leek ash mayo for dipping to push your calorie intake to even greater heights.

For the omelette there's a choice of crab (€20) or maitake mushroom (€18), with optional add ons of caviar (€30) and truffle (with truffle oil pesto and fresh truffle - €10). Never have we ever seen an omelette this tight, shiny and satiny smooth - we reckon a video on how to make it would go viral.

We cut it on the diagonal as instructed, revealing a mound of expertly dressed white crab meat that looked like more than €20's worth - we may have had special treatment here. The only slight off note is that the exterior and the interior feel like two separate entities - warm omelette, cool filling added before plating, when we expected them to be more enmeshed.

Before your mains a tray of condiments and sauces arrives, and this is where the fun really starts. Bowls of pickled ginger, burnt jalapeño salsa, togarashi, crispy onions, and bottles of sriracha and ponzu allow you to mix and match as you like. We tried the sriracha with the omelette, but the rest are better with the burger.

And what a burger. Wagyu beef, the Japanese breed known for it super marbled meat, is used here, and while the marbling might be lost to mincing and frying, you can taste the fat content in the juicy patty, glazed with burnt honey and black vinegar.

They include a soy egg yolk in the all-in menu and you should too if ordering separately. Mix it up and pour over the rice, along with chopped up bits of the burger, and have fun adding in all the flavours. If you eat anything here, have this. Again there are add-ons - caviar, truffle, bone marrow and duck liver (foie gras), but we didn't feel the need.

Both desserts are included if you go for the whole hog, and you'll be struggling for space at this point. A chocolate burnt Basque cheesecake made us rethink our view that you don't mess with a classic, the sour yoghurt and tangy passion fruit seeds slicing through the rich chocolate and forcing us to eat more than we'd planned. At €15 though this must be one of the most expensive desserts in Dublin.

Another of yuzu parfait with matcha, white chocolate and raspberries was sweet and pleasant but the flavours weren't jumping out of the bowl.

What about drinks?

Classic cocktails, beer and "little treats to start" provide plenty to tempt, and the wine list has a good amount of choice with 23 by the glass. It's confusing though as everything is listed out of price order (even within the smaller categories), so if you're going in with a rough price range that you want to spend within, it makes it more of a struggle to see what's in your bracket.

The other thing that might give you a jolt is some of the glass prices, which go to up €16.95, with no pour size listed - there's a big difference between 125ml and 175ml. Our server didn't know which it was, but after going into the back confirmed they're 175mls (just under a quarter of a bottle).

The majority of newer, fresher restaurants in the city centre have moved down to 125ml or 150ml, which many diners like as they can try more and stop their chilled wines getting too warm - others feel short-changed getting less than a bowlful. Many of you will love that glasses here are on the larger side, but the accompanying sticker shock is real, and margins are high - those wines selling for €16.95 by the glass are available retail for €23 - €26 for a bottle. This is not unusual for the city centre, but with diners still squeezed from every angle, it's sad that restaurant economics have push things to this point, and it's undoubtedly making former restaurant frequenters stay home more often.

From a quality perspective we had no complaints, loving a sparkling Blanquette de Limoux from Antech in the south of France made from the Mauzac grape, a white Burgundy from Alain Chavy, and a Langhe Nebbiolo from Virna Borgogno. There are three sakes too, with Hakutsura's 200ml glass cup of chika sake enough for two to have some easy sips. They also brought us a yuzu sake FOC with the bill (we're not sure if this is standard or not) which was a sweet yet zippy way to wake our palates up again after all that food.

How was the service?

We had the distinct feeling we'd been rumbled as soon as we walked in, getting more attention than seemed necessary, and while the service was very amiable and amenable, we felt eyes on us every time we looked up. It makes it a lot harder to tell you what Joe public can expect, but they're an experienced team in here so we wouldn't be expecting any service-related curveballs.

What was the damage?

€202 for two people before tip for the works, which is standard for a full feed with drinks in a higher end restaurant around this part of town, but you could have a small plate, one of the mains, and a couple of drinks each for around €65 a head.

What's the verdict on Lotus Eaters?

You need courage and confidence to take a leap of faith on a new food concept in a 16-year old, very successful restaurant, and there's lots to like at Lotus Eaters, but it's missing a clean break from The Pig's Ear. We can't help feeling they would be off to a stronger start if they'd fully committed, but can also understand the desire to test the water.

We're not sure €17 glasses of wine and €15 slices of cheesecake fit with their objective of providing a "more affordable dining experience", but you won't get crab omelettes, tartare toasties or Wagyu hamburger rice bowls like these anywhere else in the city right now, so jump to it if you're in the mood for brand new food.