In case you had your head under a rock yesterday, or happened to be partaking in a social media detox, you might have missed that Clanbrassil House is the latest Dublin restaurant to be awarded a Bib Gourmand in the 2019 Michelin Guide. Named after the Michelin man, Bibendum, a Bib Gourmand is awarded for good quality, good value cooking, where a three-course meal comes in at under €40.
Clanbrassil House was opened in October 2017 by Barry Fitzgerald and Claire-Marie Thomas, owners of Bastible (which was also awarded a Bib Gourmand last year). The charcoal grill takes centre stage on the menu with the majority of the dishes cooked over fire. The seasonal menu also encourages family style eating.
The kitchen is run by head chef Grainne O’Keefe, former chef of Bastible and Pichet, with Barry O'Neill as sous chef (both below). O’Keefe has to be one of the busiest chefs in the city right now - she's also culinary director of chargrilled-burger mecca Bujo in Sandymount, and collaborated with Hugh Higgins (who'll be running the kitchen in Niall Davidson's new restaurant) on the Italian menu in this Summer's House of Peroni residency on Stephen's Green.
Clanbrassil House is the newest Dublin restaurant to receive the award and the only addition this year. All of the other restaurants in Dublin with a Bib Gourmand have retained it. Those are Bastible, Delahunt, Etto, Pichet, The Pig’s Ear, Richmond, The Pigeon House, Forest and Marcy and Craft.
The full Michelin Guide will be announced this Monday, October 1st and we are on the edge of our seats waiting to find out if there will be any new starred restaurants in the capital by Monday evening, if any one stars get promoted to two (The Greenhouse - we're looking at you), or if anyone loses a star - flashback to the dramatic Thornton's demotion. As always we’ll keep you posted.
