If you’ve watched Spider-Noir, with Nicolas Cage as a brooding Spider-Man in a black-and-white film-noir version of 1930s New York, you may have wondered which superpower you’d choose.
The waiter at Darwins Tavern who swooped in the minute I dropped my knife had clearly gone for super-hearing. Or teleportation at the ping of falling cutlery. But we soon discover his superpower has an off switch. Our next attempt to catch the eye of the floor staff takes longer as we wave from our table while attention switches to the large table beside us which fills with birthday revellers. I resist the temptation to drop another knife.
Michael Smith, who opened Darwins in 2004, has butchery as his superpower. As well as sourcing top-quality meat , he has an on-site butchery and dry-ageing cabinets. Earlier this year, he felt the restaurant needed fresh impetus, so he called upon his friend, Geoff Nordell (of Egan’s in Dublin 2 and former owner of Whitefriar Grill, also in Dublin 2), who joined as partner and executive chef. The restaurant was renamed Darwins Tavern.
The restaurant has since been refurbished, with a new dark wooden bar, matching furniture, oxblood banquettes and lighting that gives the room an amber glow. It has the ambience of a traditional steakhouse. The easy-to-navigate menu is in keeping with the room, focusing on steaks, while offering seafood, pork, lamb, chicken and vegetarian dishes.
Given the new bar, we order a classic Dingle Vodka martini (€13) and a Margarita (€12.95), whose rim is dusted with table salt rather than flaky sea salt – always a black mark in my book.
Crab soufflé (€15) is a classic you don’t see often. It appears to be a twice-baked soufflé, turned out of its ramekin into a cast-iron gratin dish with bisque, topped with cheese and popped back into the oven. It is delicious, with a burnished top and small chunks of crab in the airy interior while the lovage sauce brings a herbal freshness.
Slightly more subdued is the Bloody Mary prawn cocktail (€14), which sounds like a winner with Boatyard Irish vodka, tomato chutney, Dublin hot sauce, iceberg lettuce and cucumber. It is let down by the quality of the Dublin Bay prawns, which have very little flavour and none of the delicate sweetness I expect from them. The iceberg lettuce and cucumber cry out for a classic Marie Rose sauce instead.
The wine list complements the menu – familiar whites and steak-friendly reds, with nothing verging into small producer or low-intervention territory. You’ll find a selection of bottles under €40 and there are 12 wines by the glass – five whites, six reds and a rosé. We opt for a glass of La Colonia, an Argentinian Malbec (€10.50) and the house white (€10).
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Steak is where the menu comes into its own. The 10oz striploin (€37) is the least expensive cut, although I discover afterwards that the Daily Cut – steak frites for €19 – is now available throughout the restaurant rather than just at the bar. To share, there is a 32oz côte de boeuf on the bone (€110) or a 38oz porterhouse (€120). Cooked with skill on the Josper grill, the striploin arrives beautifully charred on the outside and medium rare within, as requested, served with an excellent Béarnaise and skin-on chips.
The market fish (€34) is halibut served on tenderstem broccoli with sauce vierge. Three pieces arrive, most of it nicely cooked with a good buttery flavour, although t…