Taste at Rustic

Had 1 night in Dublin and a great friend turned me on to Taste. From the first greeting, to time to go, it was perfect. Terrific seating, lovely bar and fun atmosphere.
The food is delicate and flavorful. It’s small (not too small) plates. We had a party of 5 and there was very little that we didn’t try. From tasting menu to individual plates.
Started with cocktails, Tequila Thyme and Cucumber-​Lychee Martini. Gorgeous.
Then a bottle of Sake, one of the best.
Scallops, Pork Belly with Quail Eggs (not gunna lie, my favorite), Sushi, Wagyu, etc.
Dessert was ok but not the star.
Just concentrate on the main part of dinner. You won’t be disappointed!
Finished with coffees, a sweet Sake and some wine.
Chef McGrath knows what he is doing and it shows. Well done.
Can’t wait to take friends next month when I return.

The restaurant is situated on top of rustic stone and also by the same chef. The place itself was pretty nice however I felt it was a little too rowdy and noisy to have a nice dinner. I also felt they kind of lack staffs and took them pretty long to get to us.
I had their omakase meal (both the € 55 and € 70 ones). They don’t serve the omakase meals by the menu, whereby they served us the nigiri first before the temaki and miso soup. But small details anyway.
The nigiri was pretty good. I felt the lobster and the sea bream nigiri was the best out of the 6. The rice was beautifully seasoned and pressed. Very impressed by the standards.
The miso soup was really authentic with a heavy seafood taste to it. Inside had some clams and mushrooms (enoki) which I was pretty impressed by the enoki. The enoki had this sour taste to it that made the whole soup really appetising.
The temaki was an avocado and a piece of tuna wrapped a wanton-​like fried skin. It wasn’t too bad as a palate cleanser.
There was another course we had that I can’t quite remember what they called it. But it was sea bream in a mushroom broth (for the € 55) and a lobster sashimi (for the € 70). The sea breams were perfect with the mushroom broth. Sweet fish with a tinge of sourness from the mushrooms. Absolutely beautiful. The lobster itself had a good and nice texture to it however whatever garnish they had on top was way too sweet. I basically had to scrap it off to finish it.
We had the duck and lobster nabe. The broth for the duck nabe was really sweet with complemented really well with the duck. The duck was really good too. The lobster was really fresh and sweet, but the broth was sub standard.
What I absolutely loved was the desserts. A very interesting innovative dessert — matcha crème brûlée with pistachio, white chocolate and yuzu ice cream. It’s probably the best dessert I’ve ever had. The other option was a chocolate mousse with chocolate cookie. And chocolate can never go wrong. But I highly recommend the match crème brûlée. It was simply a delight.
All in all, the meal was pretty good. I just felt the portions were pretty small. But the ingredients were definitely fresh and cooked pretty well.

Brilliant! Easily my favourite restaurant in Dublin right now, it’s pretty much a place you can bring anyone in on any occasion — be it with your partner for a fancy romantic dinner, or dinner while catching up with friends, or even awkward family gatherings!
I’ve been to the Japanese restaurant a good number of times since they created it, and it’s by far the best in terms of creativity, premium ingredients, fantastic flavours, and service from a ridiculously fun team of people! They somehow always remember you, can sense when you need something, and are always up for jokes and laughter. Even got to meet the main man himself on one occasion — Mr McGrath popped over to introduce himself to my family and I (although we weren’t in any great state to meet anyone that day — it was the family outing occasion that particular day!) and he explained to us his experiences in Japan and how he wanted to bring his learnings back to Dublin — honestly delighted he done so!
On to the food and wow I could not believe my eyes when I first saw the menu — many of these Japanese dishes actually use ingredients that you rarely see in other places in Dublin. I went straight for the Toro tuna sushi, ordered a few other sides and the Wagyu beef for mains — Absolutely. Delicious.
My girlfriend got the lobster hotpot and when she was done eating the lobster, staff actually took the pot back to the chef to make a soup out of the ingredients in the pot. Again delicious and I like that the ingredients didn’t get wasted.
Note that the Japanese restaurant doesn’t open everyday though, so my advice would be to ring ahead and ensure you get a table for the day you want!

Well done Dylan McGrath you have created a wonderful eating experience in this restaurant!
My wife & I enjoyed pre dinner cocktails downstairs and I was close to dropping the review down to 4 stars because in the bar the staff were too busy chatting amongst themselves rather than looking after customers when we arrived — however once they realised we weren’t being looked after things moved on smoothly.
We read through the new updated menu (which was easier to go through than the original menu when the restaurant opened) whilst enjoying the cocktails & decided to be brave and choose for ourselves what we’d eat instead of going with the set menu options.
Upstairs in the restaurant we were very well looked after by attentive staff — a good wine selection — food was absolutely delicious & if you really focus on your taste sensations with each bite/​mouthful you will enjoy a wonderfully unique experience.

Excellent food and the best sushi I have found in Dublin. The ceviche was a favourite at the table for those who have had ceviche throughout Latin America. Excellent sushi and roles and the steak was delicious. The soup was so unique and tasty too. Great wine and saki. Just an overall amazing experience.
This is my new favourite restaurant.

This restaurant is like nothing I have ever experienced. The menu is so eclectic & exciting. We had bites & pastas. We will certainly go back.

There are reasons I know I’m getting old, aside from the fact that the birthdays just keep crashing in likes waves. One is my failing sight after years of relying on my eyes and my eyes alone to read. Another perhaps less common garden variety is the internal meltdown I face when confronted with a lot of menu choice in restaurants.
If you identify with the latter, you may wish to save yourself a lot of hassle and simply choose the set menu here. If not, be warned, the a la carte alternative is complex, and for your own sake don’t arrive tired or emotional. This is a prime mental condition eating experience.
Famed Dublin restauranteur Dylan McGrath is an ideas man. His restaurants are as much about concept as they are about food, and though I’m sure there’s a big heart in there, the head rules.
If you want proof, study the menu. Across the top are taste categories (bitter, salty, sweet, etc.). Down the left are dish categories. So you scale down, then across, to see what combination of taste and texture your dish offers. And there are lots of choices. And a huge variety of prices. But what’s less clear is quantity. And I was hungry and wanted to know I’d get an oul dinner into me before that difficult hungry phase that reduces my brain to mush and makes me want to howl like a baby.
The very friendly waitress reassured us that though the menu seems complex first time round, after you’ve done it once, it’s a breeze. (That’s how I cottoned on to the fact that the wait staff here have post docs in maths.)
Full marks for trying though. No less than two members of staff talked us through things, and they really did their best — did I sense concern that people are having difficulty getting it? Whichever — in the end, it was all too much for me — cue set menu.
So, to my relief, for forty euros, you can certainly expect to leave full, with sushi starters — ok, it’s not called sushi, it’s the long one with the piece of fish on top of the rice (though more wasabi, please) -, delicious miso with clams and those delicate long-​stemmed mushrooms that definitely have a name, beef skewers with rice (too much rice already) and potato main, and desert.
The food presentation is beautiful, served on marble slabs and in delicate ceramics, with a Japanese-​influenced simplicity. I thought the restaurant was Japanese from the menu but see from the website there are Spanish and South American influences too — not very obvious to me but then again I flunked the menu test.
The sushi that isn’t sushi was yummy, especially the turbot which was a smoky hit of flavour, and the sea bass, with a smooth texture that melts on the tongue.
The beef is served on a mini-​BBQ which, like the mushrooms, has a proper name. (The only problem with this method of on-​table serving is being smoked out of it by the table next door who’s got too much fuel on the fire.) If you want your steak more than medium rare, just cook on. My steak was a slightly mixed experience being a bit fatty, though my partner didn’t have the same issue.
Desert was ginger panna cotta, with melon granita, which was light yet intense in flavour and delicious.
We had tried to book Rustic Stone, the restaurant downstairs, but it was full and they suggested we try Taste. We didn’t know it was Japanese-​influenced and I think they took this on board upon seeing our menu-​bafflement and offered a glass of wine on the house. Fair enough.
If I returned I’d be armed with a more rested brain (like I’d give it a full day off beforehand, take it to the pictures, buy it flowers, tell it it was looking great) and I would square right up to that a la carte menu, look it in the eye and plainly demand to know its tofu options, the brute, and I wouldn’t take no for an answer.
The Japanese are masters of simplicity, so ultimately I agree if for different reasons that Taste is not a Japanese restaurant. But the food largely made up for it, the service was good, it’s a relaxing place to eat, and if the head wins over the heart, there’s no denying it’s a decent head. If you don’t believe me, just look in the window where its image hangs pride of place, presumably so you know who best to talk to if you need anything explained.

Had a fantastic experience here last night. My wife and I came in on chance and were so happy when we left.
Cocktails were great, food was fantastic, and the desert was perfect. The menu was a little complex at first, but turned out to be a lot of fun once we got the hang of it.
Staff was super friendly and attentive and clearly the kitchen staff had focused on attention to detail.
The sashimi was fresh, my lamb skewer was amazing, and my wife’s salmon was perfect.