MJ Wright Eating Rooms, Dublin 2
Goodwill Hunting in the centre of town.
One of the most important yet most intangible things that successful restaurateurs create is goodwill. In fact, the ability to generate goodwill amongst their clientele is one of the reasons why they succeed. People want to be in the rooms where restaurateurs create that feeling of well-being, the thing that brings you through the doors and makes you linger. That’s what Anthony Bourdain was talking about when he described his dinner in The Chophouse as the best meal he’d enjoyed in Dublin.
Kevin Arundel brought that goodwill to The Chophouse in Ballsbridge for fifteen years, from 2009 to 2024, when he and Jillian Arundel just figured everything was too much after fifteen years of very hard work.
But goodwill doesn’t die, even when the doors close. It lives on in the ringmaster skills of the restaurateur, as you will discover when you walk up the stairs to the Eating Rooms above the riotously busy MJ Wright Public House, on the corner of Exchequer Street and Great George’s Street in the centre of Dublin.
Kevin Arundel is now working as Head of Innovation of the Wright Group, a large and diverse collation of pubs and eating rooms spread across the city and county. He has been hired for his experience, for sure, but we’d wager he is also in position to bring to the group some of that goodwill which is his trademark as a restaurateur.
What’s immediately apparent is that he is reveling in his new gig. He looks younger than he did in Chophouse days, and is hard at work assembling teams in the various Wright pub destinations, while motivating chefs with field trips, and securing access to great produce: the pubs source their beef from John Stone Dry Aged, and their fish from the related Wrights.
The challenge Arundel faces in his role is a simple one: he has the experience and professionalism of a veteran, but how does he get his team to mimic his qualities and practices, and then move quickly to discover their own creativity. It ain’t easy: just ask any football or rugby coach. He has to apply his hard-won professionalism, but in a theoretical way, rather than the innately practical way he has always known.
When this sort of relationship works – just think of much-lauded Stephen Harris of The Sportsman acting as Executive Chef to London’s Noble Rot eating rooms in their quest for dishes which match with stellar wines – then it can be exceptionally rewarding. The team get the polish of professionalism, whilst being encouraged to find their own voice.
In the kitchen at MJ Wright, Head Chef Adrian Dragoman, who has stints in both Luna and Chapter One under his belt, has designed a clever and approachable menu.
The voice of experience is immediately apparent from the structure of the menu: four snacks; five starters; five mains; three meat dishes from the grill; four sides. That structure is a work of professional clarity, seeking the sweet spot that gives people a choice of the dishes they want to eat, and gives the kitchen dishes that they want to cook.
Every good kitchen worth its salt wants to start dinner with a bang, and the Eating Rooms hits the target with the evening’s extra starter of wild garlic butter with focaccia. We both looked at each other and said: “I can’t believe it’s butter!” The kitchen takes cream and whips it up with butter, then threads it with foraged wild garlic, which you lather on top of focaccia. This was bread and butter as an event dish.
Even better was the beef tartare, served on top of pommes boulangere which had been cooked in chicken stock, then sliced and crisply fried. Squiggles of wasabi mayo and a mantilla of Parmesan with a scattering of micro herbs closed out a beauty of a dish, which rather overshadowed the smoked pork ravioli, served with crispy guanciale and pecorino. The pork was good, but the tartare is the star here.
The free-range chicken dish goes all old-school, a ballotine stuffed with a farce of mushroom and Madeira, with a foie gras velouté and a little beignet of black pudding. Hardly anyone cooks these old standards anymore, which makes this all the more welcome, especially as the chicken was so skillfully cooked. A tranche of stone bass came with a saffron risotto, topped with a shellfish foam, whilst fans of the original Chophouse would probably head toward the Grill section, where beef steaks and burgers come with all the classic pairings.
Good skin-on chips came with bearnaise sauce, a combo which is even closer to Godliness than cleanliness, and along with the tartare and the chicken they reveal an updated classic style which never goes out of fashion, and which suits the room to perfection.
Dessert brought home how the Wright team play best with this classic approach. The dessert menu offers tiramisu and passion fruit creme brulée with vanilla ice cream, and that brulée was a bowl of joy from first spoonful to last. The ice cream sat on a raft of shortbread, with a perfectly glazed custard beneath. The flavours were pin point, the textures were a study in contrasts. Winner.
Service was friendly and correct, and the Eating Rooms has charm and character. Kevin Arundel, Adrian Dragoman, and the crew here are innovating quietly and professionally, creating that good will that should see them become the anchor tenant of this prime city centre site.
