Jay Fai, a diminutive woman in her late 70s, wears flying goggles when she prepares her legendary brown crab omelette. She cooks it in a wok over the rasping flames of charcoal at her street food cafe in Bangkok. Hence the eye protection.
The scorching heat of the oil is crucial. It means that as the mixture is poured in, the omelette can be folded into what is effectively a log. She turns it gently in the oil, teasing it into shape, and pours in a little extra beaten egg to seal up the edge of the crisp golden roll. This ensures that the succulent interior doesn’t get oily.
At 1000 Thai bhat (€26), the crab omelette is considerably more expensive than your typical Thai street food dish. But it is large, meant to be shared and it’s spectacular. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in 2018.
When I visited Bangkok earlier this year, I had a chance to try her mythical omelette. So when I see a mention of crab omelette on the menu of Lotus Eaters, the newly opened, Asia-inspired restaurant owned by Stephen McAllister and his wife, Andrea Hussey, in the room on Nassau Street, Dublin, that was once home to The Pig’s Ear, it gets my attention.
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If you fancy tasting a cross-section of dishes, there is a sharing selection at €60 per person, but the omelette is not included in this option. My dining companion, Ellen, who also happens to be my niece, is a widely travelled gourmand, well acquainted with world food, so we decide to give the menu a good workout.
An oyster with nahm jim and a whispy flake of bonito (€4.80) is fresh and briny; and grilled scallop with pig’s head (€12), which is formed like a loosely bound black pudding, has a decidedly more forthright taste than the ubiquitous blood sausage. It’s an original combination. The soba salad (€9), which can be shared between two, is a mound of chilled soba noodles, nutty from the savoury buckwheat, which are dipped in a chilled dashi. We’ve opted for a bottle of Feline Jourdan Picpoul de Pinet (€39) to accompany our dishes.
The tartare brioche (€16) is like a burger. Rather than being piled on top, the griddled brioche is split and filled with the beef tartare. The meat could well have been hand-chopped, but I get no sense of this as the marinade has almost cured the meat. This possibly appeals to more conservative tastes.
Hamachi (€19), which has been sliced like sashimi, has been flattened further and fanned out across a plate. The opaque slices are marinated in yuzu and dressed with pretty dabs of yogurt, dusted with magenta coloured hibiscus powder. The flavour combination is harmonious, but the dish is let down by the fact that the fish has been broken up by the flattening process, so when it’s picked up with chopsticks, there are small bitty pieces rather than individual slices with integrity.
Next up is the crab omelette (€20). The omelette appears to have been cooked separately, almost like a thick crepe, filled with crab meat that has been bound with a little Béarnaise and then folded into a rectangle. It is quite different from Jay Fai’s omelette but it is tasty, generous and is definitely for sharing.
The wagyu hamburger (€20) is served with a bowl of rice and a good selection of condiments. It has a great flavour from the Kasai Konro charcoal grill, but the fat marbling, which is what makes wagyu beef so special, is lost as the creamy fat has been rendered out. There are a number of add-ons, including caviar (€30), truffle (€10) and duck liver (€15) which we skip, but go for the soy egg yolk (€2.50) which is recommended and we mix into the rice. We also opt for the bone marrow sambal (€10), which is tasty but has little affinity with the dish and feels a bit random.
Desserts are a rich burnt chocolate cheesecake (€15) and a foamy yuzo parfait with raspberry and matcha (€12). You’ll definitely be sharing these.
Lotus Eaters is a pleasant place to eat. The servings are generous and it would certainly suit dining with a group. There’s nothing particularly edgy about it but I don’t think this is the intention. McAllister is an absolute pro, he knows what is required for a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant and I’ve no doubt it will be a popular spot.
Dinner for two with a bottle of wine was €179.30.
The Verdict: Tasty Asian food that could do with a bit more edge.
Food provenance: Kish Fish, Glenmar, McLoughlin’s meat, and Caterway.
Vegetarian options: Soba salad, maitake mushroom omelette and mushroom burger.
Wheelchair access: No accessible room or toilet.
Music Background pop.
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