The Greenhouse, on Dublin’s Dawson Street, is a restaurant that has both delighted and frustrated us on each visit since it opened in 2012. The food at times could be excellent and when the dishes worked they were first-rate. But too often they were let down by over complication and small errors. When we look back at previous meals we remember a dish of fantastic foie gras royale, a very accomplished serving of scallops, horseradish snow and wild garlic and a beautifully light passion fruit soufflé. But we also recall some over seasoning, tough meat and dishes that gave the impression of a chef trying just a bit too hard and over emphasising technique rather than substance and flavour on the plate.

We would leave the restaurant a bit perplexed, knowing that a clearly talented chef, Mickael Viljanen, didn't deliver on each course. But a few weeks ago, on our latest outing to The Greenhouse, we had by far the best meal we have had there.

The meal started off with the sophisticated and elegant foie gras royale dish, served with apple and horseradish. This dish has been a mainstay on the menu since opening and with good reason. This was followed by a course of courgette flower stuffed with a rich and deep chicken and smoked eel mouse with buttermilk which was warming and delightful. The best dish of the night was perfectly cooked venison complimented with autumnal flavours of beetroot, celeriac and blackberries. The refined passionfruit soufflé, light and airy, finished off an excellent dinner.

This meal felt quite different than previous outings to The Greenhouse and it seems that there may have been a change of culinary style and approach. The dishes were less cluttered, more natural and, all in all, felt more restrained. Servings were coherent, with each component on the plate having a purpose. It did not feel at any point like we were trying to be dazzled with technique and process and most importantly there were no seasoning, portioning or any cookery errors to be seen. This time it felt that the meal did justice to the obvious talents of the chef.

The service was polished, knowledgeable and friendly and the dining room seemed more spacious and comfortable than previous meals, maybe the table spacing has been increased. €75 for a five course is on the pricey side, but the €40 for well matching wines is good value.

The Greenhouse provided us with a good dining experience, living up to the promise we always felt it had, but never quite delivered, and this time we left content, happy and looking forward to returning for another meal of this quality.

 Click here for a more recent review of The Greenhouse

Last month we returned to The Greenhouse restaurant in Dublin for the first time this year. We had been several times previously and each time enjoyed our meal, but always left frustrated as there were invariably errors,  both with food and the service. 
We always found the food showed great technical skill, but it sometimes was overly complicated with too many components on the plate or that the proportion of the ingredients wasn't quite right. The dishes all too often lacked a focal point, clarity and were occasionally slightly confused - we remember a veal dish in which the veal was the smallest component on the plate and was lost in the muddle of other ingredients. Some dishes gave the impression of a chef that was trying too hard to show his skill and get accolades and as a consequence was attempting to showcase too many techniques on one plate.

There were also serious seasoning issues - a cod dish which was so overly seasoned that the taste of salt remained on the palette for the rest of the meal comes to mind. With the exception of their passion fruit soufflé, which is excellent, the desserts were at times underwhelming too. 

The service could be clumsy and unprofessional - we wrote here before about the sommelier having a private conversation with another staff member whilst we waited for our wine pairing for a dish that was already on our table.

Despite this though there were a few excellent dishes and the food demonstrated a lot of skill. So, we would leave each time feeling that the restaurant showed great potential and we would always return in the hope that the errors would be ironed and this potential fulfilled.

The first thing we noticed when we returned last month was that there seemed to be new front of house staff; certainly the Maître d' and sommelier were different and, as a consequence, the level of service has greatly improved. The service was welcoming, friendly, knowledgeable and professional. A good start...

Unfortunately though, the food has not progressed and still suffers from the same problems. Our first course, on the 5 course lunch tasting, was the foie gras royale with apple, foie  gras crumb and walnut. A variation of this dish seems to be a constant on the tasting menu as we have had it each time we have been there. And with good reason as it is always excellent. It is actually one of the best foie gras dishes we have had anywhere. It is rich, delicate and very moreish. The sort of dish you would never get bored of eating.

The second dish of scallops, horseradish snow, wild garlic was also a very good plate of food. Everything was cooked well and tasted nicely, but the dish could have been proportioned a bit better. There were only two small scallops and quite a bit of the other components. An addition of a scallop and a slight reduction of the other elements would have given a bit more balance.

Next up was cod served with a shellfish ravioli, sea lettuce and asparagus. The cod was perfectly cooked, but the sea lettuce was so salty it overpowered everything else  - salt was all we could taste. There was also a bit of shell in the shellfish ravioli, which was quite unpleasant.

The meat course of duck was easily forgettable. The duck breast was tough and on one of our plates the fat was rendered down properly and on the other plate it wasn't (it was actually very hard to cut through it). The duck heart was by far the best thing on the plate and worked well with a piece of macaroni. But overall this dish was quite poor.

The dessert was very interesting. It was watermelon served in different ways along with salted peanut ice cream, liquorice and a shot of strawberry 'float' on the side. The sprig of coriander with the watermelon gave it a slight Thai hint which was really intriguing. It didn't quite seem like a finished dish, but with a bit of work this dish could be a winner, especially if the Thai element is emphasised a bit more.

The food is always presented excellently, it shows skill and many different cookery techniques, but again it was let down by the small details like portioning and the cooking of the duck breast, and amateurish mistakes like seasoning and shell left in the ravioli. These mistakes should not happen for a restaurant that clearly has lofty ambitions.  Price wise this restaurant is near the higher end and for the price we wouldn't expect such consistent schoolboy errors. 

This time we left frustrated again, and, after this visit, we believe that we have given The Greenhouse enough chances to show it can deliver food a very high level.  But sadly we are coming to the conclusion that maybe The Greenhouse will never will fulfil the potential that is so apparent. Maybe this is as good as it will get. That would be such a pity, because there is clear talent in the kitchen.