We were delighted to be included in The Dubliner’s 100 Best Restaurants 2010 Edition.

From The Dubliner:

“If you like to feel that you’re at the heart of a young, vibrant city, then Koh is for you”

The 2010 Edition was launched last night in The Westin and it’s a great feeling to be included. It should be on the shelves in your local Newsagents soon.

KOH reviewed in The Irish Times Magazine by Tom Doorley.

See the Review below or visit the Irish Times Online:

RESTAURANTS : KOH is blooming in the Quartier

OFF TO THE preposterously named Quartier Bloom to see for myself if it was true that Dublin now has a Thai restaurant that could be considered to be in the same league as the brilliant Kin Khao in Athlone. I know it’s not in every area that Athlone has such an edge over the capital, but it’s true in this case.

The place that has been talked about so much is KOH, a very big restaurant with a vast bar, all designed with a bit of a nod to places such as London’s Hakkasan and Yauatcha, but stopping a little short of actual global cool. I reckon the bar is significant in that they do a big range of cocktails which is a very clever way of “adding value”, as they say, to straightforward booze. Get in a good mixologist (I’m sorry, but that is what they call barmen), and it will do no harm at all to the bottom line.

Conceived before the Celtic Tiger was mown down, KOH is very 2007. But, unlike the late lamented South Bar Grill in Sandyford, another monument to flathuileach times, it manages to keep fairly busy. It’s easy to see why. They have very pleasant staff, a good kitchen and prices that correspond more closely to reality than many in Dublin. And, although it has a strong Thai accent, there’s something a bit pan-Asian going on – which could be risky in less able hands. Here it seems to work.

A friend of mine who has an asbestos palate and taste buds that remain intact after years of being scorched, tells me that both the red and the green curries are quite authentic. The only time I’ve eaten the genuine, 24-carat article, as enjoyed by generations of Thais, I was incapable of breathing for about two minutes and of speech for the remainder of the meal. But, yes, it did get those endorphins flowing.

Anyway, in the wicked way of the restaurant critic, I noticed that KOH is doing gyoza dumplings which hail from Japan. But my scepticism evaporated as I bit into these delicate little mouthfuls, each of them encased in a supremely light – what’s the word – dough? Pasta? Wrapping?

And then, a beef salad. Yes, I know, a bit of a cliche but a good index of a Thai restaurant in Ireland. Well, it was substantial and the slivers of beef were impeccably cooked (although, multiculturally, it was referred to as carpaccio which should, as we all know, be raw). The salad was crisp and fresh, the cucumber maybe a little too chunky, and the dressing nice and sharp, even if it didn’t deliver the knock-out chilli heat that comes with the real deal.

My learned assistant had poussin, which is cropping up all over the place at the moment. At KOH it’s marinated in garlic, ginger and various spices including, I’d hazard, turmeric, all of which provided flavour, something that baby chickens don’t really do for themselves, resembling tofu in this respect. It was described as peri-peri poussin, which is alliterative but probably means piri-piri – in which case was it wasn’t quite as expected.

And then a very generous main course of two grilled mackerel which were good and fresh and not too oily. These were served with a curiously creamy textured take on pesto, which was made with a great deal of coriander. Its fresh sharpness worked well with the fish.

Gastronomically, you could accuse KOH of being all over the place, but it somehow manages to hold together and does so quite impressively. There’s talent in the kitchen, a sense of pushing the boundaries and a lightness of touch that is very contemporary. This isn’t the kind of place that generally appeals to my inner curmudgeon (yes, inner), but I would willingly go back and work my way through the menu, perhaps even having a go at the red curry.

With four glasses of wine and a bottle of still water, the bill came to €76.25.

tdoorley@irishtimes.com

The smart money

The daily fish special, a glass of house white and a coffee will not quite break the €25 barrier.

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Please visit koh.ie/reviews for more reviews

The Test Of Thai

Having tasted the best in Thai food in London, Ernie Whalley is forever on the hunt for a comparable experience in Dublin. Koh comes close

By Ernie Whalley

Thursday April 23 2009

My favourite hotel in London is the Halkin. It has a Thai restaurant on the premises which has grown to be one of my all-time favourites. It’s called Nahm. Brainchild of talented Aussie chef David Thompson, Nahm is the benchmark by which I judge Thai food. 

The cooking there has what you could call ‘an unbelievable lightness of being’: the broths are not muddy, and the spices are not fused into a ’sweetness’ or ‘hotness’ and remain identifiable yet, concurrently, contribute in sensible manner to making the whole dish memorable. Difficult to explain, but I know what I’m looking for, and I’m always disappointed when a Thai restaurant misses the mark by a country mile, as is too often the case. 

I took Daughter Two, over on a flying visit, for a pint in the Clarence. Then we walked over the Millennium Bridge and down the alley. Koh is located at the far end, incongruous among the Italians and Italophiles that populate this sector of the daftly-named Quartier Bloom. I had tried a couple of times to book a table when the restaurant first opened but someone else’s favourable review meant the place was packed. 

There were tables outside, but only a couple of hardy souls were using them; inside, there was a hubbub of conversation, entirely female. Apparently Koh’s ‘Mixo’ is a smart lad who’s won prizes for his alcoholic confections, so the ladies who lounge were all climbing into cocktails. How could we not follow suit? We commandeered a Manhattan and a Pomegranate Mountie, a speciality of the house. The Manhattan, made properly, is a thing of wonder. From the ingredients you’d expect it to taste sweet and cloying but it doesn’t.

After a civilised interval, we were shown to the restaurant, a decently got-up dining room with a couple of private booths, tables round the edge and a long communal table (in true Thai fashion) down the middle of the room. We took one of the peripheral tables and settled down to the task of choosing food and accompanying wine. Thai is not the easiest cuisine to match. White works best, but the out-front spicing renders Chardonnay anaemic and Sauvignon Blanc aggressive. Some say Gewurztraminer, some say Riesling, but I’m not wholly convinced. Thai food, I find, needs a touch of something dark-natured with a mite of viscosity; Grüner Veltliner fits the bill, as does Albarinho, which is what we settled on.

Thai desserts tend to be pretty mundane and, as neither of us is particularly sweet-toothed, we figured that four starters, plus two mains, would suffice and permit us to take a wide-ranging look at what was on offer. And so it proved. The starters excited, particularly that ‘mange tout of the sea’, soft-shell crab, which came accompanied by Green Papaya Salad, cherry tomatoes and cucumber. Rachel had not had it before and loved the sea-zingy freshness and crunchy texture. The coriander, lime and cashew-nut chutney, which formed a bed for pan-seared king scallops was unexpectedly delightful, something I’ll try to reprise at home. 

The baby back ribs, glazed with hoisin and chargrilled, were meaty and satisfying. I was delighted to find the mussels were small, sweet natives, not of the rubbery green-lipped, inedible ilk. The accompanying broth, which managed to be both spicy and subtle, provided a stimulus for the mains that followed. Herself, something of a Phad Thai veteran, opined that this one was the best yet. Praise indeed. 

The saucing of my Red Duck Curry was well up to snuff, and the duck, tender — something of a novelty in Dublin Thai restaurants where this dish frequently pops up. I should also make mention of the waiting staff who paced the meal beautifully. Afterwards, we repaired to the bar where we made the acquaintance of the proprietor. I complimented him on the food. He said: “Yes, we have some good chefs here. They don’t allow us to muck about with their mothers’ recipes.” Nice one.

The damage: €117.20 ex-service for two cocktails, four starters, two mains, bottle of decent wine.

Verdict: Not Nahm but not far off. Gives Dublin suburban Thai something to aim at. 

View Review on Evening Herald’s Website