Mark Moriarty Studio

Tell us about Mark Moriarty's new restaurant and studio?

The people behind Wilton Park in Dublin 2 want to make it Dublin's newest contemporary urban neighbourhood, where the apartments are high, the people are beautiful, and Champagne flows like the canal running past it.

Those clever investors knows that cool urbanites like cool places to eat and drink, and their first major coup was luring Scéal Bakery back to Dublin as one of their first commercial tenants. Their second was backing TV Chef Mark Moriarty to open his first studio, test kitchen and once a week restaurant in a two storey space which includes an art gallery, and ATF Insiders got a pre-opening preview at a special price.

The studio will act as a filming space for his RTE show Cook Like a Chef, a private events space from Monday - Thursday (coming to an influencer-filled brand launch near you soon), and a public sitting each Friday night, enabling the team to take Saturday and Sunday off - the holy grail of hospitality. There are two sittings each Friday - 17:30 until 20:00 and 20:30 until late, and bookings for the month open six weeks ahead of time.

Only 40 seats, once a week?

Technically yes. Unless you want to take over the whole space for a private booking (up to 24 seated, more standing) between Monday and Thursday. It's worth getting on their mailing list though. This is a brand new business and if there's a night with no bookings, or two people want the same night but neither can fill the whole place, you might get lucky.

What are the seating options?

Walk down the steps and linger in the gallery en route to dinner (some of the artists have their studios in the same building). Walk to the end and down a dark corridor, and to the left you'll enter the setting for what they're calling an "upmarket, relaxed dinner party". The counter seats 12, and is the best vantage point to watch the magic unfold in the small kitchen. The seats are comfy too with good back support, if someone in your party has this particular bugbear.

There's also a single table seating four, and a "snug" seating three or four in a cosier setting.

There are also a couple of tables in a bar area facing the counter, where you can sit back with a pre or post dinner drink if you want to max out your stay.

What is there to drink?

Charles Heidsieck is the house Champagne (€28), and there's a Crémant de Limoux too (€15) for the bubble lovers. The by the glass list is relatively small, with five choices each for white and red, plus a rosé, but when there are no dull duds present, it turns out thirteen choices is plenty.

The glass pour size on the menu said 175ml so we initially thought the prices weren't bad, but it turned out to be a misprint and should have said 125ml - suddenly €19 for that glass of Au Bon Climat didn't seem as reasonable. It's much better value drinking by the bottle, but with mainly private events and only 40 public seats a week, they probably don't have to worry as much about the perception of value as a neighbourhood independent.

Tell us about the food

The 10-part tasting menu is €150, which is substantially more than every one Michelin-starred restaurant in Dublin - D'Olier Street (€139), Bastible (€110), Variety Jones (€110) and Forest Avenue (€98). Could a gong from the tyre man be part of the grand plan?

A big part of the experience here is watching the chefs at work, having them explain what they're doing, seeing just how much work went into that delicious snack you swallowed in one bite. The menu will change regularly, but expect some things to stay in place. Here's what we had at the preview...

Why and when should we go?

This will be special occasion territory for most, and will likely entail severe pre-planning to get the Friday you want. Bookings for each month open six weeks in advance (so bookings for all five Fridays in October will be released at 10am on Friday 21st August), but join their mailing list for updates. OR if you're the private event/entertaining a rake of clients on someone else's money type, get in touch with them about Monday - Thursday.

As far as the food and drinks go, there appears to be Michelin-starred ambition here (with the talent to match), and at €150 for food they will need to consistently deliver on a par with Dublin's other stars, for food, wine and service. Based on our preview they're off to a rip-roaring start.