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The sandwich board outside Oliveto, located in the Pavilion complex in Dun Laoghaire, has been advertising a lunch special priced at €10 for some time now. For a restaurant that's as smart-looking as this one, that sounds suspiciously cheap, but on a recent Tuesday Rebecca and I were in definite recession-mode and decided to check it out.
Oliveto has been open for about a year and sits in the middle of that strip of eateries with outdoor terraces (I use that term loosely, you understand) that should feel fantastically continental on a sunny day but somehow doesn't quite manage it due to the shocking, unfinished state in which Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has left its project to cover over the railway tracks. Humph. Outraged of Dun Laoghaire times two would like them to get a move on and get the job finished.
The other restaurants in this strip are the Kemp sisters' Itsa Bagel (always good and reliable), Real Gourmet Burger (don't know, haven't been in since the ownership changed a few months back) and Mao (overdid it when it first opened and haven't been in for ages). There's also an Insomnia coffee shop inside the unit that houses Meadows & Byrne.
Oliveto's interior is quite chic, in a low-key way. There is a dramatic gas-fired, brick-domed pizza oven in the centre of the room, behind a counter at which diners can sit when all the tables are occupied. I've been here before and can attest that the pizzas are pretty fine – thin-crust, generous and well put together. At another table, a family group was celebrating a confirmation with the children happily running outside with their skateboards between courses.
On the blackboard was the menu for a tasting dinner that had taken place a few days earlier. It looked terrific – seven or so courses of stylish modern Italian food with a twist with accompanying wines for (I think but don't hold me to it) €70 per head. Our waitress told us that it happens once every month or so and that if you give Oliveto your email address they'll let you know when it's happening next. I'll definitely be going back to check it out. The lunch and evening à la carte menus are short-ish and as sophisticated as the décor – some salads, pastas and fish/meat mains plus the aforementioned pizzas. The offering is some considerable distance away from that of a traditional 'red-sauce Italian', as they call them in the US, so don't go looking for over-cooked pasta and sloppy lasagne. Perish the thought.
Tempting though the à la carte was, frugality was the order of the day and we stuck to the €10 lunch deal, the centrepiece of which is a large bowl of home-made soup – on this occasion it was celeriac, made with decent stock and packing plenty of flavour, a slick of olive oil across its surface an elegant touch. This came with a slice each of Parma ham, salami and another cured meat that was akin to bresaola but with more fat, plus an asparagus spear wrapped in thin slices of griddled aubergine and courgette. For your tenner you also got two fine big slices of excellent sourdough bread that had had the griddle treatment too and a pot of a pesto-like dip which I liked but Rebecca didn't. In other words, plenty of variety and plenty of it – an attractive array of ingredients served on a dark slate making for a substantial and tasty lunch. We tried an order of bruschetta (€4.50) too, a generous portion served on more of the sourdough bread. The dressing was good and garlic-y, making up for the lack of flavour in the tomatoes.
With two bitter coffees – something that Oliveto really should be able to get right – our bill came to €29 before service – good value for quality ingredients served with charm in smart surroundings.
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