Another one bites the dust
Saturday, February 29, 2020 at 8:42 L’Ecrivain, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Dublin, is to close in the summer after 31 years in business.
I discovered L’Ecrivain a few years ago when I was looking for a restaurant where Forest Ireland could host a series of dinners for 10-12 guests plus speaker.
That meant a private dining room. There also had to be a comfortable smoking area close by.
I looked at several potential venues and none had what we looking for. There were plenty of private dining rooms but none of the restaurants had an adjacent outdoor smoking area. Some didn’t have a smoking area at all.
Then I found L’Ecrivain.
In addition to the main restaurant there were two private dining rooms but the one on the first floor also offered direct access to a covered smoking terrace with tables and chairs, perfect for pre-and after dinner drinks.
In fact, it was so comfortable that our guests frequently arrived early and stayed long past midnight.
I will remember those evenings - with guests such as Claire Fox, Chris Snowdon, Ella Whelan, Ian O’Doherty, Keith Redmond and Rob Duffy - with great affection.
Sadly, the network of like-minded groups I had hoped would coalesce around our Burning Issues dinners and work together never materialised, but that’s another story.
Talking of Dublin restaurants, I hear that Suesey Street, home of Forest’s Golden Nanny Awards in 2017 and 2018, has undergone some refurbishment and smoking is no longer allowed on the covered heated terrace.
When I say ‘covered’ I don’t mean in the British sense - with 50 per cent still open to the elements. I mean fully covered, which is why we chose it for our event.
We wanted guests to enjoy pre-dinner drinks in an area where they could smoke fully protected from the weather (the awards took place in November).
Thanks to the smoking terrace - which had its own log fire - Suesey Street stood out from the competition.
Now it’s just another restaurant with a covered outdoor area and smokers, I’m told, are verboten from lighting up.
Reader Comments (1)
The loss of smoking venues (including separate smoking patios) is a travesty that must be reversed. The antismoking zealots won't allow a proprietor to allow smoking in their own business and now are banning smoking outdoors as well. Reversing this trend must become a priority.