cliffords and michaels bistro

The restaurant is a place of culinary surprises, with the most orthodox cook in the country showing his fierce inventiveness every day: breast of wood pigeon with glazed celeriac, beef with braised salsify and a Fleurie sauce, grilled scallops with a coral sauce and winter leeks. With such a hectic rate of invention, you would forgive this kitchen if they made mistakes, but they never seem to. If the restaurant is the challenge, Michael's Bistro is the comfort. The revision here of classic Irish dishes and their rendering into bistro staples is lovingly done: Irish Stew, bacon and cabbage, chicken soup with lentils and pearl barley, hamburger with braised red onions, it is food for the hungry soul.

The logic of these dishes is always unimpeachable, and comfort and creativity go hand in hand in this charmingly evocative place.