There are two easy ways to sabotage a restaurant. One is to tuck it up a flight of stairs on a side street nobody can quite locate. The other is to ditch the à la carte and insist on a full tasting menu. Amai by Viktor does both, hidden away on Harry Street in Dublin 2 with a sign so cryptic, it could be a test.
The restaurant sits above The Corkscrew off licence. Light floods into the high-ceilinged room through large sash windows, reminding you that this once was a Dublin Corporation Weights & Measures office – and later a shoe shop – before being turned over to food.
It is an elegant space: two rooms with parquet floors, cream walls and a marble-topped bar; dark wood tables with chairs and banquettes, flattering the old bones. The venture is a partnership between Brazilian chef Viktor Silva and Amai’s general manager Alex Radu, who worked together at Bang for many years; and Paul Foley and Fiona O’Halloran of the wine shop below – pedigree that spares you the usual low-rent Pinot Grigio on the wine list.
The €79 menu runs to eight courses, including snacks and petits fours, with Brazilian produce threaded through: foie gras with coffee and açaí, yuca with Gubbeen, and okra with goat’s cheese. We select a lightly chilled bottle of unfiltered Pinot Noir from German winemakers Thörle (€59) to take us through our meal.
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The snacks arrive, a busy line-up of three, each finished with dots, petals and garnishes. An aerated foie gras mousse is piped into a crisp pastry shell, coated in coffee chocolate, strewn with jelly cubes, açaí berries and petals. It’s not the first time I’ve had foie gras in dessert territory – my benchmark remains the foie gras turrón at Can Roca in 2005, when it was still a two-star – but this version works, and it immediately grabs my attention. The warm yuca, egg and Gubbeen custard, sitting over black garlic puree and topped with lardo powder, is delicious scooped up with a tapioca cracker; and a feijoada croquette is filled with pork and black bean stew.
For the first course, Ardsallagh goat’s cheese is piped into a circle and topped with charred okra, compressed strawberry, toasted rice and nasturtium. A clear watermelon consommé is poured into the ring, finished with fermented tomato honey and mint oil. It could easily feel like theatre for its own sake, but it isn’t – the dish is layered and complex, the watermelon comes through cleanly, and the mint adds lift. Restrained and balanced, it’s the standout course.
I’m not a fan of bread courses, seeing them as side elements rather than food in their own right. I eat half the fennel brioche and leave the rest for mopping up – a task it fulfils when the monkfish arrives, Silva’s nod to moqueca, the Brazilian fish stew. Beneath a frothy foam of coconut milk and mussels sits a firm piece of fish on red pepper purée. It is measured, with neither coconut nor mussels dominating.
Being Brazilian, beef of course features – a generous cut of slow-smoked short rib with gnarled edges, and a striploin served rare, cooked sous vide, then finished on the barbecue. A direct grill would have given the striploin the char and flavour it lacks, and with a salty jus the whole thing feels a little heavy.
Dessert is light – mango sorbet with cubes of mango, lime jelly and polenta cake, topped with a milk mousse and pieces of meringue, finished with a chamomile infusion at the table. The petits fours don’t hit quite the same standard: a rock-hard pastry case does no favours to the yuzu meringue, and the banana caramel choux is clumsy, although the Caipirinha pâte de fruits – strawberry with cachaça and Sichuan pepper – is excellent.
[ Angelina’s review: This terrace is one of Dublin’s loveliest places to eatOpens in new window ]
There is obvious ambition here, and the Michelin guide will surely take notice. The style dips into the avant-garde bag of tricks – foams, powders, siphons – mostly handled with a sense of theatrical fun. Still, there are moments when it drifts – the striploin, the seasoning, the petits fours – and occasional slips hold it back a notch.
Even so, it is an exciting place to eat – independent and full of warmth. Creative food in a beautiful space, and while not every plate is perfect, the experience is memorable and unmistakably its own. At €79 for a tasting menu it feels generous, and for anyone seeking somewhere different to celebrate, Amai by Viktor belongs on the list.
Dinner for two with a bottle of wine was €217.
The Verdict: Brazilian with ambition, a tasting menu of foams, flair and fun.
Food provenance: Glenmar Seafood, Caterway, Keeling’s and Asia Market.
Vegetarian options: Vegetarian menu available.
Wheelchair access: No accessible room or toilet.
Music: Brazilian pop with bossa nova and samba rhythms.
