On the Town “Jazz is a perfect way to make a sound that reflects how we feel here” T DUBLIN IN DEMAND The Irish capital is humming this year with a range of tasty, chic and tempting offerings. AOIFE O’RIORDAIN reports his year Ireland marked the centenary of the Easter Rising, which paved the way for independence from the United Kingdom. Dublin was at the centre of the commemoration, and this charming seaside capital continues to lure visitors a century on with a clutch of new attractions, a buzzy culinary scene and a luxe new way to strike out and explore the emerald countryside. Clockwise Jazz from is top a left: perfect vintage records way at Soma; to a peek make inside Soma; a sound the city’s iconic Newborn monument; the atmospheric scene at Hamam; Soma’s circular bar; the stage at Soma; approaching the Kosovo Museum; a drummer lets loose on Hamam’s stage FROM LEFT: LAURA STEVENS (8), YOLENE DABRETEAU main pedestrianised drag. Entering the bar is akin to being ushered into a subterranean bunker crafted by the hands of Brutalists and bohemians. Concrete, straw, amber lighting and burnished wood are the backdrop to an ever-changing roster of young, local jazz talents developing an embryonic – and utterly unique – Kosovan variant on jazz classics from Miles Davis to John Coltrane. Yet Hamam is just one of a growing cluster of jazz spaces. Dit’ e Nat’ (ditenat.com), meaning day and night, is a former private house now converted into a minimally furnished two-storey hub of creativity with a garden, cafe-bar (in the former kitchen), performance space in the living room and library in the attic. And Soma (somabookstation.com), an erstwhile warehouse located next to the Parliament building, boasts a vast, chrome circular bar, wooden beams and potent cocktails, as well as an in-house cosmopolitan book and record store and a louche vibe accentuated by the presence of espresso-sipping young jazz fans and ebullient NGO and aid workers enjoying late lunches of steaks and salads that seem to segue into the evenings. The Balkan jazz sound is in its early stages but, according to Enes Muhaxheri, a drummer who plays with various groups around the city, it suits the sense of burgeoning Kosovan identity. “We grew up with so much uncertainty here. Jazz is a flowing, spontaneous sound which is never the same when we play live. That seems to have an impact on people here. This isn’t yet a nation where we know what’s going to happen next. Jazz is a perfect way to make a sound that reflects how we feel here.” ♦ TOP TABLES Veteran restaurateur Sunil Ghai has brought North Indian-style cuisine to Dublin’s diners in fun, casual surroundings with Pickle Eating House & Bar (picklerestaurant.ie) – think vintage Bollywood posters, geometric tiles and distressed walls with a menu of creative dishes like Lucknowi chicken pulao and Irish lobster poached in turmeric and ginger curry. Fish Shop’s ( $ fish-shop.ie) simple but skilled approach to seafood has proved such a hit that expansion was inevitable. Book a table at the original on Queen Street on the north bank of the River Liffey where you can tuck into wood-fired brill from the daily-changing four-course dinner menu, or pop around Baked beetroot with liquorice, orange and walnut from Forest & Marcy the corner to its more casual new sibling for wine and fish and chips. Ever since it arrived on the scene, people have been flocking to neo-bistro Bastible ( bastible.com) to sample chef Barry Fitzgerald’s artful and innovative modern Irish cooking that is firmly rooted in the local bounty. ON VIEW Until the National Gallery of Ireland’s historic Dargan and Milltown Wings emerge from ongoing renovations next spring, there are some other cultural debuts to discover. Charles de Gaulle’s Irish ancestry is just one of a number of surprising revelations greeting visitors at EPIC Ireland (epicirelandchq.com), a dazzlingly interactive gallery » DEPARTURES-INTERNATIONAL.COM 21
