This informal and family-friendly Dundalk restaurant offers authenticity and inventiveness and proclaims its ‘diciassette’ (€17) three-course menu on the steps up to the door.
A comfortably furnished bar in a bright, cheerful room overlooks Roden Square at the front, with the L-shaped restaurant area behind it. Cords of wood stacked along the wall in the back lead your eye to the prized wood-fired pizza oven that’s at the heart of the restaurant. Although the décor is laid back, the minimalist settings on bare tables are good quality and friendly staff are quick to welcome new arrivals and take orders.
Aside from the ‘diciassette’ – which offers several choices on each course, including vegetarian options, and is fantastic value – wide-ranging lunch and dinner menus offer everything from delicious homemade soups, salads and sharing plates like the bruschetta plate and an antipasti board to an appealing choice of pasta and pizza, plus daily blackboard specials and a range of grills, meat and seafood in the evening. These menus too are keenly priced and give generous servings of very tasty, freshly prepared food.
Really good basics convey the philosophy, which is focused on fresh, seasonal, local produce and preparing food from scratch every day. The house minestrone, for example, is jam-packed with good things, making a real meal in a soup bowl, especially when served with their excellent crusty yeast bread, and plenty of local artisan producers are credited by name on the menu.
The wood-fired oven is the star attraction here and not surprisingly, Eno is especially renowned for their pizzas. The oven uses locally sourced beech wood from Ravendale Forest and is put to good use, and not just for pizza – it also gives special flavour and texture to the gorgeous breads, including the piadina (Italian flatbread) and focaccia used for wraps and sandwiches, as well as meats, seafood and even their chicken wings.
The drinks menus offer quality and value for money too – as well as well-priced wines, by both the bottle and glass, and great coffees (a point of pride), you’ll also find a good selection of craft beers, an extensive cocktail menu, Pellegrino (of course), fresh orange juice, Llewelyn's organic apple juice (produced not far away, in north county Dublin) and apple juice spritzers as well as mainstream and Fentimans soft drinks.
Children are well looked after, with plenty of proper food on the kids’ menu, like lasagne, spag bol and roast chicken, as well as pizzas or a burger, and maybe an Oreo sundae for dessert.
On Friday and Saturday evenings, a cocktail and tapas lounge opens upstairs, with an open fire and plenty of plush armchairs for relaxing in with a drink and something delicious to nibble on. There’s also an outdoor seating area in the walled garden at the back with its own bar for when the weather is good, but infrared heaters too for when it’s a bit cooler.
All round, this quality-focused, family-friendly restaurant is a great asset to the Dundalk dining scene.
