Barrage of blandness results in Social embarrassment

Shelbourne Social, Dylan McGrath's Ballsbridge outlet, which has had millions spent on it and opened in a blaze of publicity, was a crushing disappointment.

Shelbourne Social: a surprisingly poor showing from Dylan McGrath PIc: Fergal Phillips

Shelbourne Social

Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4

01-9639777,shelbournesocial.com

Chef: Dylan McGrath

On a windy night in one of Dublin’s most talked-about new restaurants, a small army of staff are bringing main courses to the corner table where I’m sitting with my dinner guest.

“It took fewer people than this to deliver my son,” I say to her. It turns out to be a prescient remark, because sitting on one of the plates that is ...