Niall Sabongi’s brand new seafood
restaurant just off the main drag in
Temple Bar in Dublin exemplifies what
the next generation of Irish chef is up to.
The Seafood Café opened in November
2017 and offers simple, super-fresh
seafood. His lunch menu includes Smoked
Haddock & Spinach, Croque-Madame,
Quiches, Fish Pie as well as sandwiches
and chowder to take away. For this
evenings menu, the shellfish selection is
very impressive, Chilled or Grilled Lobster,
whole Dublin Bay Prawns, steamed or grilled,
Dressed Local Brown Crab with Rye Toast, Big
Klaw’s Lobster Roll and Moules Mariniere.
Niall is a second generation Chef, his father
George came to Ireland from Egypt in the
1970’s and opened a bistro in the basement
of a Georgian building off Nassau Street
in Dublin 2. During the late 70’s and early
80’s George’s Bistro, with its piano bar
became a legendary and very popular
restaurant venue. With a clientele made
up of journalists, politicians, rock stars and
film stars it was an uber fashionable place
and George himself became a legend of
the Irish restaurant scene.
Niall started his career working for his
father before moving to one of Dublin’s
best known restaurants, The Grey Door.
He then trained in the UK, at Westminster
College, before gaining valuable
experience working at Scott’s of Mayfair
and also at the Dorchester Hotel.
Taking a couple of years off to travel, he
worked in Asia and in Australia. On his
return to Ireland he opened a restaurant
called Romanza on Lr Leeson Street which
he ran for over 10 years.
His award winning restaurant rock
lobster opened in 2015, with an emphasis
on seafood it was aimed at the tourist
market. His second restaurant Klaw on
Capel Street brought crabshack dining
to Dublin and has a huge following in
young Irish customers who like to eatfish. Nialls mission is to take the pomp
and circumstance out of eating out, he
has moved away from fine dining and his
restaurants are all about fun and being
friendly. If you just want to stop off and
have oysters and a glass of wine, then Klaw
fits the bill.
Niall started another venture, in 2013,
a company called Sustainable Seafood
Ireland buying fish from east coast
fishing boats to supply his restaurants.
He also wholesales to a small number
of restaurants in Dublin. The focus is on
sustainability and the fishing boats he
sources from are small “day boats”. The
company grew from his desire to source
better quality fish.
Niall believes in “Maraoir” a term coined by
Dermot Kelly of the Kelly Oyster family, the
same as “terroir” only for fish! He sees a
bright future for his venues and is heartened
that Ireland’s younger generation have
finally reconnected to the sea.