Delight for Good Hood as popular St Luke’s restaurant gets wine licence! Good news for us also as we enjoy a lovely meal there!

Delight for Good Hood as popular St Luke’s restaurant gets wine licence! 

Good news for us also as we enjoy a lovely meal there!   

Lamb flatbread

The Good Hood venture is headed by Colin Ryan, known for Hansum Rotisserie Chicken and Paperboys Café. His partner at St Luke’s is Ciarán O'Regan of Dublin’s Rita's Pizzeria fame. Both are graduates of the Ballymaloe Cookery School.

Good Hood is focused on delivering quality food and service, leading to a strong initial success. The restaurant's popularity is evident in its consistently full house, with reservations recommended.  But it took them no less than 14 months to get their drinks licence, announced last week more or less on the same day that we dined there. 

Up to now, Good Hood encouraged patrons to bring their own beverages from the nearby off-license, providing glasses and waiving any corkage fee. It is no longer a BYO venue. But the reaction on their Instagram issues good and they promise some really good wines.

Hot stuff!

They are probably best known own for their pizzas. And the pizzas are certainly a highlight, with options like the Diego, featuring tomato, mozzarella, garlic, oregano, anchovies, and capers. The menu also includes other creative pizza options like the Hunted Hog, Hay Pesto, and the Cheek of It.

But they also a produce a variety of impressive sharing plates, including Beef Cheek, a Brutus Salad and also a pasta dish. A couple of what could be called side dishes as well including chunky, twice cooked chips and Squashed Spuds (crispy, smokey, spiced baby potatoes).

The one page menu is not the longest but it took us quite a while to settle on a couple of sharing plates. When our first was delivered, our bubbling server said we’d have a sharing problem, as there were three of the €15.00 Paella Arancini (seafood paella, almond saffron cream, prosciutto crisp, pecorino). 

Paella Arancini

But no bother, no fight, as we split the three, even a large prawn that we found in one and enjoyed them very much indeed, the rice infused with a fishy smell and that crispy prosciutto. 

The other shared plate could have passed as a main course. This was the Lamb Flat Bread €18: slow cooked leg of lamb, balsamic cherry tomatoes, sumac yogurt picked shallots, mint and za’atar (a condiment from the Middle East (now a regular on menus). The puffed up flatbread has been in the pizza oven (we even got a pizza cutter) and was loaded a great mix of flavour and texture including those terrific tomatoes.

Time now for the main event and more sharing! No bother, we’re used to it, having had sixty years of it since meeting on Shrove Tuesday 1966.

Cheek of It

I was tempted again by the Diego (enjoyed on a previous visit) but our pick was the Cheek of It (16.50). The names comes from the flavoursome in ingredient Guanciale , a type of Italian cured pork made from pig’s cheek. Indeed the San Marzano tomato, chilli flakes, guanciale, pecorino Romano made it something of a flavour bomb and the base was cooked to perfection. While I’m handing out Italian lessons, Pecorino Romano is a sheeps cheese.

Good Hood really appear on social media but they did announce the new wine licence in Instagram (where you’ll also find a reservation facility. It is a busy spot, quite a families in early on, so booking is advised. The room is not the largest though they also have a good pretty sheltered outside area (you may even get a mini-hot water bottle). Bon appetit! 

Insta: goodhoodcork

Hours:

Coffee & Pastries from 8:30

Pizza & Small Plates from 4:30

Brunch from 10 Sat & Sun