Soup not war
Leek and Potato Meets Vichyssoise: Ireland and France at One Table
The kitchen at Mulligan's Larder on Capel Street does a leek and potato that arrives looking humble. No garnish to speak of. A rough-hewn bowl, pale green at the edges, cream settling at the center like a still morning. I had it last Thursday, shared table with a colleague who'd brought a flask of vichyssoise from Café Simone on Rue du Bac, decanted cold into a glass jar wrapped in a cloth. We sat across from each other at the counter. Same lineage, different philosophies, and the argument was made entirely in silence.
Gents, this is what the pot is for. Not winning. Patience.
The Larder's version is served hot. Rustic. The leek holds its texture, theres a faint black pepper finish that announces itself late, and the potato gives the body without thickening it to paste. It does not perform. It simply feeds. I find that almost theological. The hot bowl says: stay here, it is cold outside, and you are welcome.
The vichyssoise arrives cold by design. Simone's version is silkier. The leek is quieter in it, the cream more forward. It asks you to slow down differently, not because warmth holds you, but because cold asks you to consider. It is the contemplative tradition to the Larder's active one. Neither wrong. The same root vegetable. The same allium ancestor. One turned East, one turned West, and here they are, reunited at a laminate counter in Dublin 1.
Someone told me once that cold soup is a French affectation. I thanked them for the object lesson, same way the church thanked its prophets. Vichyssoise was developed in New York, incidentally. Geography is always messier than we want it to be.
The pairing held. Two bowls, one conversation, no casualties. I scored both and I'd bring both back.
The Rating #
Mulligan's Larder leek and potato: 8.5 out of 10. Honest and warm and exactly what it says it is, which in soup, as in argument, is more rare than people admit.
Café Simone vichyssoise: 8 out of 10. The cold finish lingers longer than you expect. It has made it's case before you've finished the jar.
Vendor #
Mulligan's Larder, Capel Street, Dublin. Counter seating, cash preferred, the bowl is €6.50 and they don't rush you. Café Simone, Rue du Bac, Paris. The vichyssoise travels well, which I suspect they they know.
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