Little Pyg, the tallest restaurant-bar in Ireland and the sister venue to Pygamalion at Dublin's Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, has updated its menu after hiring a co-head chef Marco Ilii from Italy.
Owner Paul McGlade Jr said it took him multiple trips to Italy over five months to convince Ilii to take up the position in the hopes of improving the Little Pyg, which now boasts homemade meatballs, pumpkin risotto, and ribs marinated in Guinness stout.
"I’ve brought everything I’ve learned and love the most about Italian food to Little Pyg, but we’ve worked hard to make sure there is always an Irish twist," Ilii said of his appointment.
"I won’t lie the weather was really holding me back from moving to Dublin, but it was the concept of Little Pyg that finally convinced me to move here.
"Paul and his team are really building something so different and special, and I’m excited to be a part of the team that will ultimately open this same concept all over the world, all having started here in Dublin."
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Another Little Pyg restaurant is due to open in Madrid next year.
Little Pyg, which opened just before the Covid-19 pandemic, said it now offers Ireland's only Michelin Guide pizzas, with each of its pizza chefs being sent to Italy for a year to study under 'Godfather of Pizza' Enzo Coccia.
The restaurant's enormous pizza oven was made with rock from Mount Vesuvius and built by 14 men who were brought over from Napes. The pizza dough is left to ferment for 48 hours before cooking.
McGlade added that Little Pyg was determined not to increase its prices for as long as possible amid the rising cost of living.
"With the ever-soaring prices of living in Dublin, I was determined to be as sound to our patrons, regarding all our prices, as I could possibly offer," he said.
"We bring the best fresh ingredients in from Italy twice a week, all of our ‘Pygtails’ are made with the same ingredients as the cocktails made in any of Dublin’s finest 5-star hotels, and yet we are offering prices of 40-50% less”.
“Our Michelin Guide pizzas are all designed by the world-renowned ‘Godfather of Pizza’, but we still offer any two pizzas for only €28, seven days a week”.
“A couple can come in here and have a bottle of wine, a starter and a main each, and even a few Pygtails, and leave with a bill of only around €40 each. There is nowhere else in Dublin you can do that and dine to the same standard, with these same surroundings.
"We’ve some of the best mixologists in Dublin and we are really noticing that local Italians who live in Dublin are coming here all of the time for our pizzas and Pygtails”.
“Our long-term business plan is to continue to give the best product and services to the consumer at the best price."
The venue takes up the entire center ground floor of the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, and is open for lunch and dinner every day, with dinner served until 10pm, or 11pm in December. Resident DJs are on until late on Fridays and Saturdays.
"It is a completely different beast in here after 6pm. We play with the huge space of this historic building with lighting and always have the best disco-house tunes on," McGlade said.
"It’s a really buzzy atmosphere in the evenings and great for dinner and drinks with pals. We don’t close until very late at the weekends and there’s always an amazing party atmosphere."
