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| | 38-40 Howard Street
Belfast
County Antrim
BT1 6PF | [t] 028 9056 0000
[t] 028 9033 1134
[f] 028 9056 0001
| | | A magnificent sweeping staircase leads to the dining room, where hushed opulence reigns, and huge vases of lilies everywhere make one wonder at the flower bill. The main menu deals in voguish combinations utilising sound ingredients in a thought-provoking style. Hot and sour scallops with spinach and foie gras were one eye-catching main course in May. Fish dishes appear to be where the kitchen's finest skills are honed: for example a raviolo of monkfish (like a 'flaccid frilly mobcap') cooked al dente, filled with an appetisingly rich fish mixture, and garnished with black caviare as well as aubergine stewed in olive oil. Halibut has been lightly brushed with curry oil and roasted to exterior crispness, presented on fanned pommes Anna with morels in a chive cream sauce. Pre-desserts anticipate the arrival of such temptations as an assortment of red fruit items that included brilliant raspberry mousse on a biscuit base with an almond tuile stuck in it. Menu descriptions may give only an approximate idea of what turns up, but when it stretches itself this is a kitchen indubitably capable of aiming for the stars. The wine list offers a good blend of sunny flavours from the New World with more traditional styles from the Old. Sixteen house wines begin at £12.95, and six are also available by the glass from £2.25. | |
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We went to the bistro and the food was out of this world. Everything was perfect except the surliness of the staff. Our food server, who was not Irish, (that is the only way I can properly identify him) was very nice and gentlemanly. The other two men were not nice at all. Mary Lydon
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