Bittersweet and Hungry

Let me be honest with you: if I want a cocktail, there is only one place in Belfast I'll go; The Merchant. This evening's events only solidified this. After a few stouts, the time was ripe for short and sharp beverages. Mr R wanted to try out the newly renovated Northern Whig. My 'go to' short cocktail is a Margarita. They only offered it on the rocks or frozen. I decided to rise above this crime and ask for it straight up, and they obliged. They obliged with a Margarita with no salt rim! And too much sugar syrup. We proceeded onward to The National, where we asked for our favourite in-house cocktail. Sadly, the menu had been rewritten and the youngster behind the bar was new, so we quicky ordered an alternative. I didn't mind it, as I love a Parma Violet, but Mr R hated the sweetness and viscosity of the egg white. He switched to beer. Our next stop was Muriel's Cafe Bar. As the last drink of the night, we opted for two Old Fashioneds. We were pr...

We recently decided to give the Canteen at the MAC a try, following perusal of the Mac International 2014 exhibition.     We arrived.  We were greeted and I gave the name.  Another two members of staff came and asked us "are you okay there?" while a third, in the distance, approached to take us to our table.  The first table of the evening apparently.  We ordered 4 tapas to share as a starter: butternut squash & sage arancini; marinated olives; chorizo, onions & red wine; and seasoned sweet potato wedges with garlic dip.  3 tapas arrived.  I called after the poor man who brought them, "we are still waiting on the chorizo".  He said he would follow it up.  It did not take long for the waitress who took our order to turn up and show us her notepad.  "I've only written down these 3.  Are you sure you said 'chorizo'?"  Of course I was sure we had said chorizo.  In fact, we had both said...

I am a huge fan of Bordeaux, so when Direct Wine Shipments advertised a Dine with Bordeaux evening at Home I was overjoyed and excited. The food produced by Home is consistently good and the service is always attentive and courteous so I couldn’t have been more pleased. The production of red wine in the Bordeaux region outweighs white and rose 6:1 so I was surprised to find only one red on the menu. The first course, beef consommé, pickled girolle and foie gras toast with sauternes jelly, was served with a rose. The highlight of this dish was the foie gras and sauternes jelly toast – the sweetness of the jelly perfectly complementing the rich flavour of the foie gras. The second course was paupiette of sole, scallop mousse, samphire and mussel and chive veloute, served with a sauvingnon blanc. This was the only course for which I did not think the wine was a great match. There was too much fruit to complement the perfectly balanced and delicate flavours of t...

Recent meals out have been sadly wanting. Howard Street - 27 August 2014 The reviews of this restaurant have been so good that I honestly thought this might be the place to rival Ox. Perhaps I'd been wrong in my opinion from my first visit, some time ago. No. We definitely felt that that the service we received was vastly short of the service offered to other customers. I am more than happy to spend stupid amounts of money on indulgent and extravagant treats on a night out. All you have to do it come and ask me what I want to spend my money on. A tip for the wise - ignoring customers who appear keen to eat or drink more is not the best way to profit. When we booked this table, for 6.45pm, we were advised that they needed the table back by 8.30pm. Is this why, on the approach to 8pm, we couldn't get anyone's attention? We were seated in the cheap seats, next to the bar, the kitchen, the toilet and the condiment station. You'd  think service would be easy to come by...

My next foodventure came in the form of a trip to Molly's Yard in Belfast's University Quarter.  It wasn't particularly busy, so we had the choice of sitting downstairs or upstairs in the dining room.  After a quick peek upstairs we decided to sit downstairs, where the ambience was warmer and more relaxed.  The staff were faultlessly cheerful and polite, answering my many questions and chatting to me about the Hilden beers selections, discontinuations and rumours of a hidden stash in a bar somewhere in Belfast.  I began with local scallops with Molly's homemade fadge, Clonakilty black pudding, tarragon butter sauce and Parma ham crumb.  There may only have been two scallops, but they were the plumpest, juiciest and most perfectly cooked scallops I have ever had the pleasure of eating.  This dish was an absolute triumph, with the only exception being the homemade fadge, which was, to my taste, a little heavy on the flour and a little light on the...

Browsing through my local supermarket (one of my favourite places to browse) I happened across Baxters Deli Inspired range.  Cue excitement!  Deli Inspired soup!  I thought, "oh my, this will be better than your run of the mill tinned soup!  I must try it!" I selected the 'Italian Wedding Soup'.  Follow my blog with Bloglovin Italian wedding soup is actually a mistranslation.  Minestra maritata means married soup and refers to the complementary flavours of the green vegetables and meat in the soup.  Baxters promise a taste of the Mediterranean.  A marriage of flavours.  What they deliver is a marriage between Baxters Fray Bentos Meatballs in Tomato Sauce and tinned spaghetti.  With a few bits of vegetable floating in the gloup.  Not as advertised.  Don't waste your time.  At least with a tin of spaghetti or meatballs you get what you are expecting.

I began thinking seriously about sharing some of my opinions on my favourite topic several months ago, but it has taken me considerable time to get around to it - not unlike an unhappily high degree of the waiting staff I've encountered in those few months.  Rather than post date EVERYTHING I have felt like saying, I will, instead, give you a brief synopsis.  The highlights and the disappointments.  These are, of course, merely opinions.  Hadskis (21 May 2014) This location had rave reviews.  I was not overwhelmed by any stretch of the imagination.  The trofie pasta dish was outstanding, until I had a taste of the béarnaise which accompanied the rib-eye and suspected the pasta sauce had been a bit too similar...       OX (18 & 27 June 2014) OX is by far the best dining experience I have had in Belfast.  The staff are attentive and unfailingly polite.  The food is wonderful, seasonal and loc...