“Cheap and cheerful”,
there are no better words to describe that intriguing new addition to the Made
In Belfast’s family.
Located at the heart
of the Cathedral Quarters, this brand new restaurant certainly has a unique
style. The farmhouse atmosphere cleverly engineered by a combination of rustic
furniture and open plan traditional “rotisserie” is not without charm. Hats off
to the people behind this concept: I loved this quirky little nest…
Back to the food now:
the menu was original and mouth-watering. No fake promises, everything we
ordered with my friends was a reflection of what we hoped for.
The multicultural
inspiration, from Louisiana for the savoury dishes, more generally America for
the desserts and finally hints from France through the formulation of the menu,
was quite exciting!
In Le Coop, everything
is chicken and chicken is cooked in every possible way: roast obviously but
also fried, grilled, buttermilk battered, in a bap, a sub, on flat bread or
even on its own. I was dying to try a little bit of everything.
For starters, we
shared a beautifully performed classic, “the hot mess” and part of the pleasure
of savouring it was to devour it with your hands, definitely getting messy! The
contrast of textures and flavours brought by the crispy wedges versus melted
cheese and the refreshing effect of the sour cream over the spicy burning
creole sauce was unreal.
We had also ordered the “smelly” garlic wings,
heavenly combination if you ask me, probably the best chicken wings I ever had
and I am usually not that fussed about them.
To follow, I had the
fried chicken BLT bonnet. For those who like me, wonder what is a bonnet, I can
now tell you that it is a word used to describe the traditional bap. I am still
not too sure why, considering that in French a “bonnet” means a hat but hey,
why not?!
My bonnet was lovely,
the chicken tasted delicious, the bacon was crispy, topped with fresh rocket.
The only criticism I have concerns the lack of sauce or mayonnaise that made
the whole dish a bit too dry.
My friends had opted
for the Christmas bap, which was filled with battered chicken and rich layers
of Brie and cranberry sauce: brilliant idea and apparently very good.
Both dishes came with
a side of homemade fries that tasted delicious even though (I have to be
honest) a bit too greasy.
All in all, we had a
lovely experience and the charming and very helpful staff contributed a lot to
the success of our evening.
My final
recommendation would be to try it but maybe bear in mind that it is more about
the originality of the concept and the influences in the cooking. I wouldn’t go
there if I was dreaming of something refined to stimulate my palate but it is
the perfect destination to satisfy comfort food cravings.
