Le Coop - Cathedral Quarter - Belfast

“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.

James Street South - Belfast - Part two

When we came back to James Street South and had a second experience not only as good as the first one but maybe even better, I decided to write about it again. It was only fair to give the restaurant another review it clearly deserved.

This time around, we had booked a table on a Sunday night and were warmly welcome back by the manager as we walked in. He directed us to the bar and handed us the wine list so we could order drinks while our table was getting ready.

We ordered a bottle of French wine “Rives-Blanques” which I highly recommend! It is so good to find a place like this where the wine selection actually matches the quality and refinement of the food.

For starters, we couldn’t resist the temptation of the fabulous truffle and Parmesan homemade fries. No disappointment there, they were as fantastic as the previous time! We also shared Stilton fritters served on cured beef. There are no words to describe the combination of flavours, textures or the skills and creativity that were demonstrated in this beautiful starter. The contrast between the cured meat, sliced as fine as a carpaccio and the hot fritters was magical. The blue cheese accompanied perfectly the slightly smoky and salty taste of the beef. We simply couldn’t have enough of it.

After such an exciting start, we were impatient to sample our main courses. I wanted to have the mushroom risotto again so that Damien could try it too. You can trust me when I am saying that it was even more sublime than the first time I had it. Between the abundance of gorgeous chunky wild mushrooms, the velvety consistence of the rice, the delicately creamy sauce and the touch of truffle oil, each mouthful was heavenly.

Damien had chosen the ham hock parpadelle. The richness of the large stripes of home made pasta lightly coated in a flavoury sauce, was incredible. The ham was meaty and fondant, cooked to the perfection. The addition of fresh parsley and breadcrumbs gave a nice kick to the dish, smart association of simple but interesting and powerful ingredients. It was unreal!

We were both blown away. James Street South has everything you wish in a restaurant: talented chefs, inspiration, warm and efficient service but more importantly beautiful and carefully selected produce…

You would be a fool not to try it!

The Hudson - Castle Court - Belfast

This little jewel is well hidden in the heart of the city centre. Hard to spot from the street as it is nested at the back of a small courtyard which seems very promising for summer times. It has a unique style, all quirky and cosy with a vintage look about it. It is just the perfect little neighbourhood bar to meet your friends on a dull and rainy day off.

That is exactly what we did last week end. We went there in the middle of the afternoon to grab a late lunch bite and have a couple of drinks. The atmosphere was lovely: busy and very lively but leaving you with that cool feeling that not everybody knows about this place…

The four of us were ravenous as we perused the simple and hearty menu; and we all picked something different.

The boys opted for burgers: one of them was a classic burger, which looked good and apparently also tasted good; but the one that really surprised me was the special. It was a Cajun chicken burger and looked amazing. The chicken breast was tender and perfectly cooked, still moist inside without being too pink. The spices were lovely and created a really original dish, a nice change from the classic beef burger.

Beef Burger

Cajun Chicken Burger

My friend chose a steak sandwich that she really enjoyed. The meat looked fondant and was cooked in a way that the bread didn’t end up soaked in blood and the side of pepper sauce was apparently amazing.

As for me, I had picked the club sandwich, which is a classic that I love, all the more because that is not something you can find in France. I only had a couple of them before but this one was from far the best of them all. The bread was well toasted but not dry, the bacon was cooked through and nicely crispy, the chicken was hot, tender and creatively seasoned with a delicious curry sauce. It was fantastic; I devoured it and didn’t leave a crumb on the plate.

The four dishes were served with golden and crispy chunky chips, hot and beautifully crunchy, a real delish once dipped into the aioli or mayo dips.

All in all, it was great value for money and the best recipe to cheer up on a cold and rainy afternoon. I highly recommend it and will certainly be back there soon!!

21 Social - 1 Hill Street - Belfast

Two weeks ago, we were looking for a new culinary venture within our neighbourhood. Having never been to 21 Social, we decided to give it a try and managed to get a booking for the evening. It is quite a nice stylish restaurant and also has its own bar, which is great to keep you busy while waiting for your table.

The menu was appealing and offered a good diversity of choices. We decided to share the squid as a starter and had a lovely experience. It was a nice change from the way this dish is usually served, more creative and refined. The thin and crispy stripes of squid were tender and full of flavours. I particularly enjoyed the Schezuan pepper seasoning that gave a real punch to the plate.

For our main courses we both indulged ourselves with the very promising 8 Oz Social Burger that we topped with cheddar and bacon. It looked great and tasted even better. The cheese was dripping all over the burger, the bacon was crispy and the patty was tender and really tasty. I loved the addition of a gherkin. It brought a nice fresh touch to it but the real surprise was the triple cooked chips. They were chunky, beautifully golden and perfectly cooked, it was absolutely delicious. They also came with two different homemade dips: a tomato relish and a garlic aioli. I am usually more into creamy white and mayonnaise style sauces when it comes to dip my chips but this time the tomato relish was a revelation. It was truly amazing, full of strong flavours, lovely thick texture; we both couldn’t have enough of it.

To top this already very successful evening we ordered a beautiful wine from California that also happened to beat our expectations!

We will definitely come back!