Deane’s Restaurant

This is Michael Deane’s flagship restaurant.

Food

Things didn’t start off great. The amuse-bouche that we had come to expect by now never arrived. The one piece of bread we were offered was cold and lacked taste, the butter it came with was hard, so I went for the olive oil instead, which was not interesting. At least when our food arrived, things quickly went up. Our 7 course menu wasn’t as extravagant as it sounds. We had:

• Celeriac Veloute with truffled ricotta dumplings - was a wonderful starter. The soup was complex, while not overpowering. I really wanted to lick the plate.
• Slow Poached Breast of Pheasant with pickled carrot and watercress salad, aniseed emulsion, nibbed cocoa - this was my favourite dish. The pheasant did not have the strong flavour I expected with game, but more gentle somehow.
• Pan-Fried John Dory in Crisped Couscous with Baked Piedmontes red pepper, olive Polenta & Basil Tapenade Crisps - the skin was nice and crisp, with a lively sauce that paired well with the fish
• Breast of Irish Duck with Warm Config Leg Terrine, Savoy Cabbage, Vanilla, Pear & Chestnut - this was to be the “main” course, but in fact was tiny. I couldn’t taste the Irishness in the duck, but the one bite we had was wonderfully gamey and soft. I wish I had more.
• Ardi-Gasma with Fig Chutney and Crozier blue ice-cream - I thought we were getting cheese ice-cream, but it was not to be. This was just a nice, blue (and expensive of course ) cheese.
• Homemade Vanilla Yoghurt with Poached Blackberries and Ginger Biscuits - this was a palate cleanser rather than a real dessert, tasting like a nice yoghurt.
• Milk Chocolate and Orange Custard Cake with Milk Chocolate & Tea Ice-Cream, Citrus Reduction - with a name like that, I was expecting a lot, but it was not to be…..

Rating - 8

Atmosphere

Deane’s looked very good, and from the people who were there, couples all dressed up, and also business travellers who bought up a storm, it seemed that Deane’s has definitely captured their market. It’s definitely a place to be seen, with huge windows situated so high that you need to really peen to look in from the outside. We sat on the banquette sitting that ran along one side of the restaurant, just past the bar, but far away from the open kitchen, so we couldn’t see the chefs at work.

Rating - 2

Service

I couldn’t believe they offered this sloppy service in a Michelin Star restaurant. I put it down to not being able to get good staff to come to Belfast. Things started off well enough, with a polite greeting, then being shown to our table. Things started going downhill from there. We were ignored, after ordering our drinks for 15 minutes. We weren’t given any menus at all, and no amuse arrived. When we were finally given some menus, no one explained anything to us. There were only 2 choices, the 5 course or the 7 course. I wanted the 5 while Slokky, as usual, wanted the 7. They weren’t flexible enough to accommodate both, even though that’s all they offer, so we had to choose the 7 course. While I was trying to make the decision between the two, the waiter actually recommended that we get the 7 course, because the “French cheese is very expensive”…Well, I just couldn’t believe my ears. Not only did he not know about the food, he was making a recommendation based on “expensive” cheese.

Things certainly didn’t look up from there. They were slow and not attentive, and inconsistent. I was watching them intently, and noticed that they did different things for different tables.

Rating - 1

C-factor

Very expensive for what it was. While the food was good, I have been to lots of Michelin Star places that offered more for less money, it’s probably because they don’t have much competition in Belfast.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 11

Info

36-40 Howard Street
Belfast
BT 1 6PF
Phone +44 (0) 28 9033 1134
Website