Our Man in Milliways - Cayenne, Belfast
Created | Updated Jun 16, 2010
20 years ago, Belfast was a cultural wasteland. Nightlife was non-existent, and top quality restaurants were thin on the ground. One of the few that did brave the cold back then was Roscoff, Paul and Jeanne Rankin's flagship, which became the first Belfast eaterie to earn a Michelin star. My cousins used to have a separate bank account named "The Roscoff Fund", into which they'd each put a fiver a month, treating themselves to an annual night out in the Shaftsbury Square landmark. Since then much has changed. Rankin's empire expanded to include a chain of cafes and a range of bread products sold in supermarkets, the restaurant rebranded itself as Cayenne, and Belfast started buzzing, as other good eating places saw the void and filled it. In the past few years things have changed again: recession is tough on restaurants, as eating out is the first luxury to go in crunch-hit households. Rankin sold off all of his ventures except one, the jewel in the crown that he retained. Recent advertising suggested he was back in the kitchen doing what he does best...
Cayenne, Belfast
Probably the hardest part of the evening was actually getting to the restaurant. It's situated at one of the city's busiest junctions, and there's no car park near by. However, there's space for a taxi to pull in just outside.
Ambiance
The exterior is cool grey and sleek, and you could easily miss the place if you didn't know it was there. Inside the decor is soft browns, orange and creams. There are two eating areas in the long narrow room, separated by a wall. Leather upholstered bench seating, with cushions provided, extends the length of the wall, decorated with carved words. The small tables are quite close together, though the other half of the room has larger tables. The result is intimate yet sophisticated.
4/5
Food
We were presented with an a la carte menu, and also a choice of set menus at £20 and £25, which is great value for money in a place like this. The £20 menu offered Thai fish cakes or lamb salad as a starter, fried hake with lentils or duck confit with pumpkin mash to follow, and pannacotta or lemon cheesecake to finish. Tempting though all of that was, we decided to splash out on the £25 menu.
I've been working on lowering Dai's cholesterol for a while, but we'd lifted all restrictions this evening, and he devoured his chicken liver parfait with obvious relish. (Actually, it was a pear chutney. And a slice of crumbly toasted brioche.) I had the salt and chilli squid, one of my favourite Asian dishes, and the crispy coating was deliciously dry, set off wonderfully with the spicy nahm jim sauce and garlic mayo. We hung on to the latter to accompany the chips we'd ordered to go with the main course. Dai's char-grilled rump-sirloin was done to perfection, rich brown on the outside, blushing pink in the middle, melt in your mouth tender and rich with flavour. My sauteed hake was served on asparagus spears and accompanied by a generous mound of pea puree and shredded leeks. I was once described during a beer-tasting sessions as "descending into cooing", and I suspect that my reaction to this marvellous (and heck, even healthy!) combination was similar. The desserts continued to impress. I often make pineapple carpaccio at home, but I can't get my slices as delicately wafer-thin as these were, served with a lime syrup and a wobbly blob of coconut pannacotta, over which Dai and I were soon fencing with our dessert spoons. His own choice was the creme brulee, served with fennel sugar and orange salad.
I have to applaud these set menus: they were imaginatively put together but still managed to appeal to fussy eaters such as Dai.
5/5
Service
The staff are extremely helpful and pleasant. Rory, our waiter, produced everything we asked for quickly and with a smile and even managed to persuade chef on duty that night, Paul Waterworth, to have his photo taken with me in the hiving kitchen. Tap water was offered along with bottled, and was served with ice and lemon and topped up frequently. I overheard the waitress at the next table taking time to give some tourist suggestions to a group of Americans, and the young lady making my pre-dinner martini and post-prandial amaretto sour was efficient and friendly. Absolutely faultless.
5/5
Overall
It's impossible to find anything to criticise about this: top-end food presented with panache and confidence, a creative menu at a credit-crunch busting price. Welcome back Paul, you are rightly one of Belfast's treasures.
10/10
Scale: 10 – Diamond geezer, 9/8 – Sapphire, so good, 7/6 – Ruby Murray, 5/4 – Opal fruit, 3/2 – Rhinestone cowboy, 1 – Alf GarnettThis column is open to contributions from all members of the h2g2 community. All submissions are accepted on the basis that they are honest and unbiased, and all opinions expressed are those of the reviewers, who may not be professional restaurant critics. Send your reviews to the usual submissions address.
