Our Man At Milliways - Del Toro, Lisburn
Created | Updated Jul 4, 2010
Del Toro, Lisburn
What's all this Terr-rass business about, anyway?
This place used to be a fish and chip shop, complete with Formica topped tables in little booths, but it re-invented itself a few months ago. The transformation is impressive: gone are the vinyl covered bench seats, replaced with dark wood chairs, twinkly lights and candles. When I called to make a booking, I was rather disgruntled to find that they'd struggle to find us a table in the main restaurant. Looking around, I noticed that most of the tables were for two, so our party of five was proving difficult. However, they led me to an outdoor terrace and offered a table there. I made the reservation, reasoning that if it was cold and rainy we could just have drinks there and then move on somewhere that could provide indoor seating.
Our group met at my house for pre-dinner drinks and nibbles, before all squeezing into the designated driver's car. We only had to circumnavigate the city centre once to find a parking space, and despite rain showers earlier in the afternoon, the sun was doing its best to shine on us, as we took our places on the terrace. I have a soft spot for outdoor spaces in urban areas –there's something very appealing about a secret garden on a roof, and of course they give a different outlook over the cityscape. For the architects among us, they also provide an ideal opportunity to complain about Irish buildings having their plumbing on the outside! The terrible teens were the least happy about the al fresco experience, even with the loan of my denim jacket, and frequent trips indoors to warm up. I sipped my cosmopolitan and rolled my eyes at the youth of today.
Del Toro styles itself as a steakhouse and urban grill, but there were plenty of non-steak options, including a couple of veggie options. We ordered some beef brochettes, nachos, and Donegal crab toes1 in chilli butter for starters. The brochettes were small but tasty, the nachos a little boring – although they didn't lack salt! The crab toes were succulent and delicious. So succulent, in fact, that everybody had to force themselves to leave some for Beatrice (who actually ordered them).
I lived up to my reputation of always ordering 'the most random thing on the menu!' and chose dover sole with scallops on a bed of boulangère potatoes as my main. The vegetarian chose a vegetable stir-fry, but declared the sauce on the overly sweet side. The anti-vegetarian ordered a steak with no vegetables anywhere near his plate, and polished off his lump of dead cow with only some green peppercorn sauce. The other two steaks came with garnish including some rather fine tobacco onions, and we all pronounced the hand-cut chips, one of the best bits of the meal. They were more like wedges than fries, but were perfectly crisp on the outside, and fluffy on the inside. The steaks themselves were a little overdone, having been ordered medium-rare but served with no hint of red about them whatsoever. They also seemed keen to sauce a good steak to death – as soon as KB's palate accustomed itself to the garlic, he encountered an odd cheesy taste, overpowering the signature ribeye subtle vanilla taste. "I should have specified no sauce-spirals around my steak", thought he.
It's an odd thing to say about a steakhouse – but seafood definitely seems to be what they do best!
The drinks list was somewhat short, with not a great choice of wines, and so few beers that one of us was forced to drink Budweiser. It seems a shame that with such a range of food, they offer only such things as Corona and Bud, with one of the best breweries in Northern Ireland just down the road in Hilden.
I was impressed with the attention to detail in the ladies' loo, which had a scented candle, pot pourri and a jewelled tissue box. The gents was Spartan by comparison (and yes one of us did actually visit both in order to compare fairly!)
Starters were about £3-5, mains started at £9 and the steaks were around £17. Special offers exist for lunch and weekday evenings. But don't visit outside summer months if you don't want a table for two. The terrace might be less attractive in January!
Food: 6-7. Crab toes are the way to go!
Drink: 6. Bea's coctail looked suitably Sex In The City-ish, but a better range of wines and an ale or two would be welcome.
Atmosphere: 8. Lovely décor - it's definitely no longer a chippy. And well, it's not every day you have cocktails on a ter-rasss!
