Cool welcome, smokin' hot food

EATING OUT:A good meal in Belfast with liberal use of local produce by chef Alan Foster

VALENTINE’S WEEKEND, to be fair, may not be the best time to try for a late reservation at a restaurant, but we had a sudden rush of blood to the head and made a mad dash from Dublin to Belfast for a 5pm sitting at Tedfords, having heard great things about the cooking from welldonefillet.com, an always entertaining blog by a waiter who calls himself Manuel, which is typically on the money. Given the night that was in it, we had to promise to give the table back within two hours, which we decided would be just about doable.

As it turned out, we arrived 25 minutes late, having taken a wrong turn in the city; not a huge catastrophe in our minds, it just meant we would have to order quickly and not dawdle over dessert.

Alas, it seemed that for the front-of-house staff at Tedfords, this was in fact not cool. My “so sorry we’re late! Not used to the one-way system in the city centre” was greeted with a stony silence. We felt bad enough already that we were late, but when my companion was completely ignored, and we were led silently up to the dining room, I began to worry that this was not going to be a barrel of laughs.

Thankfully, that initial impression mellowed throughout the meal, and once ensconced in comfortable chairs in Tedfords’ slightly hotel-ish dining room, we tried to forget about the lack of warmth at the door and concentrate on the food. In fairness, the staff, once warmed up, performed well.

It being Valentine’s weekend, there was a set menu, which at first induced panic, and yes there were random “lurve” quotes printed all over it, but the dishes themselves seemed Hallmark-free: no chocolate-covered oysters

or heart-shaped fillets, although the predictable Valentine’s bubbly appeared and we succumbed. Incidentally, the Pannier Champagne was listed as £6.50 on the menu, though 45p was added to each glass on the receipt. The tiny discrepancy was corrected with good grace (it’s the principle, dammit) and the overcharged 90p was refunded. In the South, a glass of champagne might set you back €12.

To start, we ordered seafood chowder with dill oil, and pork belly with salt and chilli squid, pumpkin and ginger foam, and star anise jus. The chowder was wonderful, bursting with fresh marine flavours. As for the pork belly, well . . . I’m not the biggest fan of foams. Often they seem gimmicky, or have collapsed by the time they get to the table. This one was no different and the jus had separated slightly, but overall this was a handsome dish and I enjoyed the interplay between the Asian flavours and the Fermanagh pork.

For main courses, we ordered curry roast monkfish, tiger prawn wontons, coconut- scented rice, stir fry greens, curry oil, coriander and tomato chutney, and crispy pan-roasted salmon, with smoked cod, potato cake, asparagus, fine herb Hollandaise, and lemon oil. The curry monkfish was a triumph, a clear winner, perfectly cooked, beautifully presented and exalted by an eclectic collection of boldly sweeping flavours. It may sound like there were too many ingredients, but they all worked off each other really well. The pan-roasted salmon was technically perfect, although we could have done without the lemon oil and the out-of-season asparagus.

For dessert, a warm chocolate pudding with chocolate sauce, raspberry and white chocolate truffles, popcorn foam for me, and a passionfruit and mango cheesecake with berry salad and raspberry sorbet for my fellow traveller. Not a trace of popcorn could I discern from the wilted foam with the chocolate pud, but it was a successful dessert all the same, the punchy flavours working well together. Ditto for the cheesecake – zing-in-the-mouth mango and passionfruit and a nicely-tangy sorbet.

The liberal, verging on decadent use of ingredients by chef Alan Foster worked with, rather than against, the main components of each dish. The Asian influences applied to well-sourced Irish produce was a particularly good experience for me. Definitely worth a visit for the food – but don’t be late. Dinner for two with a glass of wine, aperitifs and coffees came to £76.20 (€87).

5 Donegall Quay, Belfast, 028-90434000; tedfordsrestaurant.com