Living It With Lisa

Our first dinner was at DEANES Restaurant, Michael Deanes flagship site and the only restaurant to receive a Michelin 1 Star rating in Belfast.

Michelin stars are awarded to restaurants offering the finest cooking, regardless of cuisine style.  Stars represent only what is on the plate.  They do not take into consideration interior decoration, service quality or table settings.

As our custom, when a restaurant offers a tasting menu paired with wine, we usually select it.  DEANES was no exception.  It is a great way to taste smaller portions of cuisine and wine.

Not only did we enjoy the tasting we discovered 2 cheeses from Ireland and witnessed love in bloom at the table next to us. More on that later.

We particularly loved the first pairing of Chilled gazpacho with crab & avocado paired with Sancerre Domaine Andre Dezat.

Now as we were waiting on our meat course we notice a gentleman 2 tables over being presented with the cheese selections for his Cheese Course.  Well we instantly decided that we would indulge after our meal was complete.

The meat tasting was Tapenade poached Lough Erne lamb & confit lamb belly, Pissaladière & artichoke barigoule and was a little disappointing I that for all the flavors on the plate there really wasn’t a “star”.  It was all beautifully cooked, just blaze’ in taste.

The next tasting course was Strawberry & watermelon soup, basil ice-cream which was quite delightful combinations of flavor and texture.  It was a nice palate cleanser for the chocolate dessert.

Valrhona chocolate & caramel tart, pistachio ice-cream & Amarena cherries was amazing in flavor and textures and paired with Fischer Trockenbeerenauslese sweet wine.  Excellent paring.

An now for the Cheese Course.  It was FABULOUS!  The two standouts were a smoked Knockanore from Waterford NI and Durrus from Lorck IE.  You will find those on one of my next Cheese Courses at home soon.

Our general consensus was that the kitchen had some issues with getting the food out in a timely manner.  Since this was on a Thursday night it wasn’t a full house.  Waiting 25 minutes between a few of the courses was a little weary.  Which since the Michelin Stars doesn’t have anything to do with service, that is something to be remembered.

Oh yes … I haven’t forgotten … Click to read about Love, One Table Over

We arrived in Ireland safe and sound and were met by Michael with the Bentley at 9am and whisked off to The Merchant Hotel. The Building, which was the Head Quarters of The Ulster Bank, was completed in 1860.  The Merchant Hotel Belfast is an intimate  5 star hotel, situated in the historical Cathedral Quarter of Belfast’s city centre which has been recently re-purposed.  The Cathedral Centre was dead 10 years ago.  Not so anymore.  The Vault below the hotel is now a night club and the area is alive with businesses.  We checked in, took a quick cat nap and then off to our private tour of Belfast.

Now that may seem decadent but we have found is that if we don’t get a quick private tour we will end up leaving a city and without seeing an important part and we would rather not be in a large group going slower than we want to.  This way we get the cliff notes and then spend the rest of our time exploring the parts the really intrigue us on our first visit… just in case we don’t get back to visit anytime soon.

It was amazing to see the Murals of Belfast that were scattered around town depicting the religious and political struggle that was resident only 10 years ago.  It was different to see picture of contemporary people who had died fighting for what they believed in.  We are so used to those pictures being hundreds of years ago.

On our tour , we decided to travel 20 minutes to see Carrickfergus Castle.  Which was very interesting even in the rain.  It always amazes me the ingenuity of people hundreds of years ago.  It reminds me that we were in horse and carriage 100 years ago … that is only 3 generations … my grandmother!  WOW!

If Ireland isn’t on your Vision Board … it’s a must see.