Marco Pierre White Steakhouse
Park Avenue Hotel
Belfast
028 9065 6520
I VISITED the Park Avenue Hotel in east Belfast twice last week, once for a press conference about the future of loyalism the second time to feed my face. It's no contest as to which I preferred.
The hotel has been the location of many historic announcements and as such I've only ever visited for work rather than pleasure, so this was my first time in the restaurant to the right of the lobby.
More recently it was taken over and transformed into a franchise of the very successful Marco Pierre White steakhouse and grill chain.
I'd been to one of the chain before in Liverpool – on that occasion the food was fabulous but the company not so great. On this occasion my dinner date was my eldest daughter, my mini-me, and since I prefer my own company to just about anyone else's, she's as close to perfect as you can get.
We had to pre book even mid-week; there's been a bit of a buzz around the opening, meaning it's been booked solid. When we arrived the room was around half full but the people kept coming until there was a really lovely albeit slightly older crowd.
The tables are well spaced and with beautiful linen, giving the room a nice expensive feel. The walls are decorated in black and white pictures of the 'enfant terrible' of the restaurant scene.
You can tell that staff have been trained to MPW standards and to within an inch of their lives. They were friendly but slightly too attentive, we had three people waiting our table at one stage. I put out this down to opening jitters and would assume things will calm down as they settle into their roles.
As we all now know the once bad boy of the kitchen now endorses stock cubes and therefore doesn't have the same air of menace about him but he is still one of the biggest names in cuisine and securing the restaurant in east Belfast should not be downgraded in terms of what it means for a city on the up.
The restaurants are in effect fancy steakhouses so I was keen to see what kind of beef would be presented. But first, to starters. I was tempted by the baked Camembert but that would be more a small lunch than a starter. They also have interesting-sounding platters of meat and fish that would make for fun sharing in larger groups.
I went for a smoked trout tartar with Melba toast, my daughter had the rillettes of duck with prunes and toasted sourdough bread. Both arrived in little jars, with the accompanying bread, and both were delicious if not extremely rich. The trout was sharp with citrus and capers, the duck rich and scrumptious full of flavour.
On to mains and there is a fabulous and varied choice – rump of lamb, retro chicken Kiev, a delicious-sounding gnocchi vegetarian option.
My daughter went for the salmon steak with pomme frites and bearnaise sauce. But it is a steak house so I went for the sirloin, there's also a ribeye, T-bone and a chateaubriand, if two are prepared to share. We also had a side of creamed cabbage and bacon.
My steak came with grilled tomato, onion rings and triple cooked chips and a wild mushroom sauce. It was on the rare side of medium, as it should be, with a nice crust on the outside; it needed seasoning but that was easily rectified. The creamed cabbage and triple-cooked fat chips were a triumph but the mushroom sauce was slightly gelatinous and without any real earthy flavour.
The salmon was delicious – juicy, not over cooked, with a rich buttery sauce. We both struggled to finish, having gorged on our starters.
Not being able for a dessert I had a coffee while my daughter – who I have moulded in my image – polished off a bottle of wine and then asked me to drop her off at a bar on the way home. I'm so proud.
As for MPW, great food and would be pretty perfect if the staff would just chill out a little.
THE BILL
Tartare £7.95
Duck £6.95
Sirloin £28.50
Salmon £16.50
Side £3.75
Large water £3.45
Bottle pino £19
Glass sauv blanc £4.65
Coffee £2.95
Total £93.70
