I WENT to quite a swanky wedding over in England the other week. It was deep in the Somerset countryside, and a well-heeled affair it was, with a free bar and no fighting allowed until after 11pm.
All transport was laid on, collecting guests from the local hotels, getting us to the church on time, moving us on to the reception, and then running a shuttle service from 9.30 in the evening, to get us back to our accommodation without any fuss.
Very nice you might think, and you’d be right. Except...
Now, I’m not one to find fault, but when someone makes the mistake of inviting me to a wedding, I like a bit of a gap between the sessions. Go to the service, throw the confetti, mingle with the other free-loaders, criticise the bride’s dress not realising your talking to her uncle, and then have a couple of hours free to gird yourself for the evening frolics.
I like to have a kip, maybe a shower, polish my disco shoes, catch up on the final scores. Better that than being whisked from church to shindig without a break. I didn’t mention any of this at the time, of course, and it certainly didn’t stop me scarfing all the canapés I could and filling my wife’s handbag with the rest. But still. Hopefully they’ll know for next time.
I was thinking about this when we went to Primrose on the Quay the other night. It’s a new-ish place, in possibly the best location in the city. Slap-bang on the waterfront, with views across the river to the Waterside woods.
A niche spot, it can be fresh and bright in summer, and cosy in winter, and it’s close enough to the city centre to warrant either a warm evening stroll or a bracing stride. It’s open from 8am to 9pm, serving traditional breakfasts, delicious cakes, and tasty lunchtime treats.
The one problem from my point of view is that there’s no break between daytime and evening. It’s not so much that the café stays open – that’s neither here nor there – it’s that the menu stays the same from lunch until closing. And you don’t necessarily want the same thing for lunch as you do for dinner.
We went on a Friday night, and started looking through the menu just as Derry musician Glenn Rosborough began his song set. (That was a real highlight incidentally – a great choice of songs, beautifully delivered.) There are no starters, as such, although the soup and the mussels would serve the purpose. We chose the mushroom croque monsieur, the burger, and the fish and chips.
The mushroom dish was deep and rich, with a nice touch of saltiness and contrast from the gruyere cheese, but all the ingredients merged together a bit too soon for my liking.
The burger was great, made with high quality meat, cooked perfectly, with crispy bacon, an onion ring, and a tangy sauce, all sitting inside a soft, toasted brioche barmcake. While the chips were a little disappointing – crisp on the outside but not soft enough in the middle – the fish was fantastic. Lovely flakes of haddock inside the crispest, lightest batter you could wish for.
And there was a great touch here. The waiter, sensing my envy, offered to bring me a piece of fish for free – that’s classy, observant service.
You can’t go wrong with Northbound beer. A couple of bottles of 08 Kolsch went down very nicely indeed, and I can imagine easing out of many a Friday afternoon with a beer or two here in the future.
We didn’t stay for pudding. The cakes and pastries on offer looked delicious but more suited to daytime than evening. Which could be said for most of the menu, to be honest.
Overall, the food we had was delicious – excellent ingredients, cooked well – and I’d definitely go there again, but I’d go during the day. Primrose is full of promise, but I think they need to make a clearer distinction between lunch and dinner dishes. If they do that, the location and the cooking skill should make this a Derry favourite.
THE BILL
Fish, chips, and mushy peas – £9.50
Field mushroom and shallot croque monsieur – £8
Primrose burger and chunky chips – £9
Diet Coke – £1.80
Sparkling water – £1.40
Northbound 08 Kolsch Beer x 2 – £8.40
Total: £38.10
Primrose on the Quay,
2 Atlantic Quay,
Derry
028 7136 5511
