The Little Plate, 162 Andersonstown Road, BT11 9BZ Tel: 028 9030 0570
I'M GOING to start this review with a disclaimer: I'm an Andersonstown girl, which means I believe it is a wonderful place full of wonderful people.
And so I had been meaning to eat out at a new local, The Little Plate, since it opened a few months ago. Situated on 'the road' close to the site of the new Casement Park, should anyone ever get around to sorting it out, it occupies a prime corner slot, the outside a riot of colour with an eye-catching floral mural adorning the facade.
Inside is a sort of Mediterranean shabby chic – lots of hand-painted tiles and rich, welcoming colours.
There was a young musician, Niall Curtis, perched on a stool singing and playing a guitar, adding to the atmosphere. He was very good and very cute but very young, so we'll leave that there.
The restaurant was more than half full on a Thursday night. The groups of friends and couples all chattering away and sharing plates of food made me excited for what was to come.
While there is a special every day, the menu is simplified to a list of tapas-style dishes with five little plates and two sides for £25.
I'll repeat that for those struggling with this concept, you get seven plates of food for £25, which is fairly staggering even for an out-of-city-centre restaurant.
We got the menu and debated back and forth as to what our choices were going to be, in the end finally deciding on tempura salmon, chicken wings, salt and chilli chicken, aubergine cannelloni, pulled pork croquettes and cod fish cakes.
And yes I realise that's six but I was intoxicated with food-induced excitement and miscalculated. It's fine – you can add to your order with extra dishes a very reasonable £4.95. For the sides we had a three-bean salad and skinny fries with garlic mayo and Parmasan.
Our table was groaning with food, hot, colourful, inviting. I'm going to list them in order of my preference so here goes.
The salmon was moist and came with a caper mayo and crushed pea pesto which was fresh and delicious and made me smile; the aubergine was stuffed with feta and ricotta and in a deep sauce baked and served bubbling hot. It was so rich I would use it as a face cream – after it cooled down, of course. Outstanding.
My dinner date was a big fan of the pulled pork. You could tell the pork had been lovingly slow cooked for an age and then deep fried into little balls of delight, served with a sharp green apple chutney. They were delicious.
The cod fish cakes were tasty with a zesty lemon mayo and a crisp slice of Parma ham resting on top, salty and moreish. The chicken wings were hot and fell off the bone and the salt and chilli chicken with a fresh Asian style slaw was the perfect dish to have with a cold beer.
The three-bean salad was fresh and well dressed and the skinny fries were... well, they were totally unnecessary because at this stage I was just making a pig of myself.
I'm a stickler for seasoning and never lifted the salt once because every single dish left the kitchen just perfect as it was.
There was much passing back and forward of food and endless talk. This sharing style of food forces interaction and so is a brilliant way to socialise.
We could have had dessert at this stage. We could have – but instead had two cocktails, a frozen mango daiquiri and a mixed berry one. Both were delicious and again pleasantly priced at £4.95, as sweet and ending to a meal as I will ever need.
Given that Little Plate is on the Andersonstown Road, had it been disappointing I would have probably forgotten to file my copy and never mentioned it again rather than savage a small, locally run business. As it happens, that wasn't at all necessary and The Little Plate turned out to be an example of how the best things really do come in small packages.
THE BILL
Five little plates and two sides £25
Extra little plate £4.95
Glass of Pinot £3.95 x 2
Glass of Rose £3.95 x 2
Cocktals £4.95 x2
Total £52.85
