The Lime Tree
60 Catherine Street
Limavady
028 7776 4300
limetreerest.com
WHO’D be a chef? Late nights, long hours, a hot and demanding work environment, constant pressure. You’d have to be some sort of masochist. And if you’re the chef-owner of a restaurant, with the added worry of tight margins, sourcing ingredients, high overheads, the knowledge that you’re always just one disgruntled customer with a Trip Advisor account away from an empty booking sheet, well, you can add mad to masochist.
According to the trade publication The Drinks Business, the number of restaurants filing for insolvency in the UK has nearly doubled in the past eight years. Many new restaurants never make it past the first six months, some never getting off the ground, others burning out after an impressive start like a flambéed crêpe.
So if a restaurant has been going in the same location for around 23 years, it’s a pretty safe bet they’re doing something right. That’s the case with the Lime Tree, which is making inroads into its third decade as a fixture in the centre of Limavady.
Following a recommendation from one of my wife’s work colleagues, four of us headed up there early one Saturday night, hurried on our way by the opening gusts of Storm Freya. It’s smaller than it looks from the outside, quite an intimate space decorated in muted colours, lit softly, the artwork on the walls bold and brash but with a sense of darkness. The closed blinds make the busy street immediately outside seem a world away.
We were presented with a range of menus – an early bird, the a la carte, a dinner menu with three courses for a set price, a list of specials – and made our choices after a certain amount of shuffling and conferring.
We ordered just the one starter, a sweet potato and red pepper soup for the toddler, to be brought out with the mains. The intended recipient ignored this, distracted by the appearance of chips on the table, so the rest of us got a few spoonfuls each, and sweet, creamy, full of flavor it was, too.
The mains weren’t faultless, but they were interesting, for sure, and something of a change from what you’d normally find. The lamb shank didn’t appear to have its promised rosemary crust, and could possibly have done with a little longer in the oven – I always think the bone should just pull away – but it tasted very good, nevertheless.
The chicken was beautiful, very moist and tender, with flavour to spare. And the duck stew was special, full of dark, succulent meat, with chickpeas for texture and bite.
What these three dishes all had in common was the accompaniment of a fantastic sauce, and perhaps here’s a key factor in the Lime Tree’s longevity. Both the lamb and the chicken came with a Moroccan sauce, gleaming and glazed, dark, sweet, savoury, exotic, with tiny onions that pinged the palate. And the sauce that came with the duck stew was fantastic, too – with salty chorizo, hot chilli, and a hit of sweet alcohol from the sherry.
These sauces were made by a chef who loves food and flavour and who loves to try something different. Aromatic, balanced, layered, and lovely.
The puddings didn’t have the same sense of adventure, but they also showed why it’s been 23 years since there wasn’t a Lime Tree in Limavady. The chocolate mousse cake was thick and chocolatey and the sponge was a bit on the heavy side.
So too with the cake in the apple sponge and custard. But both had the sense of being old, homely favourites, which regulars would miss. The sticky toffee pudding, though, was gorgeous – a dark sponge, wonderfully light, with yet another brilliant sauce, which finished on quite a grown-up burnt note.
Safe in places, then, but bold and brave in others. Others may fail, but the Lime Tree has this lark sussed.
THE BILL
(For four)
Sweet potato and red pepper soup £1.50
Lamb shank, rosemary crust, spiced Moroccan sauce £18.50
Duck stew, chorizo, chilli and sherry sauce £18
Breast of chicken, Moroccan sauce £20 (dessert included, early bird menu)
Chocolate mousse cake (part of early bird menu)
Sticky toffee pudding £6.25
Apple sponge, custard £5.75
Ice cream £3
Diet Coke x 2 £5
Glass, Garnacha Borsao £4.75
Coffee £2.45
Total: £85.20
