Alexander's & Co,
57 High Street,
Holywood,
Co Down,
BT18 9AQ
028 9042 3891
alexandersholywood.com
SOMETIMES a single plate of food can sum up everything a restaurant is trying to tell the world about itself.
An ingredient, technique or philosophy, expressed in one collection of ingredients and how they're prepared and presented, can say far more than hundreds of words of attempted explanation. Though do please still read on, folks.
This isn't always a good thing.
That one plate can be a study in trying too hard, in showing off for the sake of it, or in not trying at all, and sending out any old rubbish and hoping you get away with it.
It can also involve no plates whatsoever. If your chips come in a teapot, it might be best to approach the rest of your dinner sceptically.
Lots of the (actual) plates that come out in Alexander's in Holywood could be held up as exemplars of what chef Gemma Austin wants to do, but the one that says the most is a side dish and three little words: Chicken. Fat. Mash.
A perfect little rugby ball of potatoes, butter, a chicken fat reduction, with a crisp sheet of chicken skin perched on top, the only thing it comes with is one of the pies, so if you want it you may find yourself ordering an extra side you don't really need. You'll want it.
Taking out a chunk of the root of the hispi cabbage starter would have helped with the practical side of getting through it but once you do get into it, you'll never want it to end.
It's hand grenade after hand grenade of flavour and crunch – chilli, peanut, sesame, crispy miso onion bits – all smoke and heat and depth. What more could you want? A fried egg on top? Of course, there's that too.
The beef short rib falls to pieces, next to an almost equally big fondant potato, with both benefiting from the little pot of sticky veal gravy and the burnt-edged sweetness of charred corn and shallot puree. The bite of the pickled shallots is completely necessary to keep things in check.
The chicken is a conventional piece of well-cooked breast, wedges of polenta, asparagus and mushrooms. Its little pot - wild garlic veloute - is needed. Given that everything else is throwing haymakers, it lacks a little oomph, though sits perfectly with the chicken.
They're going for surprise with the chef's assiette dessert, so while avoiding the spoiler of the central conceit, as the name suggests it's a collection of sweet bits and pieces.
The overall effect is particularly sweet, with an excellent lemon curd doing everything it can to rein in things while struggling to manage it. But there's still a lot to like, with fine fingers of shortbread and a pair of killer donuts.
The selection of ice cream and sorbets undersells itself enormously.
Usually that part of the dessert menu may as well be labelled 'for the fussy/unadventurous/children' but here you get a pear sorbet – the Pear Picking Porky ice lolly of childhood dreams – and three absolutely flawless ice creams: salted caramel in a cloud of a choux bun, chocolate sandwiched between two perfect cookies and strawberry in a cone that cracks then magically melts like Willy Wonka was on the development team.
When she was a contestant on the most recent series of Great British Menu, amongst all the praise, Gemma Austin's courses were consistently criticised – for being too generous.
But coming up with dishes to be judged for a TV cooking competition is a particular genre.
When it appeared on TV, one look at the starter of ham hock fritter with piccalilli, a poached egg and hollandaise was enough to tell you there was a bit too much of it to slot into a six-course banquet.
But that was TV. This is real life. Where the unbounded generosity of that ham hock – and everything else at Alexander's – doesn't have to measure itself against anything. Here, it just has to be good. And it is.
So if you're judging something, judge yourself – but not for ordering extra chicken fat mash. No-one would judge you for that.
THE BILL
Ham hock fritter £7.50
Hispi cabbage £6
Beef short rib £17.50
Chicken supreme £15.50
Chicken fat mash £3.50
Ice cream/sorbet selection £5
Chef's assiette £5
Cosmopolitan £8.50
Whiskey sour £8.50
Fever Tree elderflower tonic x2 £5.60
Total £82.60
