Holohan’s Pantry,
43 University Road,
Belfast,
BT7 1ND
028 9029 1103
It went like this: Table for one, please.
My wife and daughter were in Dublin. Rather than head straight back to Derry, they decided to get the bus to Belfast instead, where I’d meet them at the Ulster Museum so we could catch the Caravaggios before they were carted back to wherever deigned to let us have them in the first place. They weren’t due in until mid-afternoon, so I thought I’d get in early and have a solo lunch at Holohan’s Pantry, just down the road from the museum.
No, I mean table for two.
My sister-in-law fancied joining in the food-art-family combo.
Actually, table for four.
Her son and daughter decided they’d come along, too.
Sorry, could you make that five?
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Her other son didn’t want to miss out. Given he left before we hit the museum, I don’t think he was too taken with the art part of the afternoon. Mind you, his sister and brother didn’t linger long in the presence of the two masterpieces either, although they did actually enter the gallery.
Me again. Yeah, sorry. Table for seven.
My wife and daughter got an earlier bus up from Dublin, so they could join us in Holohan’s.
It was like an Agatha Christie novel but in reverse. Diners kept appearing. Disappointing plot though it would provide, it wasn’t a problem for Holohan’s, as the place was empty.
Maybe word had gotten round that we were coming and so the locals were giving the place a wide berth. There was certainly no other reason for it being deserted, because the food and the service were both terrific.
It was like an Agatha Christie novel but in reverse. Diners kept appearing
The lunch menu is a single side of A4, and offers four starters, four desserts, and 10 mains, four of which are different kinds of boxty fillings. The Irish stew can come as either starter or main. Only having time for two courses, we skipped the starters.
I struggled to choose between the bacon chop and the chicken boxty, eventually opting for the latter. The big potato pancake was soft, with crispy edges, and stuffed to bursting with lovely cuts of moist chicken and earthy mushrooms. The cream sauce coating it all was good, although it was hard to discern the taste of tarragon.
No such issues with my sister-in-law’s braised beef filling her boxty. This was absolutely beautiful. The beef melted in the mouth, and the gravy with rich and deep. Pie of the day was beef and peppercorn. Delicious pastry, just the rich thickness, with a nice crust giving way to softness, and filled with – again – melting beef and a peppery gravy.
The Irish stew was deeply satisfying. We’re not talking as good as the one my wife and daughter make, but then nothing is. Still, it was delicious – perfectly seasoned, beautifully cooked, and the pearl onions added a nice bit of texture as well as a pleasingly gentle sweetness.
My daughter’s soup was possibly the best of the mains, good as the others were. There were real layers of flavour to it, starting with the sweet potato base and working through the lentils and root vegetables. My nephew’s cod was excellent, the easily flaking fish, coated in a crisp crumb, cleverly enhanced by the clever fennel and the parsley sauce.
As good as the sticky toffee pudding was – soft, sweet, rich, oozing with thick sauce – the sponge itself was maybe a touch dense. Pick of the puds was the chocolate and whiskey pot. A bit more of the lovely Chantilly cream wouldn’t have gone amiss, but the chocolate was thick and smooth and velvety, full of flavour, and there was a delightful tingle of whiskey with every spoonful.
Holohan’s describes itself as an unfussy restaurant. While that may be true in one sense, the food it serves is well worth making a fuss over. I think there may be more than seven of us next time.
The bill
Child’s soup and bread - £8.95
Chicken boxty - £15.00
Beef boxty - £15.00
Beef and peppercorn pie, mash, gravy x 2 - £30.00
Irish stew - £15.00
Breaded cod, mash - £16.50
Side of mash - £4.50
Child’s ice cream, included with child’s main
Sticky toffee pudding x 3 - £22.50
Chocolate whiskey pot - £7.50
Bottle, Heineken - £5.00
Coca-Cola x 3 - £9.00
Seven-up - £3.00
Small Pinot Grigio - £5.50
Service charge included: £17.50
