LIR — Restaurant in Northern Ireland

We decided to drive from Belfast to experience dinner at this Rick Stein recommended restaurant. It certainly didn’t disappoint!! We were shown to a great seat at the window overlooking the marina and surrounding countryside. Even on a dull evening it was still a spectacular view. From the moment we arrived staff were so courteous, knowledgeable and friendly. We opted for the a la carte menu. While awaiting our first courses we both enjoyed some of their non alcoholic drinks. I chose the tomato ‘juice’ which was anything but ordinary. More like a light and fragrant cocktail. So tasty and beautifully prepared that I had to have another with my meal! A lovely touch was that the member of bar staff responsible for making it delivered it personally to our table and explained how it was made. My husband had a kombucha drink - also very enjoyable. We love fish - any fish/seafood - and it was great to see that Coley featured on the menu. But first the oysters!! I couldn’t resist. What a great way they presented them - brought on a trolley to the table with a variety of toppings. You can choose what to put on top of each oyster. I tried all of them! My favourites were the buttermilk foam and the Asian one. A really novel and fun way to serve oysters. My husband chose the squid starter. It looked and tasted amazing. We both opted for the coley main course which was cooked to perfection. It was accompanied by a potato rosti, baby broad beans and salsify cooked 3 ways. The braised salsify tasted and had the texture of firm asparagus but the purée was more nutty in flavour. A great accompaniment. In addition we enjoyed a side of tenderstem broccoli and the fennel and radicchio salad. Both sides had added extras such as nuts and seeds and tasty dressings. Both of us decided that two courses was just perfect. Tea and coffee were enough to make us fully satisfied. Thank you to all the attentive staff and to the kitchen for producing one of the best seafood meals we have ever enjoyed. We will be back to try the tasting menu! The sun even emerged from the clouds to make a...

The people and place were lovely, a nice welcome and a beautiful setting decorated with messages suggesting an homage to carefully prepared fine sea food. This is a project, what can go wrong? Enter the carefully scripted menu with far too many words. Take care, it flatters to deceive. And even early on a Saturday evening we were told by two different people as we eagerly shared our choices, that two of the items on the menu were actually not on the menu. Start again.

Our food when it arrived was very mixed. Chowder was thick, tasty and chunky. Arancini substantial, paired with a delicious and interesting sauce. However, the promise of a lightly cooked Turbot known for its delicate buttery flavour was in fact a huge disappointment. It states pan sauce on the menu with no clue of what was to come. What arrived was a very small tail end which appeared deep fried and was drowning in oil. Whether this was a carefully curated specialism from the kitchen or something brought in from the local chippy was not clear and at £32 not funny either.

The vegetarian option, a post modern joke, was even worse. It was smaller than a starter and the potato rosti (we all know and like these things) was two boiled potatoes hammered flat. It was consumed within a minute. Finally, the small new potatoes were under cooked. Al dente lightly cooked veg is a fine thing but spuds? Very poor.

So a bit of a curate’s egg overall (look it up). We tipped for the service and politely fed back our experience. We won’t be in a hurry to return. Whatever they set out to achieve has lost its way somewhere...

Exceeding expectations!

So after all the things I've read about this restaurant, I thought I'd make a booking for dinner on a predicted busy week in the Port for the golf and the holidays. We arrived on a beautiful hot summer evening ( a rarity in NI ) to a very warm welcome, abd had some great chat with staff while we waited for out table to be ready. The view from the old boat house is fabulous looking out over the river and Coleraine, and the restaurant was light and cool...just what was required in these abnormal temperatures. Reliant on the catch of the day, the menu is dynamic and spiked my curiosity. I love looking around to see what comes to others tables, so that I can gauge the size of portions and also what the sides are like. There were some specials on a board, and the mackerel croquettes spiked my taste buds, and I had them as a main alongside the others fish and chips. Wow....just delicious food...and also great service...and prices in the normal range and definitely not made to scare. I can recommend this establishment enough, and i look forward to a return visit!

PS...i think the menu had a 1.2kg steak...oh boy...how could...