Since coming back from Paris I've been exploring Belfast's French restaurants. A few weeks ago John and I were invited to Bastille for dinner to celebrate a friend's birthday. And L'Etoile is just around the corner from our house and I'd heard great things about it but for some reason I'd never been. As a result, eating there was on my list of things to do before leaving Belfast, and a few friends were keen to join me on Monday night.
Bastille is a fairly new restaurant, having opened in November. It is located in a basement on the busy Lisburn Road. The restaurant itself is open-plan and modern. Perusing the menu there were plenty of dishes to choose from. I decided to go with the menu du jour - £13 for 2 courses or £16 for 3. The French waiter was friendly and was happy for me to decide on two courses now, with a chance to change to the 3 course option when it came time for desert.
John and I both started with rabbit pate with rosemary and prunes. The serving of pate was generous, and there was only one piece of toast which suited me just fine. However John was pleased that there was a complementary basket of bread for the table. Our friends also enjoyed their starters, one having mussels and the other frogs legs.
For mains I had pork with a chestnut sauce. The pork itself was a bit too fatty for my liking, however the fat was perfectly crisped on top and the chestnut sauce was perfect. John had steak and instead of the waiter asking him how he would like it cooked he simply announced that it would be cooked rare, which felt very French! John asked for ketchup with his chips and the waiter responded that they didn't have ketchup, leaving John upsent as he hadn't seen the waiter's cheeky grin. And of course, the waiter quickly came back with a bowl of sauce. Our friends had duck and boef bourginion, both presented well and tasting divine.
I decided to be sinful and splurge for desert as I was unable to resist the siren call of prunes soaked in Armagnac and served with soft cheese. The desert was beautifully presented, and tasted as good as it looked. The others ordered crepes suzette, creme brulee and warm chocolate fondant, but we all agreed I'd made the best choice.
Over all, I thought dinner was delicious and very reasonably priced, however the wine list was very expensive and I wasn't blown away by the atmosphere of the restaurant.
Walking into L'Etoile (located on the Ormeau Road) you notice a complete contrast to the modern and slight austerity of Bastille. The restaurant looks like nothing from the front - an old door with a ratty old sign. One step through the doors and you feel transported out of Belfast and in to Paris. Shelves full of clutter, miss-matched tables with red paper table cloths, pictures and postcards all over the walls, and French music playing quietly in the background.
L'Etoile is a BYO restaurant, and we'd brought a couple of bottles between four of us (it was a Monday night after all, so some restraint was required) and, with no need to peruse the drinks menu, we went straight for the food. Us girls ordered French onion soup, while the two boys went for the fish terrine. The soup was rich and smooth, and absolutely divine and by all accounts the terrine was excellent.
For mains I went for salmon in a fennel sauce, while the others had steak and boef bourginion. My sauce was rich and subtly flavoured but the salmon was a little dry. We shared bowls of garlic potatoes (divine) and veges (boring and slightly over-cooked).
We decided desert was in order (it was a Monday night, after all!) and my cognac creme brulee was tasty, although not completely smooth.
At the end of it I decided that if they combined the food from Bastille with the atmosphere and decor of L'Etoile I might be tempted to stay in Belfast forever!
Thanks for sharing your French food experience at Bastille. Boeuf Bourguignon is also my favourite meal :)
Cathy
Posted by: French online | 04 September 2011 at 09:07 PM