Meat in a Bap, Bedford Street, Belfast

Let me just start this post by saying that this isn't the most vegetarian friendly review I have ever written! Meat in a Bap does exactly what it says on the tin or in this case on its very cute car. It basically stuffs lots of delicious meat into baps. The boyfriend is of the firm belief that most foods are upped a notch when stuck between two slices of bread so as you can imagine I had no trouble getting him into this particular restaurant.

Meat in a Bap can be found a short walk from Belfast City Hall on Bedford Street. It isn't too hard to find especially with windows like this. It made me giggle anyway!

The interior is very casual with long wooden communal tables and stools. On each are three large bottles of sauce to douse your food with if you want. Be warned though the Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce is hot HOT. I know it says it but we still had to try it to be sure!

There are four choices: The Pork, The Chicken, The Beef and The Vegetable and each comes with a side and sauce of your choice. When we visited in early January they also had their Christmas Venison special which made our decision much harder! After much deliberation we went for the Christmas special and The Beef. 

The Christmas special was leg of venison, braised in a sweet Guinness gravy and served with farm house cabbage and champ croquettes. The venison was tender and the bap was soft enough to soak up all the juices. The croquettes were massive but worked really well as a side for this bap.

The Beef was slow braised brisket cooked in a house rub and garnished with slow roasted tomatoes. Himself decided to go with the smokey BBQ as his sauce of choice and house slaw as his side. The slaw was my favourite kind as it was made of celeriac and cabbage which I think always gives coleslaw a nice bite. The brisket wasn't as tender as you would find in places such as Bison or Pitt Bros but it was still good and it made for a mighty and meaty sandwich. 

Seeing as we were still in full blown 'eat what you like Christmas mode', we also ordered a side of Mac & Triple Cheese and Sweet Potato Fries. The Mac & Triple Cheese was fab as the sauce was just the right consistency i.e. thick and gooey! The sweet potato fries were pretty damn good as well though I really don't think you can go too wrong with sweet potato fries. 

All this cost us just under 20 pounds and that also included two drinks. Meat in a Bap is wonderful value for money and it properly filled us up for a day of wandering around Belfast. It is fast food of the best kind! I don't know the restaurant scene that well in Belfast but I can only assume that a place like Meat in a Bap is very welcome addition to the area.

Meat in a Bap, 10 Bedford Street - Belfast, Co. Antrim - BT2 7FB

Tel: 0044 (0)28 9031 4905

Find them on their website here, on Facebook here and Twitter here. 

VDC@Home, Naas

Naas isn't a town I would normally think about visiting. It is usually bypassed in favour of Kildare Village or Newbridge Shopping Centre. As is the way with life though, I found myself there three times in the space of three weeks: for work, for a class and for a wedding. On the last occasion we just never made it up in time for breakfast, even though I'm sure Killashee House put on a mighty fine spread. We were hungry and needed food fast! Thankfully I remembered that a fellow blogger, Adrienne from Bake for the Border, had recommended VDC@Home. VDC@Home is a daytime cafe run by Vie de Chateaux who also have a larger restaurant in the area.

Serendipitously we managed to park almost right next to it even though we didn't have a clue about where we were going. We strolled in at about 1.30 to be met with a very lively and packed cafe. It is a small, colourful place with a great atmosphere. It was jammers when we got there, but that was no surprise as it was a Saturday afternoon. There are only a few tables but there are a good few high stools in front of the kitchen and near the window. We found two seats in front of the kitchen which was a perfect place to watch what I can only describe as a a sandwich ninja! God this girl could make amazing looking sandwiches and she did them fast!

On this occasion it took me a while to decide as there are a lot of different options and combos that you can pick, but in the end I went for the Smoked Duck with rocket, goats cheese, dried tomato, pine nuts and tomatade all on a rustic baguette (€4.50). I have never had smoked duck before but it's now a meat that I will use for my sandwich making at home.  All the flavours combined really well which was great as I did think maybe the smoked meat would overpower the rest. 

The boyfriend had decided wat he wanted as soon as he walked in the door and was confronted with a layout of cakes, sandwiches and pastries! He went for the goat cheese and red onion croustini (€4.90). This is a classic combination but it’s one that works. It was served with a big side salad and a nice amount of dressing. 

We decided not to have cake there but bought ourselves a few goodies to take away. That evening’s tea consisted of a rustic baguette, cheese and Danish pastries. 


VDC@Home is well worth a short detour. It provides good, tasty, filling food at great prices and will give you loads of energy for shopping if that is where you are heading off too!! 

VDC@Home
2 Castle Building,Friary Road, Naas, Co.Kildare
T: (045) 889200

La Serre Restaurant: The Village at Lyons

Recently my sister and her family came home from Oz for a flying visit. They were only home for two weeks but they brought the weather with them and the two weeks were spent in a haze of sunshine, swimming and eating out. She also came home bang in the middle of our family birthday season and so got the chance to celebrate mine and the mother's birthday. For the mother's mini surprise birthday (she picked the venue as a family dinner, she didn't know we were bringing cake!) we all went to La Serre which can be found in the very beautiful surrounding of the Village at Lyons.

 

La Serre is the restaurant part of The Village at Lyons and it is, without doubt, in one of the prettiest settings I have ever seen. The dining area is in the original Turner designed conservatory and the room is filled with light and the scent of the fig plants that adorn the walls. La Serre is only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but is open for both lunch and dinner. We were there for lunch on a Saturday and were availing of their €25 set menu. This a great value menu with wonderful options on it and is very far removed from a typical set menu. The staff are also very open to accommodating any allergies that anyone may have.

Since there was such a large group of us I think we nearly ordered everything off the menu. For starters we ordered a variety of dishes, two of which I only have pictures of as the others got stuck in too fast! So the two starters were:

Irish Goats Cheese, Pickled Beetroots, Mixed Greens, Candied Pecans

Cured Salmon, Fennel and Apple Salad, Lemon Créme Fraiche, Lavender Jelly

Both the starters were wonderful. They were light and a perfect starter size and were filled with unexpected flavours such as the candied pecans or the lavender jelly.

For our mains we ordered the following dishes:

Cod, Cauliflower Puree, Green Beans and Lemon Butter

Salmon, Crush Potato, Wild Mushrooms, Puy Lentils and Champagne Cream

Prime Irish Rib Eye Steak with Seasonal Vegetables, Potato, Red Wine Jus

Tagliatelle Pasta, Truffle Vinaigrette, Wild Mushrooms, Shaved Parmesan

The nephew's dairy free cod dish (photo taken by him :-)

All the mains were stunning with a plethora of flavours running through each of them but which all worked wonderfully with their individual components. The only dish I wasn't totally enamoured with was the steak. It was still great and perfectly cooked for those that ordered it. It was just a bit ordinary compared to all the other dishes on the menu though I can imagine it sells very well there. I think the best thing about the courses is that they had a wonderful summery feel attached to them with their use of seasonal ingredients.

Our lunch was finished off with a mixed berry tart from the Hansel and Gretel bakery in Navan. Hats off to the staff who managed to conceal it from my mother, put it in a fridge and bring it back in with candles. They didn't have to do it but it made a lovely lunch even more special. 
 

We then finished up our meal with some coffees, a wander around their gorgeous grounds and a walk by the canal.
 

A lunch in La Serre is a wonderful way to spend a birthday/family get together. We didn't expect it to be as fabulous as it was as it was only for lunch, but the food, the staff and the setting made it a very special place to spend the day. I only have one thought in my head now ... if that was lunch, I wonder what dinner would be like?!