Photosales
niJobfinder
niCarfinder
Home Delivery
Propertynews
Joris Minne: Boyles a delight in Dromore
It's far from the bright lights of Belfast, but this unassuming little gem puts this town firmly on the foodie map with its fine fare
Thursday, 14 October 2010
enlargeThere are few places in Northern Ireland that capture the spirit of the title southerners like to bestow on us - the frosty north.
One is Dromore in Co Down. All those references from Dublin's chattering classes about northerners being dour and dire and no craic at all might upset the effete and sensitive types who live in fancy cities like Newry, Lisburn and Belfast.
But the people of Dromore are made of far sterner stuff. The sound of sniggering southern accents poking fun at stiff-necked northerners has the effect of making Dromore people even prouder still to be the opposite of their southern counterparts, who they might consider as little more than smiling flibbertigibbets of brittle backbone.
We like to be hard-nosed and we enjoy leading austere lives because we are grafters and God-fearing and we will inherit the kingdom of heaven, seems to be the Dromore message.
Even after a long summer at the end of the marching season, the flags in Dromore are still clean and the Boyne bridge in the Market Square undamaged. This neat country town might be a dormitory for commuters -- it's very handy for Belfast and Newry -- but it still has a palpable sense of identity borne of farming and churchgoing, cleanliness and order.
So what on earth is one of the most sinfully enjoyable restaurants doing here? Cheap rent? (Not from what I hear). An emerging market among the farmers in the area for exciting food? Better staff? Whatever the reason is, Boyles has survived now for two years and its ancient home in a tiny street has been converted into a bijou bar and dining room with acres of linen, battalions of crystal wine glasses, soft seductive lights and irresistibly attractive menus. God only knows the reason Boyles is here, but we should thank him for it anyway.
There's been a bar on this site going back 250 years or more, and the building itself is an interesting piece of rural Ulster architecture -- but it's Raymond Murray's cooking that holds the attention.
You might think that coming away from Deanes, where he worked as head chef for years, someone like Murray would tone down the style and content of his cooking to make it easier to sell to a provincial crowd. But that would be the kind of dumb thing a food critic would do.
Not Murray. He imposes quality and raises the bar when it comes to breaking down the old fears "of anything too fancy or foreign". Here, the farmers come in to enjoy a brulee of Fivemiletown Ballyblue cheese with Causeway Chutney's spicy onion marmalade and black olive biscotti, or perhaps a tartlet of wild Co Down game with Cognac, green peppercorns, thyme and double cream.
There are fabulous wines too at prices that you won't see this side of Aldi. Laurent Perrier Champagne for £40 a bottle? It's unheard of.
Boyles (confusingly, its actual name is H20 -- Boyle's is the name given to the place because of the bar that stood there years ago) is nonetheless old-fashioned in all the right places. The service is slick but not insolent. There is a distinct country charm about the servers, whose attention to the way they are placing the food on the table before you echoes the strict orders for quality and precision we imagine emanating from within the small kitchen.
A 'summer prestige' menu consists of four courses of choice. This slightly complicated approach is pleasing in the sense that it heralds something special. You can tell the place is good as soon as you walk into the bar and sit in the lounge for aperitifs and a scan through the menu. The complicated breakdown means you have to think hard about what you're ordering and it becomes a delightful activity.
The soup's included but what about the game tart, or the nachos? Game tart or nachos? It's pretty eclectic. The four of us spread our bets and have everything -- sea bass, lamb, steak, chicken nuggets, something called crispy chix ... it sounds awful but the words mean nothing. Because what is served up is one surprise after another. The sea bass comes with a little salty foam, delicately cooked and plenty of it.
The lamb rack is melt-in-the-mouth and yet pink and those big meaty flavours pour over the tongue and down the back of the throat leaving a long, lingering taste of the finest of Co Down's hoggets.
The laughably-named nuggets are the most lightly battered little strips of tender chicken imaginable, while the crispy chix is a chicken dish with the most crackly of golden roast skin.
The bread and butter pudding is everything it should be: moist, light, warm and infused with vanilla, while not being too sweet.
Boyles is a successful restaurant. You will struggle without sat-nav to find it, even though it sits close to the middle of Dromore town, but you really must add it to your list of top Northern Ireland eateries. It has secured many awards but possibly the most notable is its position at the very top of the Taste of Ulster scheme for its locally sourced produce, the excellence of its cooking and the quality of the restaurant environment itself.
Now you've a good reason for visiting Dromore.
The Bill
Summer prestige menu x 2 £70
Children's menu £10
3-course dinner £24.50
Water x 2 £3.25
Sprite zero x 2 £3.50
Total £111.25
CAPTION: deceptive: The unassuming exterior
CAPTION: of Boyles in Dromore gives way to a fine
CAPTION: restaurant inside
- Text Size
