Restaurant Review: The Brewer's House
The 18th century Brewer’s House is one of Ulster’s oldest public houses.
It was a wet and blustery Sunday morning, the last day of our trip to northern Ireland, when we pulled up outside The Brewer’s House, an unpretentious building. Our party of 20 clambered out of the Ulsterbus Tours coach and traipsed inside.
We made our way through the white walled bar with its chic, sleek black decor and polished floorboards, upstairs to the similarly decked out dining room. We were warmly greeted by the staff, mainly young things, as elegantly turned out as the room. Immaculately groomed in fact. They were well schooled in their roles and our tables were quickly stocked with homemade bread, proper butter in little pots and bottles of water. Wine orders were taken - the wine list leans heavily towards old world wines, which is fine by me, while there is also a good selection of cocktails, bottled and draught beers.
After riffling through the menu, a many-splendoured thing full of enticing sounding dishes, I chose my starter of chicken Caesar salad with pancetta, crunchy garlic and herb croutons and shavings of fresh parmesan cheese. It was served in an unusually shaped bowl with slanting top that made it all the more fun to eat. Mike opted for the salt and chilli chicken number, with accompanying napa slaw and a light swathe of sweet chilli mayo, the latter cooled the spicy chicken and he pronounced it ‘excellent.’ Other appealing starters on the menu included a sturdy homemade soup served with honey and stout wheaten bread and freshly picked baby beetroot from the pub garden with goat’s cheese salad and fresh rocket.
For the main course, some of our party went for the 12 hour slow roast Cloughbane rib eye of beef with a massive Yorkshire Pudding and the chef’s special gravy. Quite how the kitchen managed to get that much beef on the plate was a skill in its own right. No food for wimps this, the plates were overflowing.
We chose two of the rather daintier sounding numbers – which on arrival were actually old fashioned sized portions, not dainty at all - one was roast breast of chicken with crispy bacon rolls on pillows of creamed potatoes surrounded by roast potatoes and the chef’s special gravy. Some buttery green vegetables were hiding under it all. The other choice was pan roasted fillet of salmon with shrimp and chorizo cream and mashed potato. The salmon was cooked to perfection. Why do I usually choose salmon? Because it's on most menus, I suppose, and I like it. Anyway, both our mains courses shouted flavour in surround sound.
Not surprisingly, some in our party balked at the thought of desserts but in the name of research we shared a chocolate gateaux layered with orange scented cream cheese, vanilla ice cream with chocolate and coconut sauce. Hubby usually goes for the chocolate option on dessert menus, maybe he should branch out sometimes. Never mind, it was a good choice, astonishingly light and tasty.
Described as ‘a home from home for those living in or visiting the area’, this is somewhere to meet friends and enjoy everything that is good about a real pub - conversation, food, drink and above all, the atmosphere.
To sum up? Food, exemplary service and value for money combine to make this a great experience and it is clear why The Brewer’s House was awarded the title of 2013 Best Gastro Pub in Ireland in the Irish Restaurant Awards. It’s top dog. A tough act to beat.
Tip: If going for lunch, skip breakfast.
Return to Features Index enlarge images by clicking on them (c) Gilly Pickup
It was a wet and blustery Sunday morning, the last day of our trip to northern Ireland, when we pulled up outside The Brewer’s House, an unpretentious building. Our party of 20 clambered out of the Ulsterbus Tours coach and traipsed inside.
We made our way through the white walled bar with its chic, sleek black decor and polished floorboards, upstairs to the similarly decked out dining room. We were warmly greeted by the staff, mainly young things, as elegantly turned out as the room. Immaculately groomed in fact. They were well schooled in their roles and our tables were quickly stocked with homemade bread, proper butter in little pots and bottles of water. Wine orders were taken - the wine list leans heavily towards old world wines, which is fine by me, while there is also a good selection of cocktails, bottled and draught beers.
After riffling through the menu, a many-splendoured thing full of enticing sounding dishes, I chose my starter of chicken Caesar salad with pancetta, crunchy garlic and herb croutons and shavings of fresh parmesan cheese. It was served in an unusually shaped bowl with slanting top that made it all the more fun to eat. Mike opted for the salt and chilli chicken number, with accompanying napa slaw and a light swathe of sweet chilli mayo, the latter cooled the spicy chicken and he pronounced it ‘excellent.’ Other appealing starters on the menu included a sturdy homemade soup served with honey and stout wheaten bread and freshly picked baby beetroot from the pub garden with goat’s cheese salad and fresh rocket.
For the main course, some of our party went for the 12 hour slow roast Cloughbane rib eye of beef with a massive Yorkshire Pudding and the chef’s special gravy. Quite how the kitchen managed to get that much beef on the plate was a skill in its own right. No food for wimps this, the plates were overflowing.
We chose two of the rather daintier sounding numbers – which on arrival were actually old fashioned sized portions, not dainty at all - one was roast breast of chicken with crispy bacon rolls on pillows of creamed potatoes surrounded by roast potatoes and the chef’s special gravy. Some buttery green vegetables were hiding under it all. The other choice was pan roasted fillet of salmon with shrimp and chorizo cream and mashed potato. The salmon was cooked to perfection. Why do I usually choose salmon? Because it's on most menus, I suppose, and I like it. Anyway, both our mains courses shouted flavour in surround sound.
Not surprisingly, some in our party balked at the thought of desserts but in the name of research we shared a chocolate gateaux layered with orange scented cream cheese, vanilla ice cream with chocolate and coconut sauce. Hubby usually goes for the chocolate option on dessert menus, maybe he should branch out sometimes. Never mind, it was a good choice, astonishingly light and tasty.
Described as ‘a home from home for those living in or visiting the area’, this is somewhere to meet friends and enjoy everything that is good about a real pub - conversation, food, drink and above all, the atmosphere.
To sum up? Food, exemplary service and value for money combine to make this a great experience and it is clear why The Brewer’s House was awarded the title of 2013 Best Gastro Pub in Ireland in the Irish Restaurant Awards. It’s top dog. A tough act to beat.
Tip: If going for lunch, skip breakfast.
Return to Features Index enlarge images by clicking on them (c) Gilly Pickup
