Stove Bistro,
455 Ormeau Road,
Belfast,
BT7 3GQ
028 9064 7744
It’s fair to say that right now, with less than two weeks to go until the big day, we’re in the teeth of the mouth of Christmas.
But every year it feels that the path that gets us here starts earlier and earlier.
And it’s not just a feeling, it’s enough of an actual thing to have a name – ‘Christmas creep’.
Decorations are up before December, Christmas songs hit the airwaves before Halloween and mince pies are on the shelves before the All-Ireland finals. Just pretend the All-Ireland finals are still in September for that one to work – though it probably won’t be long until even a condensed GAA season won’t be able to escape the encroachment of the expanded festive season.
But as much as all this will bring out the Scrooge in even the cheeriest sort, in the face of such a commercial bludgeoning it can be difficult to resist, especially when it comes to food.
As well as those mince pies, turkey, ham and stuffing in every form imaginable comes at us from all directions at this time of year. Whether in sandwiches, as crisp flavours, on pizza or dump-trucked all over chips, ‘tis the season. And I’m here for all of it.
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So, on a visit to Stove Bistro in south Belfast, seeing what amounts to a Christmas dinner on the menu was really only going to end one way.
And it being Stove, which quickly made a name for itself after opening in 2020 as one of the very best places to eat in the city, meant it was always likely to end well.
The first floor restaurant (it’s above Bengal Brasserie...) is a simple, stripped back space, the ubiquitous mahogany tones giving it a warmth that comes in very useful on a night like this.
With an icy winter rain percussively tapping at the windows, a bowl of soup feels like a suitable accompaniment, and the velvet slick of celeriac that arrives feels like something altogether more slinky than just a hug in a bowl.
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The gentle vegetal edges of the root are smoothed out into an almost pure cream concoction, a rich pool that little hazelnuts and croutons happily bob along in.
What’s left of the top-drawer bread gets to clean the handsome bowl thoroughly.
A twice-baked soufflé is just set enough, golden edges and a great whack of cheese, doused in a sauce thick with sweet leeks. Cheese and onion always works whether in its humblest or fanciest form. This is fancy.
And that’s Stove all over. There’s a homeliness to the flavours – not just because the menu has been given a Christmas flourish – but it’s all operating at a higher level because the precise skill of the kitchen has taken it there.
Take the pigs in blankets – the Fairytale of New York on the Christmas snack hit parade, a relentless crowd pleaser.
Even bad cocktail sausages wrapped in bad bacon are kind of good. But when they’re actually this good, with a great lick of smoke from the bacon, next to a puddle of spiced cranberry ketchup, they’re unstoppable.
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These little piggies reappear in that fancy Christmas dinner.
There’s also a chicken breast nicely cooked under a crisp, salt and thyme flecked skin, and a ball of sweet pork stuffing, all brought together with a sonorously deep cranberry and chestnut sauce.
A carrot and parsnip mash, Brussels spouts and pancetta add more festive cheer, while if you want to pile the whole lot onto some chips, Stove does some excellent ones.
A special of halibut in a prawn bisque with some bright veg is just as well pulled off, but that brightness is no less comforting than the festive stuff.
As with that soup, conditions demanded warming bowls of comfort for dessert. A stout oblong of ginger sponge brought both blessed relief from the ubiquitous sticky toffee and was a lovely thing in its own right.
It was a little sticky too, with warming spice and a straight-down-the-middle, impossible to fault, boulder of vanilla ice cream melting on top of it.
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In the Christmas corner was a mince pie baklava, with plump fruit between the crisp, sugared layers of pastry. A hot pool of custard provided the base with another impeachable ice cream, this time pistachio, crowning the lot.
While a Christmas menu may not be for life, the way Stove carries of its nod to this time of year only serves to show the level the place continues operate at, elevated in every way.
The bill
Pigs in blankets £8
Bread and butter £5.50
Celeriac soup £8
Cheese souffle £10
Chicken breast, stuffing, pigs in blankets £25
Halibut, prawn bisque £29.50
Vegetable selection £5.50
Chips £5.50
Ginger pudding £9
Mince pie baklava £9
Total £115