WE moved into our house in 2013, and decided we were going to take our time with the furnishings and decorating. If you rush a decision, you end up with the wrong decision.
Three years later and boxes still sit where the removal men put them and bare bulbs still swing from the ceiling – and not in a stripped-back, pared-down 21st century industrial-chic way.
More a case of "we-have-completely-forgotten-about-lightshades-because-we-never-cast-a-glance-higher-than-the-top-of-the-TV-screen" way.
It’s not really a look. We’ve settled on white as a colour scheme, mind, and even got to the point where we’re planning to think about buying the paint.
They didn’t go in for any such deliberation at Blackbird. I walked past these premises three or four times a week for a couple of months and it was a constant hive of activity as skips were filled and materials delivered, transforming the previous place to create, in words I seem to write every fortnight, Derry’s latest restaurant.
Although it’s a pub, really, but, like every pub has to these days, it serves food. You wouldn’t think it’s a pub from the name, though. Blackbird (no 'The') gives a sense of something light and airy and modern. And you wouldn’t necessarily think it from the outside – creamy-green wood framing clear glass windows.
Inside, however, is something quite traditional: spacious, with dark woods, parquet floor, a long bar, lots of leather chairs and booths, making it feel like an Edwardian gentleman’s club. Instant tradition. But it works. It just clicked. It feels like it’s been here for ages. And it’s lucky it’s spacious, because from the word go it’s been packed to the rafters.
You can’t book, so the three of us decided to get there for an early-ish lunch. Even then it was by no means empty, but we had no problem finding a table, and settled down in the mellow, relaxed Bank Holiday Monday of the Jazz Festival atmosphere, looking over the menu while Herbie Hancock’s Watermelon Man glided out of the speakers.
They do roasts on Sunday, and there’s a Saturday brunch menu, but we were choosing from the standard menu, served during the week from noon till 8. It’s a nice and simple menu, nothing fancy, all tempting. They do meat and cheese boards too, a classy thing to sit among the pints.
We dived straight into the main courses. I’ve been following the advice given on the BBC’s How to Stay Young – too late, in all likelihood – and it’s been weeks since I’ve eaten any meat.
However, wary that I’m starting to bear too close a resemblance to Angela Rippon, I looked no further than the Blackbird burger, topped with cheese, bacon, chutney, and coleslaw, the brioche barmcake speared with gherkin, hold the feathers.
Good choice. Unlike a lot of burgers that come with all the trimmings, you could really taste the beef, juicy and full of flavour. Brilliant fries, too, thin and crispy and soft on the inside.
The steak sandwich was a let-down. It was small, for one thing. And I don’t mean Kearney-small (ie, normal); I just mean small. We weren’t at all sure it was sirloin, as advertised, and it was well-done, even though we’d been offered and asked for pink.
There was precious little evidence of onion in the bread, and no mushroom duxelle, as the menu claimed. Still, I soon got over the disappointment, largely because I was busy eating something else.
My brother’s chicken curry was high-quality pub food – lovely, tender chunks of chicken coated in a deep and mildly frisky sauce. And it came with a couple of delicious bhajis – proper doodles of crisp batter-coated sweet onion, rather than factory lumps of mush.
If you go, leave room for pudding. The sticky toffee was a moist wobbly cylinder of sponge and fruit, with a sweet and oozing sauce. The texture and richness of the brownie was perfect – a lovely crisp top, and a highly satisfying gooey chocolate below. The posset was sharp and creamy and zinged with lemon.
All this in a warm, homey atmosphere. They’ve got this right.
THE BILL
(Prices for three)
Blackbird burger – £7.95
Chicken Balti curry – £7.95
Sirloin steak sandwich – £8.50
Salted caramel and milk chocolate brownie – £3.95
Sticky toffee pudding and ice cream – £3.95
Lemon posset, mixed berry compote – £3.95
Flat white coffee – £2.20
Diet Coke – £1.60 x 2
Total: £41.65
