Stereo,
18 Cregagh Road,
Belfast,
BT6 9EP
instagram.com/stereobelfast
GUISE Bule de Missenden is not a fan of hash browns. At least not for breakfast, which, given he's the founder of the English Breakfast Society, lets you know just how strongly Guise feels about the generally inoffensive potato treat.
It's a foreign interloper, he says, usurping bubble and squeak on the great English fry-up and taking it not too far down the road of finding "kebab meat in our English breakfast before long". So far, so uncomfortably little Englander-y, at least until he declares the decidedly American baked beans as an integral part of his plate.
Incoherent inconsistencies apart, GBdeM's strident views about breakfast could be easily be transposed to this side of the water with the constituents of Irish and Ulster frys the stuff of fevered debate.
We, of course, don't need hash browns over here because we've got potato bread, which is reason enough to mistrust an English person's opinion on the subject, even if I am partial to a nice dollop of beans.
There's neither potato bread nor beans on the regular menu at Stereo, a cafe on the Cregagh Road in Belfast that otherwise has taken no time in establishing itself as a brilliant breakfast/brunch/lunch option in the east of the city. But there are hash browns. And they really want you to know about them.
It's bright and cheery and leans into its theme with a turntable and tapedeck attached to one wall and a selection of album covers revealing a fondness for alternative 90s classics on the other wall. It's cool without trying, while the service is warm with just as little effort – except when it comes to recommending the hash browns.
We've got ourselves a shredded spud superfan and she leaves us in no doubt that we'll soon be the same. We'll see.
The hash browns can be found in a breakfast sandwich and, as of just this last week, along with an Italian BLT that's made its way from weekend special to menu regular in a matter of days. If its Instagram introduction is anything to go by, it's a 'destination' sandwich, although it'll be doing well to live up to the dish it's replacing: a bowl of sprightly falafel, beaming green with herbs and sitting on a blanket of just-right hummus – chick peas do very nicely here – and veg treated every bit as well.
The lengths of aubergine are to the point of sweet with a bitter edge, while the marinated tomatoes and pickled cucumber and onion pop with zippy freshness.
Speaking of Instagram, it's also fantastically good looking, as is the bowl on the other side of the table. That one comes packed – seriously packed – with golden slices of potato covered in a warming, smoky chipotle crema, richly spiced Mexican-style chorizo, some more rugby pickled onion and couple of fried eggs.
It's all fantastic, and perfect brunch fare – though an egg with a runny yolk on top of anything would do a decent job – but the secret weapon is what lies beneath.
'Silky smooth mole', as the menu calls it, doesn't do the thick, brooding sauce at the bottom of the bowl justice. It tastes like it's seen things you don't want to know about. It provides depth and heat and, as you dig through from the top of the bowl to scrape the bottom – and you will scrape it – it turns what started as pretty as a picture into a murky mess of pure pleasure that will set you up for the day and maybe the next one too.
If you do have room, the pecan tart and blondie with a bit of Kinder Bueno sticking out of it like the prow of an unearthed Viking longboat will go well with an excellent coffee.
What's that? The hash browns? While there's no actual fry on the menu, you could get a long way towards a decent one with the add-ons, which include eggs, mushroom, sausage, black pudding and those hash browns.
So, a brace of golden oblongs of spud come to the table on the wave of that enthusiastic sales job.
And how were they? Well, after reading what everything else was like, how do you think they were?
THE BILL
- Falafel bowl £9.50
- Potato and chorizo £10
- Hash browns £2.50
- Hummus £2
- Pecan tart £3
- Blondie £3
- Flat white £3.60
- Hot chocolate £3.50
- Nix & Kix drink x2 £5
TOTAL: £42.10
