Restaurant Review: Alley Cat, Belfast | Food Belfast

There are rare occasions when I?m stuffing my gob with food that I don?t have to write about. When I?m not dissecting dishes like an adolescent with a dead frog in a science lab, I have simple tastes.

I am, however, living in the wrong country for the type of cuisine I crave.

Chilli, jambalaya, burgers, pulled pork, mac and cheese and chicken wings all rank up there in my list of food I most like to eat. Sure, I like the finer things in life too? I?ve even eaten a frog?s leg or two in my time. But unless you?re my dry cleaner, there?s nothing better than kicking back with a cold beer and a messy chilli dog.

It?s a range of food that is done in bits and parts by some restaurants in Belfast, few doing it well, and that?s before mentioning the chain-style restaurants that do it so horribly.

A place claiming to do the kind of food I love opened in the city centre recently and I?ve been itching to get down to Alley Cat. Based in Church Lane, from the outside it?s unassuming, but once inside it?s got a vibrancy about it that does a good job of balancing the fine line between trying too hard and looking like you don?t care. Large murals keep the walls interesting and a great looking bar takes pride of place.

My only problem on sitting down was that the whole menu falls into my ?I?d order that? category, so it was difficult to narrow it down. We had both kids in tow, and after ordering a burger for one and a hot dog for the other, we started off with some Mac ?n? Cheese and chicken wings for us. I was pacing myself, knowing that later on Mrs F would be offering me half her burger and relishing the thought.

The staff were, on the whole, a friendly bunch, bringing crayons instantly to keep the young ones happy. Retro is a word that must have been bandied about when Alley Cat was first born. Sometimes that?s bad, but it works well here. The food came out on a mixture of funky bowls and plastic baskets all set atop of the kind of metal trays, you?d expect to see at dinnertime in a Deep South prison.

The wings, covered with perfectly balanced honey soya sauce had a great crunch to them. I?d go so far as to say they were the best I?ve had in the city in quite some time. I?ll be back to try the hot sauce and barbecue versions. They were only let down by a trite blue cheese sauce that had all the personality of a gaggle of I?m a Celebrity contestants.

I had only mustered a forkful of Mac ?n? Cheese when a small hand grabbed the bowl, discarding her burger, and digging in. The pasta shapes were big, not the traditional macaroni, and the dish was pretty good. It just lacked a bit of a cheese punch, but we finished it off all the same.

After the Pig Out burger was ordered I was delighted to hear our waiter ask how Mrs F would like it cooked. It?s a rarity in Belfast and something more should be doing. My ?Hawt Dawg? was in fact two dogs, covered in cheese, mustard and onions, and boy it hit the spot.

The burger ? a concoction that included BBQ pulled pork, southern style slaw and onion rings, was a triumph of comfort food. The slightly pink and moist burger had a great intense taste, though it was drowned out a little by the overpowering taste of BBQ from the pork.

The kids? meals came with corn on the cob on a stick. Try saying that after a few beers. Both burger and hot dog were good and the chips were crunchy and thin, but the corn was troubling. It wasn?t crunchy, nor soft. It was a weird, near indescribable texture that is probably akin to taking a bite out of Mr Blobby?s colourful belly.

Having swayed Mrs F towards a burger that included some pulled pork, we decided to accompany it with chilli fries in my attempt to taste as many elements as I could. It?s a dish I order every time I can and always feel let down by it, for no other reason than the fries lose their crunchy texture and start to feel like you?re eating limp nothingness. It?s an inherent problem with the dish itself rather than the cooking at Alley Cat, though I?ll continue my quest in the hope that some day I?ll find the answer.

On top of the fries was a reasonably okay chilli, nothing spectacular. Though in fairness I?ve spent the past 15 years searching for the best chilli, so far unsuccessfully.

We finished with a delightful crack pie with a chewy toffee filling and a crunchy biscuit crust. The sundae was less triumphant ? the toffee popcorn ice-cream had great flavour but was watery and the accompanying mix of the kind of cherries that remind me of school dinners with popcorn did little to leave me excited.

The bill, which was very reasonable at ?50, arrived to much hurrah (I know, not the normal state of affairs) at our table in a cartoon-inspired box filled with sweets.

Whoever came up with the rock-inspired playlist deserves a pat on the back? it fits in perfectly with the laid-back and casual vibe.

Is it the finished article? No, but there?s so much to like about Alley Cat, and plenty of reasons to want to return. It?s nice to see a decent casual restaurant serving such good food up.

I can?t wait to get back down and eat some more of my favourite things.

Alley?Cat
46?Church?Lane
Tel: (028) 9023 3282 (No reservations)
Web: alleycatbelfast.com

John Ferris has worked in the newspaper industry since 1998 and has been a food blogger and newsprint restaurant critic since 2006, writing more than 1,000 food and drink articles ? reviewing hundreds of local restaurants as well as some of the world?s best. John Ferris writes restaurant reviews for the Belfast Media Group and is also a regular contributor on the Carolyn Stewart Lunchtime Bistro show on U105 as well as writing chef profiles for Hospitality Review NI.

Source: http://foodbelfast.com/2012/11/yall-gonna-like-whats-new-in-town/

unemployment extension the thin man republic wireless space ball drops on namibia matt barkley melanie amaro x factor boise state