Deanes Restaurant

Michael Deane has undoubtedly become one of the grands fromages of Belfast dining, with venues all over the city catering to a wide range of styles and tastes. The refurbishment in 2010 of the Howard Street premises near City Hall, the flagship of the fleet, has conferred a stylish new gloss over the place. A seafood bar with small tables works well as a separate area from the main room, which is kitted out with smartly dressed tables, a blond-wood floor and walls in warm vermilion. A private dining area upstairs opened in the autumn of 2010. The local produce that informs the menus is treated with care and respect, with true flavours shining through, and a nerveless level of accuracy in virtually every mouthful. Dishes on the à la carte menu display formidable attention to detail, as is shown in a first course of seared Strangford scallops, translucently well-timed and with more flavour than can be the case. They are accompanied by a sharply dressed salad of pickled carrots, orange and watercress, with orange vinaigrette and a vibrant purée of new carrots. Served on black slate, it looks fabulous too. Proceed perhaps to roast loin of Kettyle lamb, served pink, with potato gnocchi and a bacon and mint jus, or sole meunière with brown shrimp, pak choi, cucumber and spring onion, dressed with sweet soy and curry-scented olive oil, a harmonious mixture of culinary messages. After the exhaustive detail of the earlier courses, the dessert menu pares things down to essentials, tersely offering 'Chocolate', 'Pannacotta', 'Ice Cream' and 'Cheesecake', the last arriving as a baked vanilla version topped with rhubarb jelly, alongside servings of rhubarb crumble and sorbet. Crisply uniformed staff keep things motoring. An imaginatively chosen list of wines, with plenty by the glass, is in keeping with the sleek professionalism of the whole operation.