Hello Foodies, as a belated Mother's Day treat (mum was working) myself, Laurie, Mum and Aunty Shelly headed to Square Bistro in Lisburn for some dinner. It came highly recommended from friends Tina & David Warren (Eco Seal) who eat their most nights....lol. Here is how we got on!
Square Bistro is a family run restaurant based in the heart of Lisburn! Located in Lisburn Square the owners are obviously passionate about local food, their menu was evidence of this with Arbernethy Butter being used in their Mash Potato (AMAZING), Belfast Blond from Hilden Brewery available to drink and their Beef comes from Irish farmer Peter Hannan. As well as using local produce Stevie and Cristina also provide work experience for local aspiring chefs enrolled at SERC, something I thought was fantastic, and they didn't even promote this, I asked when I saw how young (but highly skilled) the young chef was; he is only 18! Wow.
Onto the food!
For starters we ordered 2 portions of the Nachos and a Garlic Flat Bread between us. The flat bread was still warm when it came out and it tasted amazing, the Nachos were good too but that flat bread was a delight I would defo recommend it, there was a chilli one too which I'll get next time ;)
Sprite Zero - a pleasant surprise! Is it only me who thought that this was only available in cinemas?
Onto the Mains!!!!
Me - I had the Chicken Fillet Supreme, but this was not what you would expect of
a Chicken Fillet Supreme, it had a Asian influence, it was served with a Thai lemongrass cream sauce, and was accompanied by Thai spiced veg and red pepper salsa. It was really fresh, not heavy at all and a real welcome change from Chicken and Champ with gravy - to me it was a well thought out dish, it gave an extra dimension to chicken. It also came with chilli and sesame baby potatoes which fitted in perfectly around the theme of the dish. 8/10
Laurie - Lauren had the 'Today's Special' Herb Crusted Lamb on a bed of seasonal veg with Dophinoise potatoes which was so popular that they had actually ran out of Lamb and were serving it with duck instead, Lauren was very pleased as she doesn't like lamb but loves duck! Being The BFB I alerted the rest of the table that I would be trying each of their dishes (wee perk to the blog hehe) and I can honestly say, best duck I have ever had, out of this world, when I go back, and I will be back I won't even ask for the menu I'll just want duck. 10/10
Shelly - She kills me! She ordered The Peter Hannan's Rib Eye Steak and asked for it to be cremated, she used that word. I was devastated, I love a good steak, medium to rare when you can taste the juices and you don't even have to chew, the steak just melts in your mouth... but Michelle got well done, DAMN HER! I did however try it and it was tasty but I'd need to try a medium steak to give a fair score! But the bit I tried, which was dipped into the creamiest (not sure if that's a real word) peppercorn sauce was a delight. Michelle's score 11/10
I still need to taste it at medium!!!
P.S. Came with chips and Onion rings and there was a choice of 5 sauces!
Mum - Mum went for a different Duck dish, one from the main menu, again the duck was cooked to perfection and tasted amazing - when you go here, and you should, please get the duck, everyone needs to try it. Mum's dish was served on a bed of creamy savoy cabbage with local black pudding and came with a side of Arbernethy Mash Potato which was simply faultless. I actually ate quite a bit of mum's dinner, even stole a piece of duck when she wasn't looking! This dish was really tasty but not as tasty as Lauren's, in fact I think they should add Lauren's dish to the main menu, it really was that good! 8/10
Sweet
We were stuffed, but Cristina who was very attentive all night alerted us to their special - Hay Roasted Caramelised Celeriac with cream, topped with pistachios and served with home made honeycomb. A vegetable for dessert? I had to give this a go. If I am being honest this wasn't for me, I just couldn't get past the fact that it was a vegetable! However, we do eat with our eyes and it's presentation was superb! I must add that others enjoyed the dish, it just wasn't one that blew me away, but hey, I'm fussy, I don't eat bread and butter pudding because it has bread in it, I'm just a bit weird that way.
Other things to consider
I had a request from a lady a while back about including this and I thanked her at the time because it is something I had not thought of! I am pleased to announce that Square Bistro in Lisburn is Wheel Chair friendly! Thank you again for the feedback.
Offers?
Overall a very very tasty and enjoyable experience (Tina sighs with relief - she has been telling me about this place since I started the blog) I will def return to Square Bistro, for the duck alone. Honestly though I think what the owners have really achieved here is offering fine dining in Lisburn, Lisburn is spoiled with the number of American Food Joints and Fast Food Outlets but Square Bistro go beyond that, and that is probably why there were so many achievements and awards on display, and deservingly so!
On a final note: Happy Belated Mother's Day mum! x