What do you get if you cross a passionate managing director, a £500,000 makeover and an ultra talented chef? You get a culinary delight! And that's exactly what's on offer at the newly reopened Parson's Nose in Hillsborough. I was recently invited by Fiona Hanna of Jago Communications to attend the media launch of the New and Improved Parson's Nose - here's how I got on.
So what's new at the Parson's Nose? What does half a million get you?
So many of you I am sure will be familiar with the very popular restaurant, but I am also sure that some of would not recognise it! Gone are the dark and quite intrusive wood panels and instead you are met with a bright and welcoming space, which has still managed to reclaim its village pub identity and Georgian charm.
As well as that the new refurbish also offers the chance to enjoy some alfresco dining while over looking the superb and picturesque Hillsborough Castle Lake - this is a wonderful addition and I am sure this will be a popular spot for locals and visitors. I can imagine sitting out here in the summer, glass of red wine in hand, devouring a pizza and planning my next pug walk...bliss. To get to this area you walk through the most amazing restaurant entrance I've ever saw, what used to be an old milk cart lane has been transformed into an amazing walkway, ambient lighting, a slate path and glass doors, this is a special entrance; you would think you were in the heart of Italy!
The Italian theme continues inside where, after a quick tour of this impressive building, we were introduced to the new Wood Fire Oven - I was surprised to find that this wasn't only for Pizzas but that this oven was being used to create a host of Wood Fired Dishes - including the Hannan's Boeuf dish you will see later. After a quick trip to the kitchen to see the chefs, led by Danny Miller, in action it was grub time. Now let's have a look at these photos.
so this was without doubt the best salad I have ever tasted - The Parson's Super Salad (£6) consists of wood fired cauliflower, pickled carrot, caper and raisin, quinoa with a spiced yougurt dressing - yum (The other blogger had the \wood \fired Portavogie Prawns (£7) but the whole idea of that scared me so I went for the salad - top choice)
Next up we were treated to a selection of wood fired sour dough pizzas - here is Michael from The BowTie Blogger showing off his modelling skills - here we have the Classic Pizza and The Spicy. Pizzas start from £9.50 btw
So let me tell you about these pizzas - first off, they were f****** Fantastic - straight out of the oven, crisp - probably the most authentic pizza I've found in Northern Ireland - here's why they are special - the dough is fermented for 72 hours, and is made using Italian Caputo flour and San Maranzo tomatoes and best of all the oven that it is lovingly baked in comes all the way from Italy itself.
Here's a few other shots...you're welcome
Next up, yes I had room fro a bit more, don't be cheeky - was the Hanna's Beef - now if you anything about NI Food you will know that Peter Hannan has the best Beef in the world (get your mind out of the gutter) seriously it is truly wonderful - I can't believe someone at my table asked for this to be 'Well Done' ...I wept. P.S. this was also cooked in the Wood Fire Oven
(disclaimer - I ate my beef before taking any pics so these come to via Lynne at Eating Ideas, Award Winning Lynne I should say)
Anyways I think the pictures do all the talking here, I must have given you at least 10 reasons to go and visit the Parson's Nose - so go and get your grub on! Check out their menu at http://www.ballooinns.com/the-parsons-nose and here's a few more pics to drool over - once again thank you to Jago for the invite, especially Fiona for all her correspondence and good luck to Ronan, Danny and the team at The Parson's Nose, However I don't think you'll need it! WOW
