Tasting menu doesn’t come cheap at Wine & Brine, but for a one-off special treat it’s worth it
Wine & Brine 59 Main St, Moira Tel: 028 9261 0500
It was a special occasion which called for special food, and you don’t get much better in my neck of the woods than the wonderful Wine & Brine in Moira, run by the multi-award-winning chef Chris McGowan and his wife Davina.
At £70 a head for the September tasting menu (which changes each month), we were certainly pushing the boat out and I had to wrestle with guilty thoughts about how much groceries I could buy with that money to instead focus on enjoying every mouthful of what was after all a very rare extravagance.
Wine & Brine, Moira
The first three courses fell under the heading ‘Snacks’ and first up was cream cheese and chive cannelloni, a finger-sized delight which we devoured in two mouthfuls. A crispy outside provided a lovely crunch with an oozing cream centre filled with punchy flavour. It got our taste buds tingling for course number two.
A pig’s head doughnut looked artful on the plate and was another exquisite mouth-sized morsel topped with a delicately placed flower-like slice of jellied malt vinegar and a slither of eel.
The doughnut was packed with glorious pieces of pork which went perfectly with the hint of sharp malt vinegar, and even though the eel was a tiny adornment on the top, the flavour cut right through the dish.
Our final snack was tuna tartlet with wasabi and puffed rice. This was my favourite dish so far. The pastry was cooked to perfection with a delicate crisp and the wasabi added the right hint of spice and heat without overpowering the dish.
Wine & Brine, Moira
The fourth course was ‘Bread’ and we devoured a delicious portion of homemade sourdough served with wonderfully flavoured “cultured butter”. We were in food heaven and still had three savoury courses to look forward to.
Next up was cured and torched mackerel with apple, ginger and nori. The fish was presented in a bowl of beautifully flavoured creamy broth with hints of the apple and ginger, lightly seasoned with the nori.
Pig head doughnut at Wine & Brine
The best I soon discovered was yet to come with monkfish masala served with yoghurt and lime pickle. The perfectly cooked meaty monkfish sat on a bed of masala sauce topped off with the yoghurt which did its job of cooling the spice. It was a treat for the taste buds.
Our final savoury course was a beautifully presented plate of roasted wood pigeon which the chef topped with warm pickled wild berry compote at our table.
Sadly, this one just didn’t live up to expectations. The pastry was soggy and the pigeon a little on the tough side, but the flavours were great and we managed to polish off every last bite.
Dessert was a dream pistachio and chocolate fondant with homemade pistachio ice cream. Silky chocolate oozed from the centre of the light sponge pudding and combined with the crunch of pistachio and ice cream, it was a match made in heaven. Finally, the petit fours arrived in the form of a selection of homemade chocolates which the waiter kindly boxed for us to take home.
This was a wonderful dining experience and if my bank balance allowed this would become a monthly treat.
Pigeon at Wine & Brine
The food
Total £178