I’ve noticed something in my travels.  And believe it or not, it’s about duck.

Yes, duck.  And the dish, not the animal.  Though I suppose the dish is actually made of the animal and I may be needlessly splitting hairs here.  But still, I want to be clear – I’m talking about the duck that you order in a restaurant.

Lots of eateries across the globe serve duck.  And many of them would like to tell you that it is a specialty of their region and, more importantly, their restaurant.  But I’m here to tell you that in many of those places, the duck is not up to par.  Even at five-star, fancy-pants rated joints that you find talked up all over town.

Drowned in sauce, chewy to the point teeth grinding or just plain tasteless, these places give duck a bad name.  Which is why I don’t order it all that often even when it is recommended by the waitstaff.  You just never know what you’re going to get.

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised when I took my first bite of Silver Hill Duck Breast at Deane’s on Howard Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  It was tender.  It was flavorful.  It was served with the perfect complementary parsnip dauphinoise.  It was a true culinary delight.

So from here on out, I may just taste the duck at every new place I encounter.  One, I may be pleasantly surprised – you do never know what you might get.  But two, I’m guessing if they can do duck well, the rest of the menu is bound to be top-notch, too.

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Deane’s
36-40 Howard Street
Belfast BT 1 6PF
Northern Ireland

Tel: 028 9033 1134
Email:  info@michaeldeane.com

Hours:  Tuesday through Saturday, 12-2:30pm, 6-9:30pm

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