Soda & Starch

Ray Moran is one of those chefs who can make a dish of steak and onion rings seem utterly transcendent. His fillet steak has meat so tender that it eats like umami ice cream, whilst the onion rings are a statement of the fryer’s art. Begin dinner with his seafood salad, then follow the fillet steak with a pot of chocolate pudding and, whilst this may sound like an ode to the 1970s, you realise in S&S that they can cook these dishes to make them seem ageless. This is thanks to Mr Moran’s skill, and also to the burgeoning skills of Chris Moran, one of those young dudes who is going to make quite a splash as his career progresses. Service in the bistro-style room, in Derry’s Craft Village, is sincere and charming, value for money is excellent.