An Ora of satisfaction, Spanish style… Paula Gracey revives magical Mediterranean memories on a Belfast tapas night
WE revisited an old favourite recently… Ora, on Great Victoria Street, right opposite the Grand Opera House.
It had been closed for a while but on a Saturday night out with friends, a few weeks earlier, we walked past and saw that it had reopened – hoorah!
Tapas are the speciality of the house, a sister restaurant to the superb Howard Street, just around the corner.
The very thought of those traditional Spanish appetisers and small plate dishes conjure up magical memories of balmy Mediterranean nights on the terrace, an array of tasty food and wine and a classic guitar accompaniment.
We often try to recreate those tapas nights at home so new ideas for sharing dishes to serve up are always welcome.
And Ora being the Spanish word for now, there’s no time like the present.
We went on a Thursday evening and the place was buzzing when we arrived – thank goodness we booked as there was no way we could have just dropped in on a whim.
Paula enjoys Ora
We were shown to our cosy booth table for two by the window where we ordered a lovely bottle of Ancora Rose to sip while we made up our minds from the menu.
The dishes come to your table as and when they are ready so we ordered the roasted salted Almonds to have something to nibble on while we waited.
So many to choose from and, while small is beautiful, our server assured us he would let us know if we were over-egging the omelette, so to speak.
We got it just about right with our choices, just enough not to leave us wanting more. With eyes bigger than your belly, you can run up quite a bill, but at the end of the day, it is up to you.
From the ‘mains’, I fancied the scallops and himself chose marinated monkfish. To accompany, we went for crushed baby potatoes with curry madras butter and chippy scraps which was so tasty.
I also had scorched greens which were tender stem broccoli and he wanted the padron peppers, both of which were delish.
We would have liked a basket of breads to go with our choices, which is what you get in Spain with your tapas, but we were told they do not do bread so presumably, you order more dishes to fill up on.
We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and the busy vibe of the restaurant was great. Well worth checking out but make sure you book!
Shanky’s is a cracking Whip
Have you heard of Shanky’s Whip? Neither had I until a couple of weeks ago.
It sounds like a new ice-cream or a race horse but it is, in fact,a smooth Irish whiskey liqueur from the heart of County Cavan.
Distributed in Northern Ireland by Craigavon-based United Wines, the launch took place recently at the hip Sunflower Bar in Belfast and was accompanied by the famous Shanky’s Whip emu – anyone remember Rod Hull?
Anyway, Shanky’s Whip is a very versatile liqueur with its rich vanilla spice kick and can be enjoyed neat over ice, as a smooth shot, paired with cola or ginger-ale, stirred into a rich Irish coffee or shaken into an espresso martini for a nice treat.
It definitely has a kick to it and I did enjoy it with a mixer (I’m not great with shots!) but it has a lovely caramel, vanilla flavour which will be delish in a Irish Coffee and in desserts. I shall be experimenting further with Shanky’s Whip, with or without an emu!
