Jayne and I went to
The Governor Rocks last Friday night to a girlie catchup session over some good food and wine.
Baby brother to Coco in Belfast, Governor Rocks can be found on The
Parade in Donaghadee - in fact it is in the old Dee Fun House building (if anyone remembers that?!) serving up delicious local produce, seven days a week.
It took a lot of hard work to make the place look as good as it does now....
The menu is heavily seafood based, but it's not the only thing on the menu! When we dined there, it was 'Game Week' and there was a selection of game inspired dishes on the menu, such as Pigeon or Venison Sausage - although non-fish menu regulars include a Goats Cheese and Beetroot starter and a Sirloin and Hispi Cabbage main. The non-fish items on the menu can vary, but I'd be happy to give any of them a go!
As it happens, Jayne and I are both fish fans, so we had no problem choosing from a fish heavy menu! I had the Fish Chowder (minus the mussels). Everything is cooked fresh to order, so this was no problem at all. The chowder - haddock poached in milk/cream with potatoes - was incredibly creamy and very light, which is a change, as I have often found chowder to be a heavy dish - usually due to the amount of potatoes used. It can often end up more like a stew, but the one served in Governor Rocks was had more of a soup consistency. This meant I wasn't left feeling full having only had a starter!
Jayne opted for the Fish Goujons - two lightly battered pieces of cod fillet served with a lemon side salad. she said she would recommend them as they were light, well seasoned and the portion size was just right for a starter.
For mains, I chose the Haddock in Batter with chips, mushy peas and tartar sauce. Jayne picked the Crab Linguini with chilli and coriander.
My Haddock portion was huge and absolutely delicious! The batter was light, crisp and dry (no one likes an oily soggy batter) and the mushy peas and tarter sauce complimented it beautifully. The chips was chunky and came served in a separate dish... great for sharing, especially as the fish was so big!
Jayne's Crab Linguini looked heavenly. I liked the look of it on the menu, but was worried about choosing crab, as sometimes it can be overpowering. Jayne assured me that it wasn't overpowering at all, it just gave a slight hint of flavour to the pasta, and the chilli and coriander added slight heat, but not enough to put off any chilli-phobes. You can also request it without the chilli, or with more chilli if you're a chilli head!
Dessert was a must... it was a girls night out after all! We both opted for the Apple and Gingerbread crumble with Cream Anglaise. I'm not a big gingerbread fan, but even I enjoyed this one. It had an excellent fruit to crumble ratio, which is very important in a crumble... or is that just me? With every spoonful you got just the right amount of chunky apple and gingerbread crumble topping.
We also had a glass of wine each. The wine is very reasonably priced by the glass - my white cost only £2.95 while Jayne's rose cost only slightly more at just over £3.
All in all our bill came to just under £50.
All of the starters on the menu cost £5 - with the exception of the specials, all of the mains come in at £10 - except for specials, and all the desserts are priced at £5 - with the exception of the cheese board.
My favourite fish restaurant to date is the Quays in Portavogie, but the Governor Rocks is right up there with it on the top spot.
A note on lobster - living beside the sea, I am used to eating fresh caught lobster and crab, straight from the sea to our boiling pot and to the plate. It still shocks me the price that restaurants charge for lobster - no matter where I go!
The is the best way to eat lobster (in my opinion) is drizzled with garlic butter and eaten with a big chunky of crusty baguette! Yum!
