Fabulous Rock Star Martinis and a variety of chicken at Birdcage, Belfast

I have no idea what is in a Rock Star Martini but I will admit that it is one of the nicest things I have ever drunk!  I am not known for my love of cocktails and tend to be quite unadventurous with a drinks menu.  Thankfully, my friends, Maire and Kathryn do know their cocktails and recommended this for me when we met at Birdhouse on the Stranmillis Road in Belfast.  For a start, it is beautifully presented with a garnish of orange peel & pomegranate seeds and a sideshot of bubbly but best of all is the taste, which is fresh, fruity and delicious!

Divine drink in hand, I set about perusing the menu.  I haven’t eaten in Birdcage before but knew that it was a chicken restaurant.  One look at the menu and I could see that while it is no Nandos. it is chicken, chicken and more chicken.  Having spent the afternoon waiting for the arrival of my new chicken coop and chicken keeping essentials, I did feel like I was about to eat family members.  Not surprisingly, this little pang of guilt didn’t last too long!

I was struggling to choose and as we were under a bit of time pressure to get to a show in the Lyric Theatre, I was happy for the girls to choose for us. They ordered what seemed to be a huge amount of food but to be fair, it was hard to narrow down the options.  We ended up going for soy garlic chicken-half portion ( £7.95) ], Chilli chicken crunches (£3.95), chicken brochettes with lemon, garlic and bay leaf (£5.95) chips (3.25) and two dips, mango and peanut flavours (£1.50 each).  In a nod to the salad section, we also ordered the rocket, sweet potato, paprika bacon & pecans salad ( £6.95).  We did ask the waitress if we had ordered too much but we were assured that we hadn’t.

I am not a big fan of chicken on the bone and wouldn’t normally order it so this was the only bit I steered clear of.  The rest was pretty good.  The chicken crunches had a good chilli kick and the brochettes were moist and well flavoured.  I particularly liked the peanut dip and it may not have gone unnoticed that I was a bit greedy with it!!!

We were a bit rushed because of the theatre booking but despite this, it was a most enjoyable experience and one that I wouldn’t mind repeating!