03/09/2006
Recently refurbished and under new management Oscar's Restaurant now offers residents of the Belmore Court Motel 10% off their meal any day of the week.
The table must be pre booked by reception and a voucher issued.
One of Enniskillen’s oldest restaurants now totally renovated to give the customer a choice of dining experiences. Set over two floors, the top floor offers casual dining in a typically Tuscan setting using warm colours, walls decorated with crumbled marble, Italian art from one of Italy’s most cherished artists, whilst the ground floor offers a more intimate and romantic dining experience with private tables in a Victorian atmosphere.
The extensive menu on offer on both floors includes fresh seafood, (salmon, monkfish, langoustines, prawns and swordfish), superior meats, (dry aged fillets, T-bone steak, lamb) chicken with Oscars famous house recipe BBQ sauce, all cooked on the char grill, fresh pasta made daily, gourmet pizzas cooked in an authentic Italian wood burning brick oven and a range of freshly made salads. Starters range from an Antipasto platter for two using an assortment of Italian meats, cheeses and seasonal items to a delicious Clonakilty pudding and goats cheese tartlet from the wood burning oven with a host of chicken, vegetarian and fish dishes in between. Desserts are made fresh daily and vary with the season but always on the dessert menu is the ever popular home made ice cream, vanilla, chocolate, mango, mixed berry and strawberry and pepper ice cream with caramelised chilli sauce!
All food consumed in the restaurant is made there freshly each day, (sauces, dressings, pasta, pizza dough, ice cream, cakes and pastries), and all dishes are cooked fresh to order. This allowsOscars Restaurant to cater for people with special dietary needs, as ingredients can be varied to take account of particular requirements. All food consumed on the premises is made there; nothing is bought-in, just the natural ingredients to make the sauces and dressings. Eight different types of fresh pasta are made on a daily basis plus the pizza dough is made freshly on the premises to mirror the Pizza Napoletana standard for pizza for which the Italians are passionate. For example, the specification clearly states that a pizza must have a 0.1" thick base, (a little more than a credit card), must use fresh mozzarella, must be thrown by hand, must use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and must be cooked in a 900F, (480C), wood fire oven for no more than 90 seconds and all this is done at Oscar’s Restaurant! Nothing is left to chance or to outside influence at Oscar’s, control on quality, flavour and taste remains tightly in-house. All sauces are made fresh each time and to exacting traditional recipes using only stock made on the premises with no added flavourings, additives, binders or anything from a packet!
The wine list is truly large on choice from both new and old world vineyards, with the proprietor’s selection, (extensive experience from family owned vineyards in California), a must for all wine enthusiasts. The house wines are mostly Chilean Reserva with a Spanish Tempranillo and French Viognier for added investigation. Highlights from the main wine list includes reds like Planeta La Segreta from Sicily, Morkel Malbec from South Africa, Errazuriz Organic Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile and a Peter Lehmann Barossa Shiraz from Australia, whilst the whites boasts Gavi di Gavi from Villa Lanata, Italy, Rully Blanc, France, classic Chablis and Chablis Premier Cru from France, and KWV Sauvignon Blanc, South Africa. The proprietor’s choice include the fabulous Au Bon Climat Wild Boy Chardonnay from Santa Barbara, Frogs Leap Chardonnay from Napa Valley and Qupe Chardonnay/ Viognier from the Bien Nacido Vineyard in the whites whilst the reds boast the Qupe Central Coast Syrah from Santa Barbara, Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir from Santa Maria to the outstanding Frogs Leap Cabernet Sauvignon from the Napa Vally.
Opened sixteen years ago Oscars became somewhat of an institution for eating out in Enniskillen offering good food and value for money in a themed setting. Oscar’s restaurant is dedicated to Oscar Wilde, the ‘literary genius’ who was educated at Enniskillen’sPortora RoyalSchool. With the renovation the Oscar Wilde connection is not lost and now dates back to his time in Italy.Wilde toured Italywith the Reverend J. P. Mahaffy, a professor of ancient history whom Wilde would later call “my first and my best teacher” in 1875 and again visited Italywith his former tutor in 1877. Oscar Wilde had a great love of Italy, and it was the only country that moved him enough for him to write a poem about it, called ‘’Sonnet On Approaching Italy’’. Wilde wrote ‘’.... : the soul within me burned, Italia, my Italia, at thy name…….. I wept to see the land so very fair.’’ Oscars Restaurantnow having a heavy Italian influence on its food keeps the Oscar Wilde connection in the 21st. Century through the great Italian artist Umberto Verdirosi whose career has spanned acting, philosophy, writing and painting! Both Wilde and Verdirosi shared similar philosophies despite a two century gap! Veridirosi’s painting along with other Irish artists’ work grace the walls of the restaurant. So what is the connection? Well that is a journey for the diner; however, two quotes from Oscar Wilde can start the ball rolling! Wilde is credited with the following quotes, ‘’All that I desire to point out is the general principal that life imitates art far more than art imitates life’’ and
‘’Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth’’.
27-29 Belmore Street
Enniskillen
BT74 6AA
(028) 66 327037
Visit their website for more details www.oscarsrestaurant.co.uk