Picnic Deli

The discovery of this glorious deli saved my partner from an almost complete emotional and psychological collapse brought on by enforced habitation of a very small town in Northern Ireland which had yet to discover good food. It is sad to say that his all time worst fish and chips experience was in the lochside village of Strangford. Our innate Australian food snobbery was only confirmed when we discovered that the deli is the result of a marriage between an Irish foodie and an Australian.

However it came about Picnic is a delight. They serve great coffee and have a wide selection of wonderful tarts, quiches and salads to eat in or take away. They do a decent brunch or lunch but it has to be said that their cakes are what truly makes this place outstanding. My rapidly reviving partner enjoyed a superb lemon tart at one visit but my heart was lost to the soft centred chocolate puddings which this small outfit has absolutely mastered. Served just warm after about 10 seconds reheating in the microwave they remained liquidly velvet in the middle and explode on your tongue in a swirl of chocolatey joy. The cafe serves them with Chantilly cream (whipped cream with a little icing sugar and vanilla added). We loved these so much we took some away with us to celebrate our last night in Northern Ireland. They went down very well with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot on a cold summer night by the loch.