Yellow Door Deli, Portadown

Portadown suffers, not entirely unjustifiably, from a negative public image. It is therefore not the first place you would look for high quality grub.

I had lunch in the Yellow Door Deli with my Mum today. The front of the shop is the bakery and deli counter, and the front window is full of freshly baked loaves. There is a surprisingly large eating area at the rear of the deli, which was busy but still warm and welcoming.

As soon as we ordered, the waitress brought us a small selection of breads – wheaten, sourdough, cheese-topped white, tomato, herbed. I was a bit more full than I intended when the rest of the food arrived. I’ll be more prepared for that the next time.

There was a wide choice – various sandwiches using the in-house bread, soups and main courses. Mum chose the fusilli pasta with chicken in a cream sauce, accompanied by sourdough garlic bread. She pronounced it “lovely” with a big smile on her face! I chose a sandwich – confit of duck, hoisin sauce and sesame seeds on a sourdough roll. It came with nicely dressed leaves and small portions of greek and potato salad. Nicely packed and just the right amount.

We declined the offer of cake or patisserie for dessert, simply beacause we were both full.

Looking around at the other tables, the other dishes looked equally good. In particular, the brown stew came in a large bowl with potatoes and caramelised root veg. Had we been there for breakfast, there were some further tempting things on the menu (French toast with bacon and maple syrup for example).

Overall, this was a real find. OK, it’s made it into the Guardian directory and UKTV food heroes, but it was so different from the more typical Northern Irish lunch offerings that it is worth a visit. There’s not many places in Co. Armagh I could say that about.

My only negative comment is about their website. Not only does it use Flash rather than proper XHTML, but it has white text on a light yellow background on some pages, with no way of changing font size or colour, or even selecting the text to highlight it. Some screens are unreadable. Sack your design team and find someone who knows what they are doing!