We were in Derry for the night and after researching online for a good place to eat, we settled on the Custom House Restaurant. We tried to make a booking, however were told booking reservations were full and it would be better to simply show up when we wanted a table but to be prepared to wait. We arrived at 8pm and were told it would be a half hour wait. We settled into the bar and ordered some drinks (Strawberry Vanilla Collins mocktail and the raspberry ripple cocktail were DELICIOUS!). After only waiting for ten minutes we were led to a lovely table upstairs in the restaurant.
The menu is vast with plenty of options and the server ran me through all the gluten free options. I ordered the Chorizo Chicken without the chorizo, gluten free and no onions.... naturally the server got a little confused and it still came out with the chorizo, but it was easy enough to push to the side. The chicken was delicious and tender. Others in the group had the duck which was a special of the evening and the salmon both of which were delicious. The side dishes of the garlic potatoes, the potato dauphinoise and the vegetables all accompanied the dishes wonderfully.
The service was quite slow and we ended up waiting an hour for our food to come out, though they were extremely busy. We were super hungry by the time the food reached the table but it was worth the wait. The servers did check on us to make sure everything was okay a number of times.
The dessert menu was good, a few gluten free options, and we all ended up getting the lemon posset. It was delicious but incredibly sweet and creamy. I couldn't finish it as it was like eating creamy sugar but others polished them down (and then finished mine to boot!) The restaurant had wonderful views of the river and later in the evening there was some wonderful live music in the bar area which we paused to listen to on the way out. I'd certainly recommend the Custom House. read more