Quite a Katch

Perched on the coastline at Kircubbin is a modest little Bistro called Katch 27. It first opened its doors in 2011 as a hobby for partners David Cardwell and Leigh Gamble, but three years on, it’s earned a great reputation and the title of Café Bistro of the Year from LCN.

“I have to admit, we did choose our location to fit in around our menu”, Davey tells LCN. “We had always thought there was a niche in the market for a good quality seafood restaurant, but on a small scale.”

Unaware of his pun, Davey continues, “We were looking in this area and the Katch 27 venue came up, it seemed perfect so we decided just to go for it. It was just a hobby originally but its popularity just grew and grew and now we have a very successful business.”

During the week, Monday to Thursday, Katch 27 is a quaint little café, serving up breakfast and lunch between the hours of 9am and 3pm. Breakfast includes your choice of tray bakes and hot drinks as well as fry-ups and omelettes. The breakfast menu is very reasonably priced with scrambled eggs on granary toast setting you back a mere £3.45 making it affordable to most and to encourage repeat custom.

Lunch is served between noon and 3pm and the lunch menu provides the diner with all the classics such as all day breakfasts, steak burgers and hand-shelled local scampi. These rest easily alongside dishes such as breadcrumbed brie on a bed of torn leaves, rhubarb and ginger chutney, served with a bucket of chilli mayo chips. All lunch dishes are very reasonable at under a tenner.

A favourite spot for both locals and tourists alike, Katch 27 extends its opening times at the weekend with last orders at 9pm. The atmosphere changes to a more cosy and understated restaurant in the evening and customers arrive through a different door, taking them past the open kitchen. The menu evolves to feature the very best of the local catch on the bistro and a la carte menus. Diners can expect to see specials such as medleys of seafood and Strangford prawns wrapped in Parma ham.

“All our seafood is freshly caught”, explains Davey, “We don’t write our weekend menus until Friday at 5pm when we know what the catch has been that week and what fish we have in. Our specials board can have up to 12 different fish dishes featured.

“As soon as it comes off the boats, the fishmonger delivers it straight to our door, it’s really important to us – and our customers as well- to use and support local suppliers and small industries.”

He adds, “The local fishermen are getting it hard enough at the moment, all their quotas have been cut. It’s definitely a priority for us to use local suppliers, and why wouldn’t it be when the standard is so high and the produce is so fresh? We get all our fish smoked locally as well.

“We get a lot of repeat custom from people that come in during the day and would often book in for dinner with us at the weekend. People can come time and time again and the specials will always be different, even if the fish is the same it will be served in a different sauce.”

This popularity – although there are worse problems to have – can also cause some problems due to their limited capacity. Currently, there is around a two-week waiting list for a table at the weekend.

As the name would suggest, Katch 27 started off as a 27-cover restaurant but due to demand, they have had to extend that capacity to 37.  Now at their limit, Davey has had to think outside the box. Not wanting to expand, in order to keep the quality levels as high as his customers expect, Davey and Leigh have rented out another room in the building to serve as a waiting room and a place for customers to finish off their evening.

“We wanted to try and do double sittings”, says Davey, “We rented the second room to act as a waiting room. We have a small bar in there where people can get a glass of wine of draft beer while they are waiting on their table. It’s a really nice and intimate place to sit after a meal as well; we often get people going in there to have tea and coffee.”

With a clean, bright and funky interior, Katch 27 is fast becoming one of the trendiest fish restaurants in Northern Ireland with people willing to travel from the likes of Carrickfergus and Larne to dine there.

“When we moved in to the building it was just four bare walls, myself and Leigh designed everything from scratch, we have really put our heart and soul into the place and I think our customers can tell that. We also have a great team of staff here.”

Davey puts a lot of importance on holding on to good staff members. He says, “You really need stability where staff are concerned. If someone doesn’t want to be there the customer can pick up on that, it leads to an unpleasant experience for everyone. Most of our staff have been with us from day one, we treat our staff very well, there’s no shouting in my restaurant. We’re all as close as family.”

One thing really stands out when talking to Davey, and that is his love for his staff as well as his customers.

“Our customers know that all they have to do is ask, and whatever they want, it’s never a problem. I just want to thank them for being so loyal. There are a lot of restaurants that have had to close their doors over the past three years due to the hardships faced by the industry at the moment.

“We are one of the lucky ones, we have ended up with a very good business and it’s because we have kept a good relationship with our customers. We have an open plan kitchen, we greet the customer when they come into the restaurant, we talk to them on facebook and I think that really makes a difference. We just can’t thank them enough for the support they have given us.”