Jonathan Davis is one of the great Irish restaurateurs. In the world of Irish restaurants, he is the maitre’d’s maitre’d.
He was born into the business. His Dad, Tom, opened the Skandia restaurant in Belfast in 1968 and, with exotic dishes such as pavlova on offer, the Skandia was a huge hit, a first taste of European cooking and style for Norn Iron.
Thirty years later, Davis opened his own space, Alden’s, on the Upper Newtownards Road. It featured in our Bridgestone 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland by 1999, and by 2001 it had achieved Icon Status, the highest accreditation awarded that year to only 15 restaurants.
Together with his head chef, Cath Gradwell, Davis had created a superlative restaurant. Cath’s cooking was on fire, and Jonathan Davis could run a room like no other proprietor, coalescing everything about food, wine and service into an impeccable customer-focused experience.
The remarkable thing is that Jonathan could inspire this feeling of specialness, of pampered uniqueness, in the customer, even when the room was packed with scores of other diners.
This is the art of the maitre’d, the person who has taken charge of your evening, who knows your likes and dislikes, and who will make sure that everything will be tickety boo just for you. You enjoyed the luxury of feeling like a three-year-old who has just been strapped into the car seat for the journey ahead: it’s all good.
Jump ahead almost another three decades, and in late 2025 Davis takes over the old Il Pirata building, and calls it Pepito, which is both a popular Latin American sandwich and an affectionate nickname for any kid called Jose.
Pepito is a twin-set of big rooms a few hundred yards up the road from Alden’s – which in the interim has been re-christened Neill’s Hill, and which continues to be one of the most successful restaurants in Belfast.
Once again, Davis shows in his new rooms that he has that magical restaurant DNA. Where Il Pirata struggled to find a memorable identity with food and service, Pepito has all the charm and warmth you hope to find in a good neighbourhood restaurant sited in a good neighbourhood.
It’s a place that gives you what you want. Big family group celebrating a promotion? Step right up. Frazzled Tuesday evening dinner as you try to explain why he never seems able to understand your point of view? Get that first glass of wine down you and the edge will fade from your temper. Feeding the kids? Come on in.
Jonathan Davis has never tried to reinvent the wheel. His career has been all about getting that wheel to run as smoothly as possible, capable of feeding 300+ diners for Sunday lunch at Neill’s Hill, and capable of offering an eclectic and confidently delivered choice of food to the 70 or so folk eating in Pepito when we arrived on a Sunday evening.
The standard menu divides into Vegetarian-Fish-Meat-Side Orders-Desserts – isn’t it interesting that the veggie choices occupy first place – and this is supplemented by a menu del dia at a set price – £25 for 3 courses! – with a choice between three mains: roast seabass; chicken schnitzel and steak frites.
Where Tom Davis introduced pavlova to Belfast, Jonathan Davis long ago figured out how to introduce Pavlov to Belfast. The menu is filled with things you droolingly want to eat: roast scallops with pancetta and garlic butter; aubergine involtini with crispy onions; cod cheeks with aioli; slow-cooked beef short rib with beetroot ketchup; chorizo mac ‘n’ cheese.
Chicken schnitzel and steak frites occupy top rung in the Pavlov’s Dog Deciding Factor competition, so it was no surprise that after a long day we were in a Pavlovian mood and just felt like chicken schnitzel and steak frites for Sunday dinner.
The drinks list is formidable, led out by a series of house special vermuts, and with a considerable choice of alcohol-free drinks. With Jonathan Davis, everything is offered for a very good reason: because he loves it; because Cath Gradwell his prodigiously talented head chef for the last three decades loves it; or because he knows that you will love it.
What did we love?
A neat little ramekin of Portavogie prawns swimming in a ramekin of garlic butter with crusty bread to dunk offered sweet, sweet shellfish, whilst the trio dish from the daily menu offered cod cheek with harissa mayo, some very fine Serrano ham with rocket, and a tumble of cous cous with crumbled feta, a neat little mezze plate.
The schnitzel and the steak frites were right on the money. The breaded chicken was underpinned by rocket leaves and topped out with a green garlic butter, and the frites were hot and crispy. The steak had been sliced and fanned across the plate, artfully dressed with shallot and the red wine jus. These are take-no-prisoners dishes when they are done right, and they were done right.
All around us the room exuded a relaxed, content vibe, a mix of friends, families and all the young and old of this tony district of East Belfast. The staff exude good training and confidence, always sharp even on a Sunday evening at the end of a long week.
We shared a little dish of chocolate crémeux, with mini meringues and frozen raspberries, just the right sweet, fruity note to end.
But that wasn’t all the fun, because just outside the door of Pepito we were able to return to the city by the method we came, Belfast’s singular Glider bus, which are two wannabe train carriages masquerading as a bus, and which are mighty fun. The ride out and back to East Belfast cost a fiver for an evening ticket, so no worries about parking and costly taxis who keep you waiting all night. Result!
And, of course, a Result! for Jonathan Davis and Pepito, and his always reliable mastery of the art of the maitre’d.
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