We'd been here before and even still we walked right by Cayenne. From the outside, it doesn't look like much, just a small sign in a very conceptual font to mark it. So entering into its chilled stylish interior is initially unsettling. You look back like the kid in the wardrobe, grey deserted street still visible behind you, warm tasteful decor and the buzz of a welldressed crowd ahead. The possibility of imminent sinful indulgence. You'd have to be very grown-up not to enjoy that moment.

Cayenne is owned by Paul and Jeanne Rankin, who were responsible for Belfast's first Michelin star at Roscoff. Their stated aim when opening this place was to provide a more informal eating experience with a menu that represents a coming together of top-quality local ingredients and primarily Asian flavours.

"A dynamic mix of hot & funky food, " says their website, carefully avoiding the F word.

There are two sections to the restaurant and a bar.

The main room is long and narrow, round tables on one side, small square ones on the other. A series of groups facing a series of couples. There is a lot of writing around the place.

On the walls there are recessed words that seem to come at you willy-nilly.

The menu cover is a blur of letters that appear on closer inspection to be staff names. Light-boxes in the bar area glow with a mix of backwards and forwards words. It all looks very nice but leaves one with a sense of being on the verge of a dyslexic/psychotic episode.

We sat muttering random words at each other as we decided what to order.

Crispy crab cakes were fine. Two small disks on a bed of nicely-dressed radish salad. Small disks, I will say again, that tasted okay but didn't seem to be worth £8. Pork and ginger pot stickers were better, the process of grilling and steaming giving the dumplings a texture that was both crispy and silky.

They came with a dipping sauce of soy, chilli oil and vinegar.

Roast monkfish with char siu pork and udon noodles consisted of equal sized pieces of monkfish and pork on fat slurpy noodles with a very good sauce based around ponzu, a Japanese citrus dressing.

In a fight between the smoky five-spice flavours of char siu pork and the bland meatiness of monkfish, the pig is always going to win. In this case the monkfish got lost altogether, not helped by the fact that it was slightly overcooked.

Roast duck breast with foie gras and wild mushroom ravioli came with pain d'epice and a sauternes jus. There was a lot going on in this dish but it didn't quite come together. The toasted slice of spiced bread which should have bound the whole combination was too thick and cold in the middle. The duck was good but also sliced too thick.

The sauce was fantastic and the ravioli luxuriously slippery. Done right this would have been exceptional but instead it was disappointing.

Spiced apple crumble with cinnamon ice cream was more crumble, less apple. Good flavours though and great ice cream. Buttermilk pannacotta with poached pears and lemon shortbread was perfect.

We ordered wine by the glass from a very extensive, cleverlyorganised list that covered a lot of ground.

Service was patchy. We had been brought a drink very soon after we'd sat down but there was a long delay before our order was taken. Starters arrived quickly but then another major wait for the main courses, half-an-hour plus, to the point that we asked about it. Some of the problems we had with the food could have been down to a delay in getting it to the table. We thought that the monkfish may have been sitting under a heat lamp for too long. The duck dish was hot on the surface but not so hot in the interior. Empty plates were left in front of us for too long and we had to ask for the dessert menu. Coffee which we ordered to come with dessert came a good bit after.

Everybody involved was very friendly, but there were just too many delays.

It was mildly busy but that didn't seem to be the problem. People on both sides of us were zipping through their meals while we sat waiting. We seemed to be stuck in a service noman's land. Unlucky maybe, but when you're eating out you only need to be unlucky once.