Our BERTHA oven at EDŌ is key to the food our chefs put on your plate.

Believe it or not, each hot dish at EDŌ spends at least some time in BERTHA before it reaches your table because BERTHA is a great multitasker – she can bake, roast, slow cook and smoke. Our chefs can cook at the top, middle or bottom of BERTHA, meaning they can use a range of temperatures according to whatever dish they’re cooking. She helps us take our food to another level cooking with wood to give it the smokey taste EDŌ has become known for, and being able to cook faster than an open grill means a quick turnaround in service while ensuring your food is evenly cooked through too.

Let’s give you a bit of the history: BERTHA was designed by Spyros Alexander who supplied the restaurant trade for over thirty years. Her design is based on the Spanish Etxeberri restaurant which grills or smokes food quickly at high temperatures. By concentrating the cooking heat, the flavours of the food are drawn out.

Jonny says, ‘Bertha is very versatile, allowing us to cook vegetables, flatbreads and cuts of meat. It was a no-brainer to choose her as the main kitchen equipment. She brings a different style of cooking to Belfast. She’s not the biggest piece of equipment but she can fairly pack a punch! Once lit in the morning, it takes about forty minutes for her to warm up to 200°C and that’s her cooking all day – all we have to do is slowly supply her with wood, turf or charcoal to keep her happy. Cooking at such an intense heat means the flavour of the food is locked in but the chefs have to be on the ball because twenty seconds makes all the difference between a rare and medium/rare steak.’

If you’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the fine food out of BERTHA we’re sure you’ll agree with William Sitwell when he was quoted in the Huffington Post saying, ‘BERTHA … Out of her belly come things of real beauty’. If you haven’t had the pleasure yet, put her to the test and come and enjoy the fine food from her belly!