It may not be posh nosh but comfort cuisineis always on the menu at the Mourne Seafood Bar in Belfast.

Belfast people are rapidly becoming the most sophisticated diners in Europe, or so they like to think. Twenty years ago Paul Rankin and Nick Price fulfilled the role of foodie missionaries, converting us from culinary paganism to the higher ideals of decent European-class meals made from decent local produce at their award-winning Roscoff and Nick’s Warehouse restaurants.

Within a few years, St Paul and St Nick had spawned a new generation of good restaurants and suddenly we were all running around talking about the sweet succulence of this season’s scallions and the kind of wine you should have with sea bream.

We were Europeans at last. We thought we had it all. But there was something missing from the growing list of good places to eat. A cheap and chic seafood restaurant.

Thankfully, local chef Andy Rae saw sense and bought the old Bank Bar beside Kelly’s Cellars in downtown Belfast. Within minutes of opening the doors of the Mourne Seafood Bar it was packed. The bare floorboards, rickety bistro chairs and smiling waiters dressed in black tell you it’s ok, you can relax. It’s not posh, it’s democratic.

The Mourne Seafood Bar serves top-ranking local fish and shellfish. You can see for yourself the fish and oysters as you walk past the fish counter on the way in. It’s an addictive place because it reminds you of all the cosy seafood restaurants you ever visited in Chesapeake Bay and La Rochelle.

There are two menus — a signature list that is packed with all the reliables you’d expect in a seafood restaurant: oysters for only £5 per half dozen, pots of mussels mariniere, fish and chips and mushy peas, fish fingers and salad, squid in chilli, and a chowder that is subtly different each time I try it. Its creaminess is always consistent and the juicy fish pieces and potatoes lie within like treasure nuggets providing something satisfying to bite on in this gorgeous soup. The only dish I criticise is the grilled langoustines, which tend to be overdone.

Oysters can be a bit milky at this time of the year but that’s no sign of inferiority. Those aficionados who prefer them clearer might be best to wait another few weeks. I had half a dozen recently and they were incredibly fresh, well shucked (no bits of broken shell) and served Japanese style — ie raw with a little melange of wasabi, soy sauce and julienne of marinated scallions. These are deep Pacific oysters commonly bred around the coast and there is plenty of shiny cool flesh to chew on.

A lobster risotto from the daily menu followed. If the risotto is listed, you must not resist. To resist this is to turn your back on

one of the great comforts of life, one of the reassuring hooks on which hang all your problems. This is the ultimate feelgood food and you can have it as a (substantial) starter or even bigger main course. The depth of flavours from the stock, cream and wine is instantly satisfying while the lighter and gentler sweetness of the lobster shredded throughout the dish is never drowned out.

Desserts at £4.50 include a chocolate fondant, which never actually melts in the middle but is moist as near damn it!

It used to be that visitors to cities would be guided to restaurants popular with the locals. It’s the other way around here to some extent. When you see the number of guidebook-clutching visitors in the city, particularly when a cruiser docks, you can’t help but feel that all these tourists couldn’t possibly be wrong.

‘The bare floorboards, rickety bistro chairs and smiling waiters|tells you that it’s OK, you can relax’

Dinner for two

Oysters £6.25

Salt and chili squid £6.25

Fish and chips with mushy peas £8.75

Lobster risotto £7

Chocolate fondant £4.50

3 glasses Pinot Blanc £9.45

Two coffees £3.25

TOTAL £45.45

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