Eating Out - Northern Ireland Restaurant Reviews

Afternoon tea in the Observatory at the Grand Central Hotel is a luxurious experience

Restaurant review: The Observatory

Afternoon tea, once the formal torture you had to endure when visiting elderly aunts, nuns and distant cousins, has made a huge comeback in recent years.

Restaurant review: The Jailhouse - joy to find real pub hidden in plain sight

It was bound to happen sooner or later. The two people behind Belfast's greatest competing entertainment empires, both on top of their game, each with a brilliant eye for branding, were bound to come together at some point to create the city's latest...

New idea: Leanne and William from FlavourFirst.com

Restaurant Review: Want to eat in on a budget? Easy, just think inside the box

The food sector is riven with rivalry. Restaurants want you to eat out more, supermarkets want you to buy ingredients and eat in more, take-away distribution services want you to do neither and instead convert your kitchen into a gaming den (Eat! Don't...

Restaurant review: The Mitre Restaurant

Over the last 10 years, my aversion to hotel restaurants has been made clear a number of times. But people have been asking from where this repulsion stems. I can only explain this as the result of a childhood spent fearing the Sunday family outing.

The Saigon-style interior of the Vietnamese Coffee Co on Belfast’s Great Victoria Street

Restaurant review: Chick'n Lick'n, Bankmore Cafe and Vietnamese Coffee Co

A golden triangle of coffee houses, bars, restaurants and takeaways has emerged in that space between Belfast city centre's Dublin Road and Great Victoria Street.

Bistro review: 44 Hill Street Restaurant

Restaurants are like mushrooms. They thrive in the dark and are fed all sorts of crap, mostly from critics, diners, suppliers, investors and banks. Unexpectedly, they can also be mobile.

Restaurant review: The Chelsea

Some restaurants are destinations in their own right. People will fly from Belfast to Heathrow after booking a table in the Fat Duck, not too far from the airport, just to experience the full Heston Blumenthal magic. Others will go the 600 miles to Cornwall for the sensational dishes of Nathan Outlaw and Rick Stein.

Howard Street Restaurant in Belfast city centre

Restaurant review: Belfast's Howard Street Restaurant

The mark of a good restaurant is something much more banal than brilliance, trend-setting design, or innovation. It's consistency. In a business where nothing is predictable and where so many variables can affect a day's work - staff being off at short notice,...

Restaurant review: Bang Kok: Taste of Far East simply to Thai for

First time I ever saw the three words Thai, green and curry was in a Chinese takeaway in Glengormley in 1998. It sounded exotic and a bit weird. Green curry had as much marketing pull as a used tissue and yet I seemed irresistibly drawn to it.

Impressive fayre: Smuggler's Table at Bridge Street in Killyleagh

Restaurant Review: Smuggler's Table, Co Down gem that's worth the detour

Killyleagh, on the shores of Strangford Lough, has become a favourite stopping point for cyclists on weekend group runs. Swarms of men and occasionally a woman or two in bright, multi-coloured Lycra tops descend on the small town following a pleasurable...

The interior of Baker Street on the Belmont Road in east Belfast

Restaurant review: Baker Street

Baker Street is the reincarnation of French Village in east Belfast. The excellent Lisburn Road-based restaurant and deli has become an attractive fixture in the city's posh south. There's another one on Botanic Avenue, which is strictly for students and backpackers, and then there's the French Village catering arm, which is also recommended.

Restaurant review: Brunel's

The greatest English language food columnist who ever lived and who wrote for the Sunday Times, the late AA Gill, was based in London. Gill loathed travelling outside the capital to review restaurants in the country, because he believed they were invariably inferior.

Pot Kettle Black is another great addition to the growing number of culinary delights in east Belfast

Restaurant review: Pot Kettle Black

It's all happening in east Belfast. Ballyhackamore restaurant fever shows no sign of abating and, as the demographics of the area change, so new eating experiences move in, too. Not only that, but the ripple effect created by that cluster of restaurants in the centre of Ballyhackamore has now seen the arrival of General Merchant's, Oliver's further out the road and others in Strandtown.

Atmospheric: the bright and roomy interior of Quartisan as Belfast's Waring Street

Restaurant review: Quartisan, Belfast - Jewel of the Nile brings taste of souk to Cathedral...

As summer approaches and thoughts turn to sun, sea and sand, our attention is drawn to the marvels of the Mediterranean diet. All those tomatoes, olives and fish dishes are proven to help millions of people who live along the shores of the Med to keep running...

Restaurant review: Bangla in Bangor

Last week, I was lamenting the silence that surrounds Bangor, Co Down and its once great reputation as a food destination. I had just been to Gary Bell's new restaurant, Underground Dining, and had a quick check to see where the old greats had got to.

Novelli at City Quays’ attractive dining room

Restaurant review: Novelli at City Quays

Restaurants in hotels are not what they used to be. Until recently, you could rely on being served a variety of dressed-up effluent and animal fodder in some of them. Inedible food, draughty dining rooms and gaoler-standard service still blight a few of these places, but they are becoming a rarity.

Underground Dining is another culinary gem in Bangor which is well worth seeking out

Restaurant review: Underground Dining in Bangor

Is it me or has Bangor gone off the boil of late? There used to be all sorts of exciting cafes and restaurants in the town: the Wheathill, Cafe Essence, the Boat House, Guillemot and a few others had raised Bangor's profile as a destination worth visiting for the food alone. So what happened? Why has it gone quiet?

Restaurant review: The Stillhouse of Moira: Co Down gastropub that is sure to get you in...

Only a week or two ago, I was giving off about the lack of pubs in this country which serve good food. Harry and Meghan's visit to Belfast and their lunch in the Crown Bar highlighted the demand for this kind of food experience. Then, lo and behold, I discover the...

Restaurant review: Bia Rebel, Al Gelato, and Root & Branch

We are determined to bring our readers value for money, so this week I'm reviewing three places for the price of one. All three are within a few yards of each other, which means I am able for the first time to enact the Belfast Fantasy Menu I publish each week...

Quirky look: the unusual interior of House

Restaurant Review: Queen's Quarter gastro pub a welcome addition to the club

There is a lack of pubs which serve good food in Belfast. When Meghan and Harry "nipped" into the Crown Bar for lunch last month, many of us swallowed hard in disbelief.

The interior of Oliver’s at Ballyhackmore in east Belfast

Restaurant review: Oliver's restaurant

The smug faces around east Belfast's Ballyhackamore district would put you off your dinner. Now that they have been told that their barrio is the best place to live in the Western hemisphere, Ballyhackamorians are strutting around being impossibly self-satisfied.

Restaurant review: The Jolly Sandwich Shop - unleash your food fantasies in cafe with...

If Beatrix Potter had ever gone into the catering business, she would have opened a cafe just like the Jolly Sandwich Shop. Nestled in the heart of Enniskillen town centre, the shop isn't really a shop at all. It is a classic, ting-a-ling, old school cafe restaurant, the kind...

Jumon has a clubby, illicit look and offers comfort and fast service

Restaurant review: Jumon - unusual and probably unique

Jumon is one of the most exciting new restaurants to open so far this year. Its interior is explosively youthful, the menu is like nothing you've ever seen here and the service is as polished as you'd expect in a more conventional, more established place.

Restaurant Review: Barking Dog team takes the lead in trend for world tapas

The signs of a collapsing civilisation are upon us: self-service check-outs in supermarkets, automated pumps at petrol stations and online banking services amount to a collective rejection of human contact. Automation is the avoidance of compassion, the reverse of...

Stylish: Buba has a clean, fresh, Levant-inspired look

Restaurant Review: Cathedral Quarter gets taste of Middle Eastern promise

People can be divided into two groups. Those who love their food and those who don't. The most depressing conversation I can have is with the moron who regards food as fuel. "Don't know what you're on about, mate. Food's something to keep you going." Or:...

Eipic offers visitors just the right amount of formality and comfort

Restaurant review Eipic: Enjoying luxurious lunch on Eipic scale

Even though Belfast's international foodie destination reputation basks in the glory of its two Michelin-starred assets, Ox and Eipic, there has always been a debate over which one is better. Their prices are similar, the food in both is of international standard...

The impressive interior of Revolucion de Cuba

Restaurant review: Revolucion de Cuba

Nothing prompts sneering cynicism among certain classes than super-pubs, restaurant chains and small-town night clubs. Those of us who enjoy nothing more than our living room pre-ing, followed by taxis to PizzaExpress, or Zen, and ending the night in Lavery's, or the Errigle, avoiding the police and the drunks on the way home, know what to expect.

Restaurant review: A Taste of Prehistory

Belfast has evolved in two decades to claim its rightful place at the top of a glittering array of foodie cities and destinations from across the world. Which other city, I ask you, of barely 350,000 people, can claim two Michelin-starred restaurants, a rich seam of excellent mid-range bistros and brasseries, country house pubs and some of the best fast-food outlets available.

Townhouse No 3 is deserving of Michelin star status, according to a judge on a well-known TV food show

Restaurant review: San Niklaw Estate and Townhouse No 3

In a recent household survey, food came out in front of sun, sea and sand as the single-most important consideration when booking a holiday. The survey, conducted in my house, reveals that if you go to any destination in the Mediterranean basin, the weather will...

Restaurant review The Lobster Pot: Transformed village venue worth the visit

Years ago when the Irish hospitality sector was an inconceivable concept, I went to the Lobster Pot in Strangford. In those days there were plenty of pubs and a handful of places which served crisps. But the 20th century Irish lounge bar was not always a...

Restaurant review: Indus Valley

One of Belfast's top curry restaurant owners, Ali Askir also happens to be the founder of the Irish Curry Awards, the only food awards on the island of Ireland to have received international Asian broadcast attention thanks to the TV station ATM Bangla and its global audience. (As head judge of these awards, my co-judges and I are unexpectedly big in Bangladesh.)

The stylish dining room at Fallon & Byrne in Dublin city centre

Restaurant review: Fallon & Byrne

Belfast and Dublin's restaurant portfolios differ radically. They reveal a character in both cities distinctive from each other, yet mutually very attractive. Belfast may be much smaller and grittier than grand old Dublin, but its restaurants have, perhaps, a broader appeal. Also, it costs less to eat well in Belfast than it does in Dublin.

Restaurant review: Banh

You wait three years for a decent Thai restaurant to open and then two come along at the same time. Towards the very end of 2017, both new restaurants, Bo Tree Kitchen and Banh, opened coincidentally within weeks of each other after a stasis of three years since the closure of the popular Bo Tree Thai in Belfast's University Road.

Restaurant review: Bo Tree Kitchen, Belfast - return of Siamese twin will leave you tongue...

Ever since the doors closed on the Bo Tree Thai restaurant, Belfast has been left in a kind of Siamese limbo with little if any access to authentic gai pad ped, tom yam het or kung pad prik pao.

Parson’s Nose delivers a top quality dining experience

Restaurant review: a list of the top 10 restaurants in Northern Ireland by Joris Minne

Putting together a list of the top 10 restaurants in Northern Ireland is an invitation to getting your head kicked in. Even as I go through the list of 52 reviewed restaurants of 2017, an intractable argument rages in my head over who should or shouldn't be included. This...

Restaurant review: Tribal Burger and Build-a-Burger

Burgers. You can't live with them and you can't live without them. The simplest of foods, anyone can make them. A burger is a sandwich and as long as the sandwich features a bun or bap split in two and a patty, pretty much anything else can be added.

Restaurant review: We take a bite from Clenaghans

Successful country house hotels and restaurants, bars and bistros work because they conform to a notion of rural life lifted straight from the pages of coffee table magazines found in city centre apartments and homes across the posher parts of cities...

Bull and Ram in Belfast (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Restaurant review Bull and Ram Belfast: No bull, this is one restaurant that you'll never regret...

I'm getting tired of inflamed sensitivities when it comes to favourite restaurants and takeaways. You make one claim about the best fish and chip shop in Belfast (undisputedly John Long's) or Indian takeaway (Asha in Bangor) and the crazed hounds of Cu...

The dining room is bright and functional

Restaurant review: We take a bite out of Graze

Graze in east Belfast has carved out a sound reputation for consistency in service and food in the four years of its existence. Despite drivers entering the restaurant unannounced (a nice convertible Jaguar crashed through the front door last year) and the growth nearby of a restaurant culture, Graze has maintained and indeed built on its success.

The attractive interior of Cleaver House in central Belfast

Restaurant review: We try out Café Parisien

The cradle of the culinary arts is in Lyon, France, where food is regarded as high art. It boasts a raft of Michelin-starred restaurants and is home to Paul Bocuse. Even the best restaurant in Paris, owned by legendary chef Alain Ducasse, is called Aux Lyonnais. An ancient and tiny bistro, it is the perfect encapsulation of everything you ever thought of as being a typical French café restaurant...

The plush interior of Babel in Belfast’s Bullitt Hotel

Restaurant review: Babel at Bullitt Hotel

In tourism terms Belfast has gone from sticky-carpeted, ring of steel, smicked-out, club-land, fag butt, to hotter-than-South Beach, Michelin-starred, celestial plain of abundant joy and a hundred thousand welcomes city break destination. In less than two decades we have radically changed our tone and outlook. Would-you-drink-up-now-please! has been replaced by: would-sir-prefer-the-61-or-82-...

Restaurant review: The Hillside, Co Down

It's one of the most charming little pubs in the North. Behind the tiny door is a tiny lounge with hobbit furniture and flagstone floor. It's compelling and beautiful and just the job for visiting family and friends who may still have certain views about the North.

Restaurant review: Edo, Belfast

What Belfast really needs is a Spanish restaurant. The city is brilliant at the good quality, mid-range, mid-price bistro and informal, casual dining thing, so you'd think a Spanish restaurant would be the perfect fit.

Restaurant review: The Honest Vegan, Belfast

The vegans are coming. Until a few years ago in Belfast and the broader north, veganism was a marginal lifestyle chosen by people who didn't drive cars and sent their children to school in Crocs and black socks and with mushroom sandwiches.

James Street South Bar & Grill is among Belfast’s most popular restaurants

Restaurant review: Is James Street South bar & grill's new addition to menu a cut above the...

We are very squeamish about veal. Wee calves tug the heartstrings much more effectively than, say, wee lambs, whose legs we happily remove, roast and devour. In my book, both are equally cute, yet calves must have a better PR agency because we don't...

Skinny Kitchen on Belfast’s Boucher Road has more taste and variety on the menu than you might think

Restaurant review: Skinny Kitchen

It was inevitable. The health police were going to get us in the end. Too much fat, excessive sugar and an abundance of red meat over the last 20 years or so have left us reeling in our gyms and gasping for breath in our Nike trainers.

Umi Falafel promises to give neighbouring outlets a run for their money, particularly with students

Restaurant review: We take a bite out of Umi Falafel

Belfast's Botanic Avenue has suddenly become a culinary United Nations. Barely 600 yards long, the avenue is home to 29 restaurants and cafes.

Groucho’s in Richhill is a bar restaurant which is worth seeking out

Restaurant review: Groucho's, Armagh

Richhill lies a mile off the beaten track which is the main road linking Armagh with Portadown. In all the years I lived in Armagh I never made it into Richhill principally because there wasn't anything in it that didn't already exist in the home city.

Restaurant review: Salt Bistro, Belfast

Restaurants come in three categories. Regardless of price range or star-rating restaurants can be classed under the three headings: "Deserves to succeed", "Should be placed on life support", or "Avoid".

The interior of Brunel’s above Newcastle’s Anchor Bar

Restaurant review: Brunel's, at the Anchor Bar

Brunel's, the restaurant above the Anchor Bar in Newcastle, should have been included in the recently published Good Food Guide, a Waitrose publication. Mysteriously, it wasn't.