The dining scene in Belfast is where the city is really coming into its own. From award-winning restaurants and fresh seafood to 100% locally sourced produce and farm-to-fork fare, there’s a real foodie renaissance taking over the capital. With so much competition, there are some excellent bargains to be had, especially at lunchtime. Keep an ear to the ground for new openings.
The restaurants below have been grouped into three pricing categories:
Expensive (over £45)
Moderate (£35 to £45)
Cheap (under £35)
These prices are for a three-course meal for one with half a bottle of wine or equivalent. Tax is included while tipping around 10% for good service is the norm.
Expensive
OX
Cuisine: EuropeanAsk anyone about food in Belfast, and it won’t take long for Michelin-starred OX to drop into the conversation. Unstuffy and unpretentious, this riverside restaurant achieves its reputation from fine, European dishes, made entirely from local, seasonal produce.
Address: , 1 Oxford Street, Belfast, BT1 3LATelephone: +44 28 9031 4121.
Website: http://www.oxbelfast.com
Shu
Cuisine: FrenchPerpetually popular, book early if you want a taste of Shu’s fantastic French-influenced food. Housed in a handsome Victorian terrace along Lisburn Road, this award-winning bistro cooks fresh, seasonal ingredients in a theatre-style kitchen. Order the salt and chilli squid, and you’ll return again and again.
Address: , 253 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7ENTelephone: +44 28 9038 1655.
Website: http://www.shu-restaurant.com
The Great Room
Cuisine: Irish, British, FrenchThe stunning Great Room Restaurant, once the banking hall of the Ulster Bank (built 1860), is now the centrepiece of the 5-star Merchant Hotel. Only its wonderful fine dining surpasses its intricate Victorian interior with premium local produce sourced and served in traditional Irish, British and French dishes.
Address: 16 Skipper Street, The Merchant Hotel, Belfast, BT1 2DYTelephone: +44 28 9023 4888.
Website: http://www.themerchanthotel.com
Moderate
Deanes Love Fish
Cuisine: SeafoodFor great value, hook a seat at Michael Deanes Love Fish. Bright and airy, this casual dining spot has nautical touches like lobster nets and potholes mirrors and offers a very affordable lunch menu. The seafood chowder and Guinness wheaten is wonderful as is the simple but rollmop herrings on toast.
Address: , 28-40 Howard Street, Belfast, BT1 6PFTelephone: +44 28 9033 1134.
Website: http://www.michaeldeane.co.uk/love-fish
Made In Belfast
Cuisine: IrishChalking up the providence of its meat on blackboards, Made In Belfast (as the name suggests) takes considerable care in sourcing local ingredients, though its thrown together furniture – junk shop chairs, chunky tables, cubist tiles – gives an impression of fashionable indifference. The flat-iron steaks and ginger beer-battered cod are great but don’t leave without trying an earl grey mojito.
Address: , 1-2 Wellington Street, Belfast, BT1 6HTTelephone: +44 289 545 8120.
Website: http://www.madeinbelfastni.com
Mourne Seafood
Cuisine: SeafoodThis stylish but simple restaurant offers the freshest local mussels, oysters and seafood classics as well as more creative concoctions, all at very reasonable prices.
Address: , 34-36 Bank Street, Belfast, BT1 1HLTelephone: +44 28 9024 8544.
Website: http://www.mourneseafood.com
Cheap
Brights
Cuisine: IrishAs well-lit as its name proposes, bustling Brights is where locals chomp down on hearty Irish meals like Ulster fry and cider-poached gammon with champ (spring onion mash potato). It also does the best belly-filling Irish stew in the city, which comes mounded high in a bowl with soft wheaten bread. Arrive early to avoid the lunchtime rush.
Address: , 23-25 High Street, Belfast, BT1 2AATelephone: +44 28 9024 5688.
Website: http://www.brightsrestaurantbelfast.co.uk
The Morning Star
Cuisine: IrishPub food is a staple of the Belfast restaurant scene. This classic Belfast inn (a 200-year-old coaching house) serves the best pub food in the city. It is famous for its steaks, homemade pies, and liver pate.
Address: , 17-19 Pottingers Entry, Belfast, BT1 4DTTelephone: +44 28 9023 5986.
Website: http://www.themorningstarbar.com
The National Grande Café
Cuisine: BritishThis former bank now looks like an artist’s warehouse: the industrial girder over head is bright yellow with lights hanging from exposed wiring. Ideal for breakfast, it does an excellent eggs Benedict and filter coffees with daily papers available too. For something wholesome, try the porridge with rum and cacao cream.
Address: , 62-68 High Street, Belfast, BT1 2BETelephone: +44 28 9031 1130.
Website: http://www.thenationalbelfast.com
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