Belfast Restaurant Guide

“Amazing food” and “prestige wines” are “delivered with a bit of ‘craic’” at former Ox chef Gareth McCaughey’s increasingly well-known open-kitchen venue in the Cathedral Quarter, named after a revolutionary secret society in the 1790s, which is celebrating its fifth year of operation this year. “The surprise tasting menu always feels like a real treat” and delivers “outstanding” results.

A “bustling” operation from Johnny Elliott, who learnt the ropes with Gordon Ramsay and Gary Rhodes, before setting up on his own in the city-centre two years back; choose between “brilliant tapas” or meaty dishes cooked on the rare Bertha oven, which uses apple and pear wood for a smoky flavour.

Solidly good marks this year for Niall and Joanne McKenna’s “understated and classy” venue, which last year incorporated its neighbouring ‘bar and grill’ and fine dining operations into a single more brasserie-style set-up, complete with cocktail bar: many of the dishes, including steaks, come from the charcoal grill.

“Good fish in down-to-earth surroundings” has won renown for this simple haunt (which has an offshoot in Dundrum) serving its own shellfish direct from the owners’ beds.

Marty Murphy’s well-liked, industrially styled brasserie (est 2013, and recently revamped, adding to its appeal) may not gain any particular raves, but is a decidedly “decent” spot by all accounts – and, even on a “very busy Saturday night, it still produces good solid cooking”.

“When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.