Belfast, International Restaurant Guide

“Excellent tapas-style dishes (not all Spanish themed), a decent wine list and great cocktails with efficient and friendly service” combine to make Jonny Elliott’s four-year-old an attractive option in the centre of town. There’s an open kitchen so “you can watch the chefs working away, including their wood-fired oven” – one of the first Bertha ovens in Ireland.

Chef Nico Simeone’s “amazing-value set-meal” concept, launched in Glasgow in 2017, has now opened in Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf, offering “a six-course tasting menu for only £37” – a “clever formula” with “well thought-out feasts that entice a bubbly audience”. “The menu changes every six weeks”, and is “themed around an experience” – ‘the circus’, ‘the Amalfi coast’ and ‘the chippie’ have all featured – with the cooking winning high praise for “variety, skill and quality”.

2018 Review: A chic Cathedral Quarter two-year-old, set in a former 1760s iron foundry, from James Street South luminary Niall McKenna; the set lunch includes some “great culinary delights”, and is a bit of a steal.