Hillsborough Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “The ingredients are fresh, local and put together with verve” at Chris McGowan’s five-year-old venue. The Great British Menu star, who worked for Richard Corrigan and Pierre Koffmann, brought newfound contemporary techniques such as brining and fermenting to small-town Co Down – executed with “exceptional dedication” and “warm and professional service”.

2021 Review: Solidly good marks last 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.

2021 Review: 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”.

“I was able to eat Alex Greene’s GBM-winning Incredible Edible Book and it was just as delicious as it looked, topping off a great meal!” – Michael Deane’s flagship destination in the city-centre won nothing but praise for its ambitious and much-accoladed cuisine, with chef Alex offering an à la carte selection or menu surprise at quieter times, but with the main event being the £100 per head tasting menu. Eipic itself is on the top floor of a three-floor operation run by Deane, and you enter via the other spaces.

Jonny Elliott’s “buzzing restaurant a short walk from Belfast City Hall” is set around “an open kitchen where you can sit and watch the busy chefs prepare your food” – “Spanish (and more)-style plates with fresh local produce (the scallops were fabulous), a good wine list and friendly, attentive staff” make it an attractive option. Linguistic note: ‘edo’ is Latin for ‘I eat’.

“Very atmospheric, rustic and friendly, and with exceptional seafood” – this cosy venue is one of the best-known in the city (and also has a sister establishment in Dundrum) – “have eaten here several times and would certainly recommend it”. Last year we commented on its excellent newly extended beer garden with gazebos, which in July 2023 was the victim of an arson attack – here’s hoping it’s soon restored to its former glory.

2021 Review: “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”.

2022 Review: “Fabulous fishy food” is “freshly cooked and served by very friendly staff” at this straightforward but jolly three-storey spot – Belfast’s first sustainable seafood restaurant, whose menu ranges beyond chippie staples to local Carlingford oysters and other Irish seafood. “All in all a wonderful experience and well worth a visit”.

Glasgow chef Nico Simeone’s distinctive concept has grown into a national chain with 11 restaurants (including Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf) in just six years, offering a quick-changing succession of themed six-course menus for under £50 a head. It’s widely seen as “fantastic value” and has a sizeable fanbase amongst reporters (“every six weeks, the menu renews and for me, it is something to look forward to…”; “we simply love it and we’ve yet to miss a menu!” – “the Tokyo menu was so good we went back a second time”). Only a tiny few say, “you can feel you’re on a conveyor belt with lots of upsells”; or that the whole thing is “a dystopia of where restaurants will evolve”.