What to eat in Belfast
To celebrate St Patrick’s Day (17 March), we asked Niall to tell us about top restaurants and producers in Northern Ireland’s capital
Itrained in Belfast and at 19, began working for chef Paul Rankin when he opened Roscoff. I also worked in London for nearly 10 years but always wanted to return home, so in 2003, I opened James St. Belfast is a relatively small city but we have an abundance of world-class chefs including Gareth Mcgaughey from The Muddlers Club,
Stephen Toman from
Ox and Chris Mcgowan from Wine & Brine. There are also plenty of artisan
producers such as Ispini Charcuterie (ispinicharcuterie.com) which offers an amazing range of locally produced cured meats and salami, and Nearynogs chocolates (nearynogs.com), a Northern Irish chocolate manufacturer who imports ethically sourced cacao beans from around the world. Local produce is the base of everything we do – it’s in our DNA. Our success is down to our producers who are dedicated to traceability and passionate about quality. My favourite dishes on the menu at James St. are the James St. plate - a selection of canapé-style versions of our starters including cured Ewing’s salmon, ham hock terrine with pickles, grilled vegetables with
goat’s curd and our best-selling Kilkeel crab on toast. For main, the T-bone steak – Fermanagh beef cooked medium rare on our Josper grill, and for dessert, baked Alaska. If you’re visiting Belfast, have a look on social media at @fancycheeseco. Mike Thomson is a young cheesemaker who created one of the UK’S finest blue cheeses, and has just opened his first shop, Young Buck, in the city. @Meatpeter, Peter Hannan is a renowned meat producer and a tremendous ambassador for food in Northern Ireland; @dishyouwerehere, Belfast-based food bloggers; and @zacs_bakehouse, an artisan bread producer. My favourite foodie places in the city include brunch at my local café General Merchants on Ormeau Road. For a family evening meal with the kids, I opt for Little Wing (littlewingpizzeria.com), a great locally owned pizzeria and I like Bo Tree Kitchen (botreekitchen.com) for hot and spicy Thai cuisine, and Tribal Burger (tribalburger.com) for handmade burgers and spicy chicken wings. jamesstandco.com