Cat Meffan

Best Restaurants in Belfast

This isn’t my usual kind of post, but I always feel it necessary to share awesome things with you that I love, so here goes with the best restaurants in Belfast. I recently went on a girls weekend to Belfast and where usually I’d have a big part in researching the best restaurants in Belfast, this time I went away not having a clue where we’d be eating. I trust my friends though, they’re all foodies and massively appreciate a good meal.

One thing I’d say is that we didn’t go for fancy restaurants that serve tiny artistic-looking portions. What we ate were good hearty meals, just cooked amazingly with incredible flavours.

HARLEM CAFE

We were due to go here for brunch on our first day, but sadly missed the brunch menu, so ended up being there for a late lunch. Normally that might upset me as brunch food is my absolute favourite, but looking at the menu I could see that we were in for a good time. I went for the vegetable & pesto panini with salad and sweet potato fries, which I know may sound pretty standard, but it was delicious. The girls had the haddock and chips, which by the sight of their empty plates I could tell was very much enjoyed. The restaurant was absolutely packed, so definitely book in advance if you can.

Harlem Cafe Website

MADE IN BELFAST

Located in the heart of the city centre, Made In Belfast was again clearly very popular as every table was full. The menu was big without being so big that you begin to wonder if they can cook anything well and the staff were so friendly. I can be a bit of a nightmare with my food fussiness, but our waiter did his best to find an option that worked for me. Everything was cooked fresh and they were very willing to alter dishes to suit the customer. I had the vegetarian special, which was a pumpkin and lentil curry with coconut rice and I asked for some broccoli to be added. It was the best vegetarian curry I’ve ever had. Yep, big statement, but true. The chocolate fondant for pudding was extremely tasty too!

Made In Belfast Website

THE BARKING DOG

The Barking Dog is slightly out of Belfast City Centre, near to the university, but it was so worth the walk. I felt sorry for our waiter, Kevin, as we were a rather loud group of girls wanting to change many things on the menu (mainly just me!), but he went with it and was very helpful. Even offering to do a starter portion of a main course for me as I couldn’t decide between the two. To start I had the sweet potato ravioli (pictured above) and then the fish pie for my main. I’ve never had fish pie before as I’m a bit fussy (surprise surprise!) with the fish I like, but I was able to chose what I had in it, so went for salmon, haddock and egg. It was a pretty big portion, so I left a tiny bit and I needed space for the sticky toffee pudding! My girlfriends tell me that the expresso martinis were incredible too, so for those looking for cocktails with their dinner, I’d recommend this place. I’m torn between The Barking Dog and Made in Belfast for the top spot of the best restaurants in Belfast, but I think The Barking Dog might just win. Only by a little bit though!

The Barking Dog Website

SMUGGLERS INN

Ok so not technically in Belfast, but as a lot of people (like us) go to Belfast and then drive up to see Giant’s Causeway, I thought I’d add this one in. We hadn’t planned lunch this day and from experience a most pubs next to a tourist attraction think they can get away with mediocre food as they are guaranteed customers. This was the case with Smugglers Inn. Yes it was just a B&B and pub, but two of my friends had the seafood chowder and were absolutely loving it. I had a goats cheese and tomato tartlet which was good too.

Smugglers Inn Website 

So there you have it, my round up of the best restaurants in Belfast. Hopefully you’ll have the chance to try one or all of them if you’re heading there any time soon!

Happy eating! Love, Cat x