6 Best Restaurants in Northern Ireland

This self-styled "restolounge" in the happening Cathedral Quarter is one of Belfast's buzziest bistros and is especially popular with weekend brunch lovers (10:30--12:30). Decorated in a giant mishmash of vintage lamps and fabrics, 1950s collectibles, and drawings from local artists, this outlet follows the Cuisinart school of restaurant design, mixing and matching all sorts of antiques and upcycled objects, including a ceiling covered in glossy magazine photographs. It's truly one of Belfast's most eye-popping decors. The typewritten menu, set on clipboards, showcases seasonal and retro dishes, specializing in steaks best downed with fab cocktails such as the Jaw Breaker with Jawbox gin, ginger, lemon and lime, and homemade honeycomb. Start with whipped goat cheese or delectable tomato jam and Guinness wheat bread.

You’d be hard-pressed to eat this well, for so little money, in such relaxed surroundings anywhere else in Northern Ireland or indeed the whole island. Lunches are either two courses (£30) or three (£35) with choices such as smoked Armagh goose, wild wood pigeon with figs and salisfy, or halibut and lemongrass, and to cap it all, views through the large windows stretch over the River Lagan to the glowing 56-foot-tall Ring of Thanksgiving beacon by the Scottish artist Andy Scott. Dinner entrées—unadulterated with butter or cream—could be châteaubriand, wild venison, or cured river trout. The six-course seasonal tasting menu costs £65, or £95 with wine, while the four-course menu is £50, or £85 with wine. They are served for dinner on weekends with European wine pairings to each course, from the amuse-bouche to the white chocolate parfait. In the Ox Cave next door, you can enjoy light bites from a charcuterie, cheeseboard, (try the Boyne Valley Blue or the triple cream Ballylisk) and other nibbles with live music every Saturday from 9 pm.

Part restaurant and café, part cocktail bar, part French-style patisserie, Primrose overlooks the Quay and is all raves from Derry foodies. Main courses may include roasted cod loin with parsnips and butter sauce, bacon loin with choucroute, pulled pork, or haddock with buttermilk batter, best washed down with local craft beers such as Northbound's Oak Smoked Beer from their Campsie brewery near Derry. Their "scratch" bakery—so-called because all breads and cakes are made fresh from scratch every day—produces scrumptious desserts such as lemon meringue pie, carrot cake, or gluten-free lemon and blueberry drizzle cake. The high-quality patisserie is famed for such delights as strawberry and white chocolate scones or treacle tart.

Modern Irish classics with an international twist attract the foodie crowd to this cheerful bistro just off Great Victoria Street, which was extended in 2018 to become a 70-seat bistro. A short but perfectly balanced menu emphasizes locally sourced seafood and lean meats. Fishy dinner highlights include plaice, sea bass, or hake. Braised-then-roasted belly of pork with fennel is popular, but the flavorsome fried squid far outsells anything else on the menu, and don't forget the parsnip chips to go with it. For lunch goers in a hurry there is an excellent-value menu with haddock and chips, fish pie, and rib-eye steak, as well as an impressive vegetarian selection. The wines are outstanding, or try malt-flavored handcrafted Belfast ales or lagers from the Mourne Mountains, made with Saaz hops and yeast.

A huge mural on brick walls features a top-hatted Isambard Kingdom Brunel, this relaxed seafood restaurant's namesake and a famous figure in engineering history with connections to the area. The food philosophy here means using seasonal and local produce, and the menu features wild ingredients freshly foraged from nearby Dundrum Bay or Strangford Lough. Lunch and dinner are on offer, with main evening fish courses such as halibut or coley, as well as a variety of delicious meat and pasta dishes.

The mainstay of this classy city-center big hitter with an epic reputation is County Tyrone sirloin, rib eye, or beef fillet steaks as well as prime cuts including enormous Tomahawk steaks (for two) cooked to your liking on a charcoal grill. Based in a former linen mill, exposed brick walls and leather banquettes set the scene for a terrific meal. For an appetizer, try the Kilkeel crab and chili linguine or smoked eel and duck egg. Popular lunch choices may include blue cheese salad with candied walnuts or roast monkfish, while the two-course pre-theater menu (4:30--6:30) is a good value at £19.50. Evening staples of steak, fish, pork, and chicken are served with the Comber potato, characterized by its sweet, buttery flavor and harvested earlier than other potatoes; May and June are peak months to enjoy them. Such is their importance that they have been given a European designation of protection. Wash it all down with a choice of classic dry reds from the vineyards of Burgundy or Loire Valley favorites such as Sancerre or the smoky gunflint-flavored Pouilly-Fumé.