NESTLED in the heart of historic Belfast Castle, a new restaurant is set to be crowned king of the city's food scene.
Cellar Restaurant is a lively, homely and family-friendly restaurant, serving the best that Belfast has to offer.
The kitchen is run by Ben Brett, former head chef of the popular Six by Nico chain, offering lunch and dinner seven days a week.
With the promise of great food and local ingredients at the heart of the menu in the midst of a magical setting, I eagerly anticipated a visit for a Friday afternoon lunch with three colleagues.
The surroundings are stunning, allowing you to step back in time and experience the Victorian-style paved street, shop fronts and gas lights, all original features when work on the castle was first completed.
For starter, I opted for one of my favourites, Pil Pil prawns – delicious but so often restaurants get it wrong. The classic Spanish dish here consisted of chilli and garlic Portavogie prawns with sourdough bread.
To say it was divine would be an understatement. This was on par with the best Pil Pil prawns I've had – and I've had quite a few. The sourdough was used to mop up – and believe I mopped up every last drop.
A colleague was intrigued by the curried cauliflower popcorn – locally sourced cauliflower florets fried in a lightly-curried batter and served with a curry mayo dressing. He described it as a "delightful way to eat a vegetable" with plenty of flavour. The portion was very generous also.
On to the mains and the highlight across the table was the 8oz sirloin steak, served with crispy onion rings, peppercorn sauce and any side. It was devoured by my colleague, who was feeling a bit under the weather and said it hit the spot so much that she felt much better afterwards. Job done!
Another colleague went for the chicken stack, coated in a creamy peppercorn sauce, served on mash and topped with tobacco onions.
We were later informed by Head Chef Ben that chicken stack is not a common dish outside Ireland, which I was surprised by. The Cellar version was probably the best I have seen; the chicken was succulent and pan-fried, rather than the usual battered chicken I have witnessed elsewhere.
I opted for something quite different in the form of Steak Fries. Loaded fries have become something of a cliché but prime Ulster steak on a bed of homemade thick cut chips topped with cheese, pepper sauce and tobacco onions was simply irresistible to me. The portion was more than enough for a main course and a lunch at the same time. And oop marks for using thick cut chips, rather than skinny fries too.
With the final main my colleague continued his theme of taking a break from meat for the day. After his cauliflower starter, he went for the wild mushroom pasta, consisting of locally-sourced mushrooms, grana padano cheese and rocket salad. The dish screamed quality local produce and was chock full of flavour.
We thought we would treat ourselves and ordered the four dessert options to share between us. For me, the highlight was the crème brûlée, the absolute classic dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hardened caramelized sugar. It is always satisfying to see and taste it done so perfectly – top marks to the Cellar for their spot-on take on the classic.
Also ordered was the delicious homemade sticky toffee pudding served with Mullins ice-cream; crumble of the day, which was apple; and cake of the day, which was chocolate gateau. All were freshly made and scrumptious – the perfect end to an exceptional food experience at Cellar.
Belfast Castle is a stunning venue in the city and deserves a good restaurant to bring in visitors. With Cellar Restaurant, they have just that. I can't wait for my next visit. The only question being, will I do the Cave Hill walk first, or wait till afterwards?
Book your table online now here.
