Boojum
Belfast foodies talk about Boojum with almost mystical reverence. That might seem OTT for what, at first glance, looks like a standard Tex-Mex, assembly-line burrito joint, but Boojum is a cut above that. The thick and tender, rope-like tangle of braised, shredded beef in my fat fist of a burrito was excellent. Like everything else in that wrap – from a stridently hot, smoky salsa to the spicy, tomato-based savoury rice – it had a fresh, well-defined flavour. No wonder Boojum is busy.
Note: it also has a branch at Botanic Avenue
• Dishes from £5.10. 19-27 Chichester Street, 028-9023 0600, boojummex.com. Open daily 11.30am-10pm
The Cuban Sandwich Factory
This Cuban-owned joint is alive with Latin music and rapid-fire Spanish instructions issuing from its small galley kitchen, and its food (mainly pressed, toasted Cuban sandwiches) is equally vibrant. A sample choripán cubano of coarse chorizo grilled with tangy, verdant chimichurri, offered several layers of texture and flavour. Yellow mustard and spiced Cuban mayo added further pep to a sandwich which, with all that meat and cheese, could otherwise become a bit of a chore. It’s colourfully mocked up to look like a weather-beaten, sun-bleached cafe in downtown Havana, and food can be eaten inside or while browsing the shops in adjoining Queen’s Arcade.
• Sandwiches from £4.50. 29-31 Queens Arcade, on Facebook. Open Mon-Wed and Fri 8am-5pm, Thurs 8am-6pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 11am-4pm
Hadski’s
This Cathedral Quarter spin-off from chef Niall McKenna’s much-raved-over James Street South is a buzzy, casual brasserie – complete with counter-seating around an open kitchen – which, until 4pm, is also great value. Each afternoon, dishes such as warm salad of potato, fried egg and Clonakilty black and white pudding; spaghetti carbonara; porcini risotto; or peppery, perfumed pastrami with remoulade and pieces of what resembled XXL melba toast, are all knocked out at £6.50. Throw in the fromage du jour for dessert and you can do two courses for £10 on the nose. Service is friendly and efficient, so you can eat and move on pretty quickly if you wish – before the staff upsell you to a large glass of wine. If you are on a tight budget, be strong and stick to tap water.
• Lunch mains £6.50. 33 Donegall Street, Commercial Court, 028-9032 5444, hadskis.co.uk. Open Mon-Wed noon-9.30pm, Thurs-Fri noon-10pm, Sat 11am-10pm, Sun 11am-9.30pm
Bollywood Spice
Depending where you start, this tiny takeaway-cafe is about 20 minutes’ walk from central Belfast, but plough on – it is worth it. Bollywood Spice serves the full gamut of Indian dishes but, as its boards extolling the virtues of coconut-based cookery or explaining varutharachathu chicken curry indicate, it specialises in vibrant, assiduously spiced south Indian dishes. My masala dosa (£5) is a sound rendition. The pancake-like, fermented rice and lentil dosa has the correct light lactic edge: it is crispy and lacy but still malleable and it contains a melting potato filling reassuringly dotted with mustard seeds. A vegetable sambar on the side is a dense broth bobbing with whole dried chillies. The coconut chutneys are fresh and clean in a way that belies their latent heat. This was a curry with serious afterburn.
• Mains from £6.50. 199 Lisburn Road, 028-9543 8355, on Facebook. Open Sun-Wed 4.30pm-midnight, Thurs-Sat 4.30pm-2am
Wolf & Devour
Found en route to the Titanic Quarter by the so-called Big Fish sculpture (actually a modest catch), Wolf & Devour is a street food van that deals in large meaty portions of rib-sticking fodder. There is a lot of this stuff about, but Wolf & Devour’s food is accomplished and its lunches are sensibly priced at around the £6 mark. There is a certain quiet finesse to my 15-hour shredded brisket sandwich, with cheese, onions and coleslaw. Not only is the beef bouncing with flavour, but the barbecue sauce is nuanced and the toasted focaccia is light and airy. Elsewhere, the menu includes burgers, harissa chicken flatbreads, and soda bread sandwiches stuffed with local bangers.
• From £4.50. The Big Fish, Donegall Quay, @WolfandDevour. Open Tues-Fri 10am-3pm
John Long’s
Despite Long’s city-centre location, tourists would be unlikely to stumble across this spot hidden away behind a car park, next to a heavily fortified police station. The mesh grill on its windows make it look shut even when it is open. However, the smell of beef dripping wafting down Athol Street is alluring, and locals swear by an institution that has been dishing up fish suppers for over 100 years. Long’s opening hours (afternoons only, last orders at 6.20pm) and the interior – simple wooden booths separated by Formica screens – are suitably traditional. Everything is cooked to order. Long’s ethereally light, yielding chips, which deliver a proper potato flavour, live up to the hype – as does the impeccably fresh haddock, which falls apart in firm, silky flakes. The batter, though, is less impressive. Deeply tanned and well-seasoned, it has a lovely savoury edge to it but it is a shade too thick and, consequently, a bit undercooked and gluey directly beneath that crisp outer shell. Still, good fish and chips, and Belfast’s love of Long’s is not sentimentality.
• Meal deals from £4.10, haddock and chips £6.50 (takeaway). 39 Athol Street, johnlongs.com. Open Mon-Sat 11.45am-6.30pm
Coppi
City-centre sister restaurant to the highly regarded Il Pirata (toast of happening suburban ’hood Ballyhackamore), Coppi deals in a similar mix of cicchetti (small plates), pizzette and sharply executed pasta and risotto dishes. Bargain-hunting food fans should arrive between noon and 4pm, when Coppi serves a selection of main courses for £7. A plate of plump, pan-fried gnocchi with peppery, spicy ground pork was simple but full of good, accurate flavours. The broccoli was al dente and the Parmesan cream sauce correctly seasoned and elegant in its relative restraint. The space itself is a huge, dimly lit bar-restaurant, modishly decked out: not least with moody, black-and-white images shot by Christopher Martin along the route that the Giro d’Italia took when it visited Northern Ireland in 2014.
• Afternoon mains, £7. Unit 2, St Anne’s Square, 028-9031 1959, coppi.co.uk. Open Sun-Thurs noon-10pm, Fri-Sat noon-11pm
Established
A sparsely furnished, raw concrete box, busy with people tapping at MacBooks, Established may look like any number of modern coffee shops but it sets itself apart in several ways. First, its coffee is great. A sample rich, chocolatey flat white was knockout. Its food, while limited to a few dishes at breakfast and lunch, is predicated on good ingredients (breads come from the renowned Zac’s Bakehouse), and priced fairly, with most dishes coming in at around £5. There is an Ottolenghi vibe to lunch dishes of, say, lamb meatballs with hazelnut romesco and mint yoghurt or a salad of sumac- roasted squash with beetroot, sunflower seeds and tzatziki. A breakfast of wild mushrooms and spinach on good sourdough delivered a persuasive hillock of buttery, thoroughly seasoned funghi.
• Dishes £3.50-£5.50. 54 Hill Street, on Facebook. Open Mon-Fri 7am-6pm, Sat 8am-6pm, Sun 9am-6pm
Deane’s
In its latest incarnation, Michael Deane’s slick HQ has been split into three restaurants, with Love Fish and Meat Locker of interest to cash-conscious foodies (the third option is the fine-dining Eipic). He may be Belfast’s most celebrated chef, but Deane clearly has a grasp on financial realities. The bright, airy Love Fish, a pristine white room dominated by a large atrium, offers a £6.50 light lunch menu. There are open seafood sandwiches with fries, smoked salmon, Dundrum mussels, salt and chilli squid, and fish and chips. The portion of my sample prawn orzo was a modest but polished plate of food, the dense bisque and silky grains of pasta elegantly punctuated by small bursts of tart, sweet semi-dried tomato. Next door, in Meat Locker, a tight menu of £10 mains is served lunch/pre-theatre. It includes such dishes as braised pork belly with Roscoff onions and kale or the house burger with beef dripping-cooked chips. Talking of pre-theatre bargains, chef Simon McCance’s much-loved Ginger Bistro also serves a selection of its crowd-pleasing classics on weekday early evenings, at around £9 a pop (6-8 Hope Street, 028-9024 4421, gingerbistro.com).
• Love Fish, lunch dishes, £6.50. 28-40 Howard Street, 028-9033 1134, michaeldeane.co.uk. Open Mon-Sat noon-10pm. Meat Locker: Mon-Sat, lunch noon-3pm, dinner 5.30pm-10pm
General Merchants
About a mile from central Belfast, this stretch of the Ormeau Road is home to a fast-growing cluster of trendy cafes and bars. Belfast’s second General Merchants (the original is in Ballyhackamore) had not been open for a week when I visited, but it was packed. The stylish, varnished wooden interior and whitewashed walls has a slightly Danish feel, but General Merchant’s brunch-y, all-day menu is inspired by Australian cafe culture, where good coffee and pan-global fusion plates are the norm. Expect the menu to feature such dishes as huevos rancheros; pea fritters with labneh, poached eggs, sumac and pistachios; and toasted sourdough with Vegemite, smashed avocado, feta, mint and popped quinoa. At lunch, that choice is bulked out with a few gourmet sandwiches, a soup and a salad, all of which use quality local ingredients. My roast beef sandwich with crispy onions and celeriac was tasty, although the decision to serve it on a slight sweet buttermilk roll is a curious one.
• Dishes £2.25-£8.50. 361 Ormeau Road, on Facebook. Open Mon-Wed 8am-6pm, Thurs-Sat 8am-11pm, Sun 9am-6pm
Accommodation was provided by Malmaison Belfast, 34-38 Victoria Street, Belfast , 028-9600 1405, malmaison.com. Malmaison is currently offering rooms booked online four months in advance from £40 a night. General rates from £95 a night room only. Travel between Manchester and Belfast was provided by easyJet. Fares start from £21.49pp one-way, including taxes (based on two people travelling on the same booking)
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