Chef Niall McKenna impressed me years ago on Great British Menu and I really loved his restaurant on James Street South in central Belfast.  When I was over three years ago I found he had changed the restaurant from ‘fine’ to ‘more accessible’ dining and changed its name by dropping the “South”.  It had a busier buzz about the place, good quality food, but less fancy or innovative.  I had a good dinner back in 2019, so I booked to eat there again (online) on my last visit to Belfast in March 2022.

Mr A and I arrived with a cousin and his wife (Mr & Mrs S) for our 6.45pm table, and already the place had a good atmosphere, so we had an aperitif to lift us into the good vibes!

Three of us started with scallops, served with Irish pork belly and cauliflower puree.  I wasn’t that impressed because the 2 scallops were small (queen scallops), the pork was a little fatty for my liking, and the cauliflower puree had a very strong, dominating flavour. 6/10

For the main course Mr & Mrs S shared a chateaubriand, while I went for duck breast, roasted hispi cabbage, roasted purple carrot and an orange carrot puree.  Everything tasted great, especially the accompanying duck jus 8/10

I also ordered a side of “champ”, an Irish potato puree with aliums, but I found that rather too wet.

We declined dessert, but went for one of their “dessert cocktails”; Lemon Meringue Martini, which was yummy.

My total bill for four people with cocktails and wines was £357.50, which I was happy with because we’d all had a good time. And because we were chatting so well I didn’t take as many notes or photos as usual, hence this somewhat shorter review.  Overall 7/10