News

Good Food Guide 2019 by Waitrose & Partners

6th September saw the launch of The Good Food Guide 2019 by Waitrose & Partners and  the guide reveals the top places in the United Kingdom to dine.

In Northern Ireland, the top scoring restaurant is OX with a cooking score of 6 out of 10. An excerpt from The Good Food Guide states; “Despite the hard-edge surroundings, where half-boarded walls meet whitewashed brick, OX is a gentle beast! It’s ambience softening in the evenings into sympathetic tone helped along gently by the chatty warmth of staff. The menus printed on brown card list what’s in season week by week, much of which you can expect to find on the single tasting menu.”

New entries for The Good Food Guide 2019, from Northern Ireland included, Clenaghans in County Armagh and Yugo in Belfast, County Antrim.

The Good Food Guide 2019 also look out for ‘Best Local Restaurant’. Readers were asked to nominate their favourite neighbourhood eateries – places that gave off warm welcome feelings and shared a passion for local produce, plus commitment to the local community.

Northern Irish readers voted Hadski’s the ‘Best Local Restaurant’, The Good Food Guide states; “This cool, narrow strip of a place in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter is a champion of Northern Irish produce. Serving an all-day menu that takes in brunch, appealing small plates, plus fish and meat options from the charcoal grill, it’s all things to all people. Regular Wine Mondays and Meat Feast Wednesdays keep locals happy, and the kitchen trains up catering and hospitality students.”

Three restaurants were awarded a 10 out of 10 cooking score – one of which was ‘Core’ – in London’s Notting Hill. Core were a new entry this year and has been labelled ‘Highest ever new entry’. Core’s head-chef, Clare Smyth is originally from Northern Ireland. Clare shared, “‘We are absolutely blown away by the news. It is wonderful to receive this kind of endorsement from such a well respected and loved guide. It is so good to know that people appreciate what we have all been working so hard for at Core”.

(Pictured : Clare Smyth – Core – London’s Notting Hill)