Brunch or do lunch at this uber-trendy spot. Husband and wife owners Peter and Emma McCleery are real globetrotters and the ideas they’ve picked up on their travels are evident in this European style eaterie.
They want you to feel as at home sipping a glass of Sauvignon Blanc as taking a cup of Suki tea or Segafredo coffee. The customer may be kings and queens but so too are the network of local suppliers of the best vegetables, cheese, beef and fish.
Brunchers will love the porridge and raisins and the eggy bread. The lunchtime salads and sandwiches are completely classy. The BBC (bacon brie and cranberry) is a particular favourite. Naturally Comber potatoes feature widely.
Try Walters Smoked salmon, capers, crème fruit and house wheaten and Peter Hannans salt aged sirloin with Irish portabello mushroom and roasted cherry tomatoes.
This is a real sweet spot! Now open late Wednesday to Sunday. Last orders 9pm.
Pub grub overlooking Donaghadee Harbour. What’s not to like? Both the food and the service are of a consistently high standard here. The Guardian named it one of the Top 6 Fish Restaurants in the UK and it’s also won the BBC Olive magazine Gastro Pub of the Year Award. What got them going were the daily specials. They cook with Strangford Lough’s best shellfish and superb local monkfish, lobster and sole.
Meat eaters need not worry either. They hang their own beef, so it’s perfectly tender. The local venison and organic gammon are well worth trying. The day we were there we munched on whitebait followed by bread and butter pudding for lunch, but we’re going back to have those queenie scallops.
Try the new lunch and grill value menus. Two courses with a glass of wine just £15.90 Monday-Thursday.
You can stay overnight too, but we’d be tempted to book in for the week just to try everything! But why not start off with the Steak and Stay for two with dinner, wine and B&B for just £119. It’s a no brainer!
The Percy French is the more informal little brother of the Oak Restaurant at the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa. It’s set in the same stunning grounds and is popular with locals and tourists alike. It’s undergone some refurbishment work and has a fantastic open-plan kitchen where you can see the chefs at work. That roaring open fire is perfect for a cosy pint after a bracing walk on the beach or in the mountains.
As with all of the restaurants in the Hastings Hotels group, great local ingredients are key. The menus change frequently but the starters include a variety of soups, Mini Spicy Italian Sausage Sliders made with Hannan’s Award Winning Italian Sausagemeat served on Foccacia with a Clandeboye Yoghurt & Mint Sauce, and crowd-pleasers like homemade crab cakes and Ballybrie wedges. Yumm.
There’s plenty of choices for main courses too . They do steaks, burgers and curries and they’re all a cut above. The fries will be handcut and the meat will be top-quality local stuff. Favourites include the chicken stir fry, scampi and superb fish and chips! Check out the veggie options too and there’s loads to choose from.
For those looking for a little something sweet, their Armagh Apple Crème Brûlée is not to be missed, or go the whole hog and try the sticky toffee pudding with Glastry Farm Vanilla Bean ice-cream – divine!
Open daily 12.00 – 9.30pm
Overlooking the stunningly beautiful Strangford Lough and a stone’s throw from Castle Espie in Comber, the Old School House Inn should definitely be on your foodie bucket list. It was awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2014 and also has 2 AA Rosettes.
Chef Proprietor Will Brown has a serious pedigree. He started his cooking career in London with Marco Pierre White at the Mirabelle in Mayfair. He was just 17. Then he worked at Roscoff under Paul Rankin and also did a three year stint at the 2 star The Square restaurant in London. Gordon Ramsey was his boss at one stage too.
Will is all about seasonal ingredients cooked to perfection. In fact, most of their fruit and vegetables are grown in their polytunnel and their new raised beds.
His tasting menu is a taste sensation. You’ll read just Pate, Salmon, Lamb or Caramel on the card but you’ll eat the equivalent of a thousand words in terms of texture, balance and flavour. It also comes with matching wines.
The set lunch menu is also very popular. One course is just £10, there are two courses for £14 and 3 for £18.
Why not stay the night in one of their 8 gorgeous bedrooms which are currently being refurbished? Then you’ll also get to taste that scrummy breakfast.
For more than thirty years, the good people of Downpatrick and beyond have been eating and drinking the fine Oakley fayre. This family-run place is all about great service and top ingredients cooked very well indeed.
Customers love the East Coast battered cod, Thai Chicken Curry & Basmati Rice and the popular all day breakfast.
The home-made Irish Stew and daily soup specials are hard to say no to, but forget even trying to resist those traybakes and cream pastries. Wash them down with of Suki Tea or Johnstons coffee.
Their outside catering business is hugely popular. People just can’t get enough of those cheese straws, sausage rolls, cakes and pavlovas.
This really is such a cosy, inviting place and no doubt you’ll leave with something from the award-winning deli shop.
This is the sister of the Mourne Seafood Bar in Belfast. It’s a more laid-back coastal vibe here but like Belfast, the shellfish comes from their own beds and the fish comes daily from the local ports of Kilkeel and Annalong.
Their menu changes daily but expect the likes of smoked mackerel pate with lettuce cups and ciabatta crisps. They do a wonderful seafood chowder that to quote Gregg Wallace is like “a hug in a bowl”. We’re particularly smitten with the half lobsters with tarragon mayo or garlic butter with fries; even more when it’s only £11.
Their motto of great affordable seafood is more than just words. By the way, there’s chicken and steak if you don’t fancy fish, but we’re sure you will! Make very sure to have the fat chips whatever you do, and book ahead for weekends. This place is REALLY popular.
