Dine In the Dome: Yo Sushi With a View This Weekend

YO! Sushi Belfast have teamed up with Dining in the Dome to offer you the ultimate sushi dining experience.

With panoramic views that stretch for miles across the city, indulge with a 4-course meal, including hot and cold Japanese dishes made fresh by our talented chef. You'll also get to experience an interactive sushi-rolling demonstration with Head Chef Andrew Lee.

The Exclusive Dining Package is £70 per table of two including a glass of red, white or rose wine or a bottle of Japanese beer or a soft drink.

Check out the tempting menu.

Places are limited, so book now for Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th July by emailing yo.belfast@yosushi.com

Solo Kitchen, Belfast: Fresh, New, City Centre Casual Dining, Tapas and Cocktails

Solo Kitchen Belfast is a fresh new city centre restaurant combining European and Asian dishes and full & bountiful tapas menu. Solo's sister restaurant, the successful Ambrosia on the Ormeau Road is also owned by Michael Karan, who's vision for casual dining in plush surroundings is based firmly in locally sourced, excellent quality ingredients. 

The restaurant is located on Wellington Place, opposite 'Home', which makes it an ideal location for pre-theatre dining. In fact Solo Kitchen have a dedicated theatre menu alongside their main menu and tapas selection. The menu focuses on traditional European dishes, but also fine dining versions of Asian favourites, such as Biriyani, Tikka Masala and Honey Chilli Chicken.

The tapas menu has over 35 dish options. Stand out delights for me are Solo's Poca Carne (mini steak, peppered sauce, green beans), Calamari a la Paprilla ( calamari sprinkled with paprika & lemon juice) and Mejillones Con Choritzo (mussels, chroritzo, white whine cream sauce, garlic bread). 

Smix and I were invited along last week to try the menu for ourselves. We had just been at Vintage Rocks Hair Salon for a few hours, so we were ravenous! 

To begin I chose the avocado and beetroot salad, which is also available as a main course. The dish is a refreshing start to a meal, with an intriguing wholegrain mustard and citrus dressing. It's a light choice, which is great for me, as give me too hefty a starter and I can't even manage half a main course.

The grill and its sirloin steaks certainly tempted me for my main course, but I decided to go with something a little more interesting. I chose the pork belly, served with wholegrain mustard mash, roasted baby carrot, king prawn, black pudding and candied pecans.  

The presentation was outstanding, and the veg was cooked to perfection. You can see how green the broccoli is, yet it was soft and delicious. It must have been cooked to the exact second! The mustard mash wasn't too spicy, so it went well with the flavours of the pork belly, without overpowering it with spice. The candied pecans were a playful touch, and the black pudding had a devine clove aroma to it. 

The children's menu impressed me with its options of more than just chicken nuggets or burgers. Of course then Smix goes and orders the chicken goujons, but to Solo Kitchen's credit kids can also chose from dishes like honey chilli chicken and steak.

Smix declared his chicken the best he ever tasted, and I'm not sure if it was the long wait at the hairdresser's, but he ate much more than he usually would when we dine out. The children's menu also has dessert choices of a lolly, or icecream. 

My dessert choice was tiramisu. It was beautiful, so much so that I managed to squeeze the whole thing in even after two other courses. The dessert menu is very traditional, so it might be fun to see an Asian dessert choice on there to match the rest of the menu, but that's a very minor 'complaint'. 

Solo Kitchen hope to appeal to the surrounding city workforce, nipping out for a special lunch, or stopping for cocktails and tapas after the office. Their breakfast menu has just launched, being served from 8am-1130am, which would make it worth while taking an earlier train and having fluffy pancakes or a veggie breakfast before the working day begins. All breakfasts come with free tea or coffee, and a refill!

Taste The Streets of Tokyo- Unveiling Yo Sushi's 100 Piece New Menu

Our favourite restaurant has a brand new menu sampling the tastes of Tokyo. The 100 piece menu has new favourites to find, as well as hot and cold delights to investigate. The menu comes in the form of a zine, with underground arts of the city highlighted.

The menu launched throughout the UK yesterday, and we called to our Belfast store to try the new dishes. 

Smix eats pickled ginger by the handful! 

Here are some of the dishes they served for us. 

Clam

Seabass

Ama Ebi

Jewel-like raw tuna

Okonomiyaki

Dynamite roll

Finally here is a round up of all the new items to browse for yourselves. 

Tip Top of the Kid-friendly Restaurant Chains, Pizza Express Is a Firm Family Favourite

Pizza Express is a firm favourite of our's to visit on the weekend. When our family comprised of three we would often be found chowing down of a Saturday afternoon in their Lisburn Road branch restaurant. 

You won't need your iPad- colour & puzzle while you wait

Bedford St refurb

Since November 2014 it's just been myself & Smix, and we find ourselves more often in Yo Sushi! these days, but  Pizza Express Bedford Street invited us both along to investigate their swanky refurb, and try out their seasonal menu, and we weren't about to turn down an offer like that!

Quiet when we arrived at 445pm

- bustling by the time we left

The city centre located branch now seats 185 and can be used for groups and parties. I tend to think of this restaurant as less full-on family packed than the Lisburn Road one, but you'll still find the full kids' menu, high chairs available and of course fun colouring in menu and stickers for every mini guest. Smix was particularly impressed that they supply Crayola twisty crayons- apparently they are big news in school right now, and very much vital to my report to you guys!

Open kitchen with chefs bustling away

Smix always gets the same thing each visit. Dough Balls to start, with butter dip and veg. Pepperoni pizza as a main course, with tonnes of parmesan cheese on top. Chocolate brownie for dessert with bambinoccino (looks like an espresso, really is frothed milk, a very cool novelty to sip just like mum or dad).

The three courses are £6.45 altogether, but note this doesn't include a drink, but like most places tap water is free anyway. There are also pasta dishes if your children aren't in the mood for pizza. 

Its also worth bookmarking  Pizza Express's offers page and checking once in a while to see if there is an offer that suits your party size.

Kids' starter, the famous dough balls

Another handy hint is to  have a nosy at the Pizza Express online menu. If you haven't eaten at one of their restaurants before, then unlike the physical menu you get there, the online version has photos of each dish, so you've a better idea of what you are ordering. Great if you're really fussy about meals, and even better for family's with food allergy considerations, as every item is explained.

Pizza Express make traditional, Italian style pizzas. They are fresh, light & topped to perfection. I love this style of pizza, and I now can't remember the last time I even ate D*m*nos Pizza. Their heavy, doughy, thick based pizzas are hard on my stomach. Not to mention a waste as I can only eat two slices max. 

But back to the pizzas in question, or more specifically my starter.  

I had my eye on the Mac & Cheese, but then I noticed the calamari starter is back, so I had to get that. I had it years ago, but it went off the menu for a while. I'm glad it's back. The calamari is great quality, no chewy, elastic squid here. The batter is light and crunchy with no heavy greasiness. The Pizza Express House Sauce compliments this starter beautifully. If you haven't experienced Pizza Express's house sauce, then ask for a little pot even for dipping your pizza crusts. It's so tasty, and you can buy bottles of it from Tesco etc to give salads at home a bit of a kick.

If you want the full Pizza Express Experience however, then make sure at least one person in your party gets a starter of their famous dough balls. Again you can buy these in supermarkets to bake at home, but nothing beats the real thing. 

On to the main course. As well as their delicious thin based pizzas, there are calzone, salad and pasta options.

My usual main course choice was the Nicoise salad. Egg, anchovies, tuna, lots of fresh salad greens and tomatoes.

However with us being invited along to try something new, I thought it would be more apt to order a pizza.  

I chose the pollo leggera pizza. Leggera pizzas are a little bit of genius. It's a regular sized pizza, but they remove the centre and instead load it with lots of fresh salad. This means nutritionally each Leggera pizza comes in at under 525 calories. This makes Pizza Express even more family friendly- not only do you have kids' options, but you have just-as-delicious main course options for those dieting. It means even if you are on a diet, Pizza Express is somewhere you can chose to eat out at, without sabotaging your calorie counting.

Personally I'm not dieting as such at the moment, but Leggera pizzas fulfil a different angle for me.  

You see I just can't eat three courses of food in one go. I want a starter because otherwise I would be sitting wanting to steal Smix's dough balls, and I want a dessert, but if I've eaten an entire pizza then I won't have room.

With the Leggera option I can have a starter, the Leggera, and a dessert without feeling so full that I want to crawl under the table and nap afterwards. 

It also means I have a built in salad with my main, so I don't have to order a green salad as a side. 

In the spirit of trying something new, I did however order their house coleslaw, a crunchy creamy delight with red cabbage and horseradish, which makes a perfect partner for the thin based pizza. 

Smix was happy with his pepperoni main course pizza too. Gooey, yummy, stringy mozzarella with his own addition of Parmesan sprinkled on top. 

On to dessert! I liked the look of the  bombolini, but in the end I went for the seasonal treacle tart. 

When I do get a dessert at Pizza Express I always pick the mascarpone with it rather than fresh cream or icecream. It's a little Italian twist, and would be delicious with the classic British treacle tart. Sadly the restaurant didn't have any for my dessert last night, but it was lovely with fresh cream all the same.

Smix chose the chocolate brownie, which comes with a steamed milk drink to match mum and dad's coffee.

Another stroke of genius from Pizza Express is their selection of mini desserts with companion coffee. If you don't have room for a large dessert but you still want something sweet, you can pick one of them. And why not give your coffee a little Irish kick with a splash of Baileys or whisky?

So thank you for having us, Pizza Express. A great Mother's Day lunch plan for this weekend, and a menu with something for everyone. 

Say 'Aloha!' to Belfast's Freshest New Eating Experience & Try Something Different from the Kua 'Aina Lava Grill

Situationed on 2nd floor of Victoria Sq Belfast beside Nando's

I'll make you a wager: you'll have never tasted tuna any finer than the Lava Grilled tuna steaks on offer at Victoria Square's newest eaterie  Kua 'Aina. Belfast is usually the last place that restaurant chains open up in, but thanks to Kua 'Aina being owned by two homegrown Northern Irish folks, we are privileged to be only the third branch to open, with the other two being London based.

We went along for a meal and met Harry for a chat. He usually runs the Carnaby Street branch, and he also mans the Kua 'Aina festival van (more on that later).

Harry explained that Kua 'Aina is actually the only restaurant in the complex who cook completely from fresh. The Hawaiian menu is a fabulous breath of fresh air indeed. I had peeked at the menu online before our visit, and initially had pictured it as another burger bar, and whilst they do a great burger, that's only part of the picture.

The menu offers traditional burgers, fish, veggie and chicken & turkey options. Then you choose whether you want it served as a burger, or hot sandwich, or bunless with salad. There are also very tempting 'Super Salads' , and the tuna & avocado caught my eye immediately. Sometimes when you are trying to diet especially at this time of year pre-summer, the salad option on the menu can feel like the booby prize. Your lettuce arrives and you longingly stare at everyone else's meal and decide you'll just buy a sarong for over that bikini and get something tasty next time. BUT- look at that salad!

Its an enviable rainbow of fresh, crunchy goodies. The ginger and soy dressing with the tuna and greens is to die for. The tuna fillet tastes like no tuna I've had before. I've had tuna at restaurants before which literally tasted of nothing, but the Kua 'Aina fillet it meaty, smoky and delicious.

Tuna & Avocado Super Salad includes a whole avocado! Hooray! 

All the 'proteins' in the meals are cooked on the special lava grill. I asked Harry what this actually meant. He explained it's a Hawaiian way of low fat, healthy cooking, and it's what the George Foreman grill is based on.

Mahi Mahi fish sandwich. 

Huli Huli chicken burger

The other food we went for was a Mahi Mahi & Monterey Jack sandwich, Spicy Huli Huli Chicken as a burger and a kid's meal of chicken strips and sweetcorn. If I did have a negative point about Kua 'Aina, it would be the kids' choices I'm afraid. The options aren't plentiful and the meal like a bit anemic beside our colourful offerings. I would love to see more Hawaiian options too, as kids are just as open as us to trying new things. I did totally love the glass Smix's apple juice came in however (top pic in this post) I want one myself!

When Kua 'Aina asked us along, they said I simply had to try the milkshake, so we had one each. Coconut and strawberry, in cute pint bottles. They are just as good as they tipped us off to, and they source the ice cream from Morellis locally. You can even make it dirty with spirits, and check the Kua 'Aina website for their signature cocktails and 2 for 1 offers on those. 

Sweet potato fries (portion is bigger than it appears here!)

We also picked a couple of sides, although saying that, the main meals were plenty. We had sweet potato fries which rivalled the kings of the sweet potato next door (N**dos!), very crispy and delicious. The onion rings are comically large and made for sharing. 

Onion rings

Chilli fries side would do as a main course £5.50

I couldn't resist the chilli fries, but a word of warning. They are HUGE. The portion could be a meal for one in itself. Fries with mince and cheese and jalapeños. I couldn't manage even a 1/4 but kindly they wrapped it up for me to take home. Incidentally you can order Kua 'Aina for delivery thanks to the Deliveroo service arriving in Belfast. Also while I mention it, the Kua 'Aina staff, I think we dealt with three local staff during our visit, are all really upbeat and friendly, which makes me think they must be nice to work for as well as eat in.

We adults were too full for dessert, but Smix used his special, child's 'dessert stomach' to fit in this freshly made, thick and fluffy American style pancake with maple syrup (icecream optional) .

So we had a lovely visit and most certainly shall be back. Sadly if you aren't in London or Belfast, it may be some time before you get a Kua 'Aina of your own. Why not petition them on their Facebook Page for a restaurant in your area?

As I mentioned earlier, they have a food truck that visits festivals. Not sure if this is last year's or this season coming's food truck calendar, but keep an eye out this summer!

I wonder what the secret is? 

Sakura Sushi, Belfast - I Got It Wrong...

Back in August last summer I posted a blog touting  The Battle of the Belfast Sushi Joints. Back then my favourites, Yo Sushi! Belfast came out on top, but I believe I was a little hasty writing Sakura in Botanic off as too authentically Japanese for me (not necessarily even a bad attribute!).

Sakura's mighty nigiri tray

In August when I went along to order take out from Sakura, I was struck by the distinct lack of pictures of what everything was on the menu. Even as a sushi enthusiast I'm very much still a 'point at the picture of the sushi I want' customer, even dining at Yo! So I just asked Sakura to make me up some sort of takeaway and unfortunately that day they chose a huge platter of only nigiri (raw fish on blocks of rice). No rolls of any sort, or even maki. 

Then, as a Yo Sushi! westernised sushi experience veteran, I was faced with a piece of nigiri that literally had octopus suckers on it.  I concluded Sakura was too rich for my tastes.

It's got suckers on it! 

So, Thursday past, Fashion Week launch, I'm up in Belfast anyway so I take advantage of being near somewhere that actually sells sushi (Bangor is a sushi desert) and with parking easier near Sakura, I decide to have another try.

Hooray! A giant sign outside with PICTURES of three different trays you can buy to takeaway. I immediately go inside and point to the sign with glee. I chose the medium tray on Thursday, but today I picked up one of each of the sizes to show you what you can get. 

Small £4.80 Medium £8.50 Large £12.50

These rolls are especially good, they've crispy bits in them (technical foodie term). 

So Sakura, forgive me, I was wrong and now I love you. The website gallery shows me many wonders I would love to try too. Maybe I should print out the pictures and take it with me to do a bit more pointing ordering. The rolls with the yellow on top, second down left, those look GOOD. 

Fratelli Belfast : Rustic Italian Food With a Contemporary Edge

Fratelli Belfast provides contemporary, city centre dining, with the quality we've come to expect from any venture under the Galgorm group banner. Located a hop, skip & jump from the Grand Opera House it's ideal for pre-theatre dinner, or a bite to eat after work before catching the train at Great Victoria Street Station.

The restaurant stretches over two levels of the beautiful building, with a full bar along one side of the lower level. The bright, open plan dining area allows a peek into the busy kitchen, where the Fratelli chefs work their magic. 

Michael and I were invited along last night to try the menu for ourselves. The main menu has a wide range of gourmet, adult tastes, but children are very much welcome at Fratelli, and the kids' menu simply isn't a 'nuggets and chips' affair. They can choose from a selection of pasta dishes, or they can become the chef themselves, and construct their pizza at the table, with ingredients of their choice. As you would imagine this was very popular with Michael, especially when he was presented with his own hat and apron to wear. 

Pizza construction comes along with at starter time, either garlic bread or dough balls on the kids' menu. Starter is £2.00-£2.50, pizza is £6.45, pasta £6.45, or main plus dessert is £8.45.

'Grown up starters' can either be smaller versions of some of the main courses, or you can get into the rustic Italian spirit and order a selection of cicchetti between yourselves. Michael from Fratelli chose for me, and I tried the fragrant prawns and the wholesome chicken, chorizo & tomato ragu. 

Earlier in the afternoon, before our visit I had studied the menu at length, and this was a must-try for me, I love duck and I love pistachio. Worth noting this is one of the gluten-free options on the new menu. The fresh, green salad was studded with little jewels of zesty orange, with generous amounts of duck meat cooked to perfection. This dish is available as a main course also, and it was as delicious as I imagined reading about it, so next time I will be going for that option.

Michael's main course was of course his own creation, which came back from the oven with bubbling, stretchy, cheesy mozzarella. If you have a fussy eater like I do, then the novelty of creating their own dinner seems to quash those tendancies.  You can't go wrong with pizza, but Michael did say this one was especially yummy.

While I was certain I needed the duck & pistachio starter in my life, making a decision on my main course was a bit trickier. The Fratelli menu includes pastas, pizzas, and salads, but what caught my eye were the pork dish, with gnocchi & black pepper, and the sea bass. In the end I asked my Michael to choose for me, and I think he made the right choice.

The sea bass was exquisite. Cooked perfectly with a crisp skin, with a beautiful lemon & caper butter which complimented the flavour of the fish without overpowering it. The classic baby potato and pea accompaniment was fresh and not too filling. Sides are available, but I found the main by itself was more than enough for me.

Finally Fratelli's dessert cabinet of wonders! Each miniature dessert is a classic favourite scaled down to be a fitting partner to after dinner coffee. Chocolate ganache, white chocolate cheesecake, tiramisu, rice pudding, all the favourites on a smaller scale. You can choose one for £2.50, two for £4.75, three for £7 or four for £9, so you can have a little taste of everything. Kids can also choose icecream for their final course.

Tiramisu and White choc cheesecake

So would I recommend Fratelli Belfast? Yes, and the proof is in the fact I've already arranged to take Michael's school friend along during February half term so they both can make pizzas. I might also have my eye set on another of those duck salads.

One last thing to mention- they have a great cocktail selection, and a 2 for 1 offer on them every Wed, Thurs, Fri & Sun between 5pm and 7pm. Monday is two for one dining (excluding Valentine's Day) and Tuesday has a ladies' night offer. Let me know if you try them out, and what you ordered! 

The Cloth Ear, Where 'Pub Grub' Meets Fine Dining.

The Cloth Ear is the public bar which is part of Belfast's Landmark luxury hotel, The Merchant.

Photo from The Cloth Ear's Facebook

Being a sibling of The Merchant, The Cloth Ear as you expect is a classy affair, with a comfortable, plush interior design based on 1930-1950s musical theatre. Children are welcome, in fact there is a kids' menu and colouring pens and sheets waiting for them.

Even the bathrooms are luxurious!

So what of the food on offer? Well it isn't the usual pub grub you'd be served in any old bar, it keeps to the high standards of The Merchant Hotel. My son ordered cheesy garlic bread for starter, and literally tore through it.

My husband went for the buffalo wings with blue cheese sauce. I had the meat platter. These were very generous in size, and for someone like me they would probably suffice for a light lunch just by themselves.

Wings

meat platter

Our main courses: I had duck confit on a warm salad. The neat was so well cooked it simply slid off the bone.

My husband chose the Beef & Burger. That's a burger topped with pulled beef, caramelised red onion garnish and monogrammed brioche bun. The photo looks good enough to eat.

Little Michael chose the kids' meal fish & chips option. His meal was a fantastic size, considering it was a children's price, and just look at that batter.

After finishing our main courses, we mourned that our eyes had been bigger than our belly when we had order starters, and our downfall was being too full to get dessert! We couldn't have even fitted in a cup of tea!

It really is a pity as I wanted to try their dessert kebab. Hanging kebabs both sweet & savoury are one of the signature dishes of The Cloth Ear. They look delicious.

Steak and chips. Vertical.

So if you're looking for somewhere to impress you other half with a lunch on a busy Christmas shopping day, The Cloth Ear is for you.