Northern Ireland food features in top restaurants

Sixteen restaurants specialising in highly creative dishes featuring Northern Ireland food and drink have been named in The Good Food Guide from Waitrose.

Alongside the finest dining establishments in Northern Ireland, the guide, owned by Waitrose, celebrates quality eateries in local areas and new discoveries, with 16 entries and one new entry from Northern Ireland featuring in the guide.

The Good Food Guide is compiled by combining reader feedback on restaurants up and down the country with anonymous inspections by a team of industry experts.

Restaurants that have made it into the UK's Top 50 Restaurants have been unveiled, with two restaurants tied as the highest scoring in Northern Ireland. Eipic and OX, both in Belfast, Co Antrim received a cooking score of six and take the title of best restaurants in Northern Ireland.

Elizabeth Carter, Waitrose Good Food Guide Editor, comments on Eipic, "The level of attention to detail in every mouthful is amazing, showing buckets of talent. Combinations are more intuitive than outrageous, but everything is a sheer joy. Danni Barry is a formidably talented practitioner of the contemporary gastronomic style."

Of OX, she notes that "On the Lagan riverside with the graceful steel torsion of the Beacon of Hope sculpture right outside, OX is at the vanguard of Northern Irish gastronomy…and the whole place buzzes with enthusiastic staff and excited diners."

Restaurants in Northern Ireland that appear in The Good Food Guide 2018

Other restaurants in Northern Ireland also featuring in The Good Food Guide this year alongside Eipic and OX are:

 Hadskis in Belfast, Co Antrim

 Il Pirata in Belfast, Co Antrim

 James Street South in Belfast, Co Antrim

 Mourne Seafood Bar in Belfast, Co Antrim

 Shu in Belfast, Co Antrim

 The Ginger Bistro in Belfast, Co Antrim

 The Muddlers Club in Belfast, Co Antrim

 The Old Schoolhouse Inn in Comber, Co Down

 The Bay Tree in Holywood, Co Down

 Vanilla in Newcastle, Co Down

 Wine & Brine in Moira, Co Armagh

 Balloo House in Killinchy, Co Down

 Harry's Shack in Portstewart, Londonderry

 The Bull & Ram in Ballynahinch, Co Down

Pic: A new entry to this year's Good Food Guide is The Bull & Ram in Ballynahinch, Co Down. It was once a butcher's shop, but now dishes up modern Irish bistro food.