Pier 36

Pier 36 in Donaghadee is a lovely family run pub/ restaurant/ guesthouse. It makes a great post-walk stopping point and I was hugely glad of a nice cold Corona after walking there from Holywood yesterday.

They have several veggie options although it was all too cheesy for me. I had the veg stir fry which was well cooked with a good variety of veg in a tasty, nutty and spicy sauce. I also recommend trying a side of roast broccoli.

Service can suffer a little when it is very busy but the staff are always really friendly and helpful.

3.5/5

Check Out My Buns

Next time you go to St Georges Market you must check out Check Out My Buns. Lovely Liz provides a huge variety of vegan and gluten free treats, her latest masterpiece being a peanut butter and chocolate brownie which is droolsomely good! From cakes to cookies and everything in between, there is something for everyone... Actually there is rather a lot for everyone. My only problem is that it is too hard to choose what to buy!

5/5

Boogaloo Cafe Bistro

Well I was super excited about trying out Boogalooo Cafe Bistro's new veggie weekend nights - they only serve a veggie/vegan menu on a Friday and Saturday night. I tried to manage my expectations - would I love it simply because for the first time I could have a full veggie/vegan menu offered to me, in Belfast, in a place which was not also serving dead animals.

I was not disappointed and my rating of this restaurant is based solely on the food, price and atmosphere - not simply on the fact that I was so excited to be there. I had three delicious vegan courses, coffee and brought my own wine - all for £20! My starter was the flatbreads platter which was enormous and really delicious - a nice selection and I particularly liked the hummous. For my main I had the red lentil burger (pictured) with sweet potato fries. WOW! My only tiny wee complaint was that there wasn't enough mango in the slaw, but then I super-love mango :-) I found room for dessert and had to have the pumpkin cheesecake which was just sooooo good!

My two friends both loved their meals too - one was unable to finish her pasta and they boxed it up for her to take home. The music being played was also of particularly good quality!

Can't wait to go back :-)

5/5

Coppi

(Reviewed by 'E')

I love Il Pirata, so I couldn't wait to try out Coppi and looked forward to a meal there.  We were seated among the overcrowded tables in the dark, but in the full glare of the kitchen lights, which had the ambience of eating in a parking garage. The concrete pillars and unfinished ceiling made the drone of background noise and terrible music so loud and tinny that we could hear neither the server nor each other. Not a relaxing atmosphere to savour one's dinner. Service was both painfully slow and extremely friendly, which made determining the tip a tricky prospect. 

But on to the food.  We sampled three cichetti: mixed olives, manchego and quince, and paprika toasted almonds.  The manchego and quince paired up were particularly delightful.   Coppi makes its own pasta in house, but mine was gloopy.  One of my companions had butternut ravioli with chili and rocket and it was sublime. An order of parmesan and rosemary fries was delicious but woefully short on rosemary, so much so that we wondered if we had misread the menu. Desserts were also hit and miss.  Chocolate fondant was solid, rather than fondant, although delicious. Lemon posset with raspberry sorbet had me eyeing my husband's plate with envy.

The range for vegetarians is depressingly familiar and fairly limited: goat's cheese pasta; goat's cheese pizza, mushroom in puff pastry, ravioli. So many possibilities for great Italian food...but not if you aren't keen on mushrooms or goat's cheese. There are, however, a number of great options for the cichetti: in addition to the ones already mentioned, there are also marinated artichokes, mushroom crostini and a few others.  

Coppi would be great for a quick drink and a snack, but for dinner it was a sensory overload in all the wrong ways. A disappointing night out - so much promise, but not delivered.  

2/5

Eatwell

Eatwell health food shop on the Lisburn Road (on the right as you head out of town, just past Tesco, painted blue with blue awning outside) is the best place in Belfast for all your veggie and vegan needs. Just look at the little haul I picked up today... Cherry yogurts, rice noodles, spelt pasta, a huge carton of stock, miso soup, ham slices, chicken tikka pieces, wild garlic tofu and creamy cheeze. It won't last long!

They do a fabulous range including their own baked goods, tea, biscuits, sweets, meat and cheese substitutes, tinned goods plus health and beauty items. Also a good frozen selection including Fry's and Booja Booja products. They are lovely helpful people too.

5/5

Cafe Renoir (Queen Street)

I often go to Cafe Renoir for lunch as it is never too busy and they have a good range of veggie options. I particularly like how they have a list of fillings for sandwiches, spuds etc and you can just pick your own combination. It makes a decent location for a small lunch meeting too.

Today, at just such a meeting, I had a baked potato with sweetcorn and tomato. I had also asked for salsa but they didn't appear to have any. If they had told me this I might have added another filling! My potato was the size of a rugby ball and there was a nice side salad too. My colleague had soup and a sandwich and there was loads of it!

Their pasta is nice - and vegan if you omit the cheese - and they have quite a few other veggie options too.

4/5

Rhubarb

Rhubarb, 2 Little Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7JH
http://www.rhubarb-belfast.co.uk/

I've eaten here in the past with work so brought some family along for a late lunch on Saturday 2 March. It's BYO so we had some lovely pinot noir from M&S along with our meal. I was disappointed on arrival to find that the day's veggie option was goat's cheese (having always had no bother with the menu in the past) but when I asked the waitress she was extremely helpful and came back from the kitchen with THREE alternative options for me! The rest of the table were so impressed, four of us ended up having veggie meals even though the other three aren't veggie themselves!

I had butternut squash and tomato linguine which was just delicious - the squash and pasta were both cooked perfectly, there was plenty of it and not too much sauce either. My mum and aunt both had potato fritata and my dad had the dreaded goat's cheese with some chips. For dessert we all had either the rhubarb and berry crumble or sticky toffee pudding - both were very good.

Rhubarb is a lovely friendly little place with great service and outstanding food. The fact that they could do so much for me was particularly impressive. The bill was also very reasonable, helped by it being BYO, and to top it all off the coffee was great too.

5/5