At the start of May we had some friends visiting from Edinburgh so of course we had to take them on a little tour of Belfast, we met them at the Europa, can you even go to Belfast & not have a look at the most bombed hotel in Europe? The Europa was bombed a total of 36 times during the troubles, which apparently makes it the most bombed hotel in the world but I don’t think anywhere else in the world would be arsed boasting about it.
We then headed round to city hall which was closed due to a strike, so we abandoned the tour of Belfast for a tour a Belfast pubs & headed to Kellys Cellars, the oldest pub in Belfast, built in 1720 much of the original features have been retained which after learning the Europa had been bombed 36 times seems like a miracle.
We then headed to Whites , the oldest tavern in Belfast opened in 1630, yes this is very confusing for tourists, however the current building dates from the late 1700s & didn’t obtain the name whites until the 1960’s when the building was renovated, so I think Kellys wins the oldest pub battle?
From Whites we walked over to see the salmon of knowledge, or as we like to call it ‘the big fish’ Belfast locals do have a habit of renaming any form of art sculpture with the simplest of nicknames, for example the rise sculpture on the westlink has been fondly renamed ‘the balls on the falls’ & the beacon of hope is ‘nuala with the hula’, which is located just a short walk away from the big fish. If you keep walking along the river Lagan from nuala past the waterfront hall to the waterfront plaza you’ll get a great view & photo opportunity of Harland & Wolff. If you walk in the other direction from the big fish along the river towards the AC Marriott hotel you’ll get another great view & photo op of titanic Belfast, on the way back you’ll probably notice the Obel tower, the tallest building in Ireland standing at 85 meters high, at the foot of the Obel tower is my favourite art sculpture, Sammy the seal & his mates!
We stopped off at the cathedral quarter for a pre-dinner pint as it’s a tourist attraction itself, located around st Anne’s cathedral, this part of the city is home to cultural organisations and art galleries, countless pubs & plenty of craic.
For dinner we headed to Coppi, a contemporary Italian restaurant located in st. annes square & while everyone else got stuck into Sunday roasts I couldn’t look past the lasagne, its definitely my favourite thing on the menu, after the feta fritters of course, its an absolutely massive portion so I love to take my leftovers home for a lasagne toastie - pure filth I know. Something else I can never look past on the menu is their puglian primitivo, if you don’t get this stunning red wine you’re missing out.
On my journey to living a slightly healthier lifestyle we finally purchased an air fryer, late to the party I know! I’ve popped up a southern fried chicken burger & French toast bites recipes on Instagram @thechefsmissus - no not the healthiest things I know.
For anyone who’s been on the edge of their seats waiting on garden updates (absolutely no-one I’m sure) I’ve repurposed some of our dented & dinged born & bred mugs into little herb pots, so I hope you’re all as excited as I am to see them grow.
We took a little Sunday trip into town for a friends birthday & visited Benedicts for their Sunday Carvery, its only £11 & they do tobacco onions, what more could you want from a Sunday roast, we weren’t drinking but they have plenty of cocktail offers & live music all day.
The weather was lovely & sunny so we decided to walk to Stranmillis for dessert, we ended up sitting in nugelato in the rain so at least we timed our walk right & in typical Belfast fashion we waited 5 minutes & it was sunny again.
I finished May off with another lovely evening in the crafty vintner & took advantage of their £1 corkage again, this time we also went for a cheese board & tried out their wine vending machines, honestly what more could a gal want in life?
