Foodie Review #3 - Made in Belfast (Cathedral Quarter)

Hello and welcome back to another foodie review! Now, if you don't already know, I'm no longer a Manchester resident and have jumped across the water to Belfast. Although that means fewer reviews for restaurants in and around Manchester, it also means I'm able to explore the culinary delights of a whole new city and share them with you - how exciting?!

I've been to Northern Ireland a fair few times now but have never personally chosen where to go for a meal, instead taking the advice of friends and family whenever we went out to eat. So, now that I actually live here (eek!) I thought it was about time I started to have a little explore for myself and find as many cool eateries as I can. After having a little Google and an Instagram dive (honestly show me a dreamy food pic and you've got my business) I came across Made in Belfast, a small local chain of casual dining restaurants that are dotted around the city. I checked out what they had on offer and was sold upon finding that they had not one, not two, but three menus to choose from for the time we were going! I love me a good choice!

We chose to go to the Cathedral Quarter site so that I could explore that area a little more having only been once before. We got the train from where we're living into Lanyon Place train station (formerly Belfast Central), then walked for about ten minutes until we arrived. Once we got there we waited for less than a minute before a friendly (and PPE'd up) member of staff greeted us and took us to a table.

Decor & Atmosphere - 5/5

Once seated, the member of staff talked us through our options, explaining the three menus for us to choose from that day. There was the standard à la carte, the pre-theatre menu (it's right near the MAC arts centre and The Black Box Theatre) and the lunchtime menu. After having a quick browse we decided to go for the lunchtime menu, so whilst we waited for our server to pop over I was able to drink in the atmosphere of the place. Being a Friday afternoon, it wasn't overly busy; I'd say there were about five other tables in. There was light music playing (not too loud - a tick from me), and the restaurant was reasonably warm.

When it came to the decor, the first thing I noticed was the big red bird pictured above! At first I thought it was an Emu, but upon looking it up I'm 99 percent sure it's actually an Ostrich (bird experts feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Anyway, I absolutely LOVE this bird, whatever it is! I love how big (maybe it's to scale?) and how vibrant it is. It kind of reminds me of Joey and Chandler's big white dog in 'Friends' - it's beautiful, kinda-tacky-but-in-a-good-way, and super eye-catching. If I had space for one in my room, I'd definitely be looking to get one ASAP.

The rest of the decor was lovely and suited the vibe of the place perfectly. It was a bit of a mix of everything, but done well. The patterned chairs contrasted the white tiled walls (which weirdly add SO much more character than a plain white painted wall) superbly, and I loved the look of the exposed ceiling with chandeliers hanging down. Overall, the atmosphere and decor of this Made in Belfast was a big old yes from me!

Drinks - 4.5/5

When it came to drinks, we thought we'd treat ourselves to a cocktail each! Whilst my partner went for a classic espresso martini, I decided to go for a 'Hey Darling' - a passionfruit and vodka concoction which was delightfully sweet.

My only little quibble would be that my drink was quite watery, but I should imagine that's because it's a long drink rather than a martini-style. According to my partner, the espresso martini was made to perfection, so when we return I'll definitely be trying that out!

Food - 4.75/5

As a food blogger, of course my favourite part of any trip out is yummy food, and oh my was this food INCREDIBLE! We both were torn between the Korean chicken bao buns and the Irish steak sandwich, so decided to order one of each and split it. I'm honestly so glad that we did this because both dishes were absolutely sublime.

I'd never tried bao buns before (my only experience of them was making them on Cooking Mama on the Wii when I was a kid) so I was excited to give them a go. I expected them to be similar to a brioche bun, so was very pleasantly surprised at how light and fluffy they were. The chicken itself was also delightful; it was crispy and tender, which in my opinion is exactly how chicken should be. As you can see from the pic above, the buns were also smothered in a gorgeous BBQ glaze, with kimchi (usually Korean radish and cabbage fermented with salt) oozing out of the sides. These bao buns were maybe the best thing I've had from a restaurant in a long time, and I can't wait to try to recreate them at home!

Now to the Irish steak sandwich...oh my gosh. I'm not usually one to eat steak, but this sandwich absolutely blew my mind. The steak (cooked medium - sorry if this offends anyone!) was served in a warm, crusty ciabatta, doused with warm pepper sauce and topped with crispy tobacco onions. Everything was so full of flavour, plus the steak was not chewy at all, which is why I've always been a bit wary of ordering steak! The pepper sauce was an absolute dream, so much so that I was lathering my skinny fries in any I could find leftover on the plate. My only slight issue came with the tobacco onions; I loved the flavour of them with the rest of the sandwich, but on their own they were just a little to smokey for me. This, of course, is personal taste, so I can't really complain!

Both dishes were just insane to me. They differed in flavour so much, but yet were both so delicious in their own way. It's nearly impossible to choose my favourite, but if I had to I think the bao buns have the edge! Both came with a generous portion of skinny fries which were also perfectly cooked for my liking, and reasonably absorbent for mopping up leftover pepper sauce.

So there you have it - my first foodie review in my new city! Our experience at Made in Belfast Cathedral Quarter was excellent from start to finish. The staff were very friendly and efficient, plus were working in full PPE so kudos to them for that too. The food and drinks were truly wonderful and near enough faultless - it really comes down to personal taste with some things, plus the really good greatly outweighs the slightly-less-good!

Overall rating: 4.75/5 - this is so nearly a five out of five for me! Next time I'll be ordering a different drink, but you can bet I'll be getting the same food if I can! If you want to check out Made in Belfast you can do so on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

FYI...

We visited at around 2pm on a Friday, and the meal cost us £38 in total.