Trail-blazing chef set to spell out recipes for success in local food
Niall McKenna, one of Northern Ireland’s most respected and successful
chef/restaurateurs, is launching his first cookery book this month.
The publication, ‘What’s It All About’ draws on the chef’s experience and many of the
innovative recipes he’s created over more than 20 trail-blazing years in business.
Promising around 140 delicious recipes from his vast collection of dishes in his five
restaurants in the city, the debut cookbook is also a culinary history of the city he
loves.
Niall and wife Joanne have developed quality restaurants since opening James
Street South in Belfast in 2003, now one of the city’s most popular and widely
acclaimed eateries. It was also the base for the city’s first and cookery school.
The talented chef has been a driving force in the emergence of Belfast as a great
food hub since 2000 and his return to London from working alongside celebrity chefs
such as Gary Rhodes and Marco Pierre White in London.
Wife Joanne has also been an active supporter of Food NI, the region’s main food
and drink promotion body and the organisation behind the remarkable Year of Food
and Drink 2016.
Passionate about local food and drink, Niall is widely respected for outstanding food,
creative menus, excellent service and for the establishment’s distinctive style. It’s a
commitment which has aided dozens of local food and drink producers.
Waterman House, his most recent restaurant, was chosen as a Favourite New
Restaurant by the influential Michelin Guide. Waterman continues Niall’s
longstanding dedication to cooking with the best local produce.
The stylish restaurant, which is located in the city’s vibrant Cathedral Quarter and
helped to regenerate this historic part of the city, was chosen by the Michelin
inspectors who described it as “big, bold and buzzy”. It continues to prosper and is
especially popular with gourmet food lovers from Belfast and beyond.
Opened in 2022, Waterman House now also includes the successful cookery school
from James Street South.
