Restaurant ‘James Street South’ Scoops Reader Award for Best Local Restaurant in Northern Ireland
“Perfect” Belfast Eatery Scores a Culinary Hat Trick
A restaurant in Belfast has beaten eateries across Northern Ireland to be named a Regional Winner in the Waitrose Good Food Guide Reader’s Restaurant of the Year Awards. James Street South has been nominated by its customers to be their top local restaurant in Northern Ireland for the third time.
The establishment beat off stiff competition from some of the best-known restaurants in Northern Ireland. James Street South sealed its win for brilliant dish ‘combinations’ and ‘good value’ menu deals.
The Good Food Guide, published by Waitrose, called for diners, back in March, to nominate their favourite local eatery. The coveted awards honour the very best independent restaurants, pubs and cafés from around the country. The annual awards recognise the top dining establishments across ten different UK regions and are based on public nominations with a panel of Good Food Guide judges choosing the most outstanding for their overall winner, which this year is The Miller of Mansfield in Goring, Oxfordshire.
Elizabeth Carter, Waitrose Good Food Guide Editor, says: “This award is a celebration of independent restaurants that specialise in amazing quality food, often at great value prices. While trained inspectors carry out all our reviews, we rely on readers to let us know about eateries that might otherwise be overlooked. They are incredibly sophisticated when it comes to eating out, so it makes sense to listen to their opinions.
“‘Perfect’ seems to be the word of choice for readers summing up Niall McKenna’s flagship restaurant – that’s if they are not using ‘brilliant’. This is a restaurant that has always pushed the boundaries of new combinations of flavours and tastes, with a great wine menu and good value lunch and dinner deals.”
Says Niall McKenna of James Street South, “We are incredibly proud to receive this honour, which is a fantastic endorsement of the hard work and dedication of all our colleagues working across the James Street South Group. This prestigious accolade underlines our focus on quality, innovative cooking, locally-sourced produce, great staff and a warm ambience. It comes as we launch the second year of our Apprentice Scheme, a further measure of our commitment to ensuring the future of excellence in the Northern Ireland hospitality sector.
“It’s been an incredibly busy year for James Street South with the opening of Cast & Crew, as well as developing plans for another new restaurant on Belfast’s Donegall Quay and we’d like to thank our loyal customer base, and indeed all our guests who took the time to vote for us.”
James Street South was previously the 2008 and 2015 Waitrose Good Food Guide’s ‘Reader’s Restaurant of the Year – Regional Winner for Northern Ireland.
The regional winners and overall winner have been announced today (30th July 2015). Now in its ninth year, the award attracted 18,000 nominations after calling on diners to name their favourite local eatery in March 2015.
The regional winners are as follows:
North West, Lunya (Liverpool)
South East and Overall Winner, The Miller of Mansfield (Goring, Oxfordshire)
London, Boqueria Tapas (Brixton, London)
North East, Lockwoods (Ripon, Yorkshire)
Northern Ireland, James Street South (Belfast)
Scotland, The Gardeners Cottage (Edinburgh)
Wales, The Gallery (Barry)
Midlands, The King and Thai (Broseley)
South West, Ben’s Cornish Kitchen (Marazion, Cornwall)
East England, The Leaping Hare (Stanton, Suffolk)
