The best places for locally sourced dining in Belfast

Located in the heart of the city, The Lantern is one of our favourite places for a delicious meal in Belfast. Offering a true local feel, diners can enjoy freshly prepared dishes made from the highest-quality local produce sourced from handpicked suppliers from across the Emerald Isle. Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 4:30 pm to 9 pm, the team has worked hard to create a varied menu that keeps the focus firmly on seasonal produce.

Their ever-changing menu offers something for everyone, with everything from seafood to meat and a wide variety of vegan and vegetarian options. The menu also features some staple dishes, such as their 10 oz 21 day dry-aged sirloin steak, which comes with chips, pepper sauce, and sauté onions, their succulent fish of the day, which is either salmon or cod, and is served with seasoned greens, sweet potato ragu, buttery champ, and tomato dressing.

If you want a truly unique and local dining experience, then we highly recommend checking out the fantastic Academy Restaurant in the city’s Cathedral Quarter area. Offering the brightest hospitality students the chance to hone their skills in a real restaurant setting, Academy Restaurant brings something brand new to the table when it comes to dining out in Belfast. As well as this, they pride themselves on sourcing the very best local and seasonal produce to create unique and high-quality dishes that are full of flavour and fragrance. Open for lunch sittings from Monday to Friday and dinner on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, we recommend booking in advance so you don’t miss out on this incredible experience.  

With experience working in various Michelin-starred restaurants across London and Germany, Danny Millar returned to Belfast in 1990 to bring his skill and experience back to the island of Ireland leading teams at various top restaurants around the north including the Narrows in Portaferry, Cayenne in the city centre, and Balloo House, where he acted as Head Chef and Director. More recently, he opened Stock Restaurant, which finds its home in the heart of the city at St George’s Market.

The restaurant is contemporary and welcoming, offering a relaxed atmosphere and a creative menu curated from the finest selection of fresh local produce sourced from across the island. Their website states, “At Stock Kitchen and Bar, we believe that Ireland offers some of the best produce in Europe. That’s why our menu showcases the very best ingredients, handpicked from the island’s leading suppliers.” Beef and lamb is sourced from Peter Hannon butchers in Moira, County Down, while their oysters come from renowned suppliers Carlingford Oysters in County Louth. And that’s just a few of the local suppliers they work with here. 

One of the best-loved neighbourhood bistros that the city has to offer, Cyprus Avenue is located in the leafy Belfast suburb of Ballyhackamore. First opened in 2016, this laidback eatery has gained quite the reputation among locals looking for great food and a relaxed vibe, thus leading to almost a decade of successful business in the city.

Open seven days a week from 9 am until late, this is the perfect place to dine no matter the time of day, and no matter the weather as you can choose to dine indoors in their cosy dining room or soak up the city’s rare sunny days on their outdoor terrace as you people watch on the bustling area of East Belfast. The menu is dictated by the seasons and the team are firm in their approach of working with the very best local suppliers, of whom you can see portraits adorning the walls inside the restaurant. The menu is varied taking influence from a wide range of global cuisines to bring together a fantastic selection of flavours and dishes to suit all tastes and dietary requirements. 

Closing out our list of fantastic places to enjoy locally sourced dining in Belfast is the uniquely local Holohan’s Pantry, which you can find close to Queen’s University Belfast. Ideally located in this leafy suburb of South Belfast, this quiet and quaint restaurant could be easily missed by passersby as it perfectly fits into the city’s Victorian surroundings.

Offering a delicious menu that focuses on classic Irish cuisine with everything from boxty to pan seared sea bass, sirloin steak to a succulent supreme of chicken, Holohan’s Pantry has gained a reputation as Belfast’s number one Irish restaurant welcoming both local and international visitors looking for an authentic taste of Ireland. More recently, Holohan’s Pantry was awarded Ulster Tatler’s Restaurant of the Year Award for 2023, highlighting its position as one of the city’s premier dining destinations.