The Bridgestone 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland 2006
Brian McCann’s cooking is raising the bar in Belfast, for this cook is a star turn, producing exciting cooking.

Alan Reid has always run a slick operation in Shu, but with the arrival of Brian McCann in the kitchen, he has a destination restaurant that will raise the bar in Belfast. Mr McCann has had lots of starry experience, but he has more than that. He is passionate, he understands seasonality, he has common sense, he is brimming with confidence and enthusiasm, and his food blows you away with its delicious, elegant, simplicity: herb salad with buffalo mozzarella, oven-dried cherry tomatoes, and salted almonds; Glenarm salmon with steamed potatoes, fennel and lobster sauce; rump of lamb with potato fondant, artichokes, rosemary and balsamic jus. Crisped, firm, bright hake comes on a fine home-made tagliatelle with nutty, fried courgette, bursts of oven-dried cherries and a citrus greymolata. Macerated strawberries, in their own liquor and with fresh strawberry ice cream make a fitting end to a meal made with notably delicious ingredients and with a dexterous, light hand.

Back