I guess when you are the street food guy, and you review street food, then calling a blog “no street food in Belfast” will make it a tough one to write, but I will try to write it.
I have traveled extensively throughout southern Ireland, including last year when we went to check out Mannion Island. One thing I found in places like Dublin, or Cork was that although the hipsters had obviously arrived, and Ireland now a bit of an ethnic melting pot, at the end of the day at its core it still had an old, what I would call British Isles charm. I know full well that Ireland is not part of Britain, but when it comes to food and drink, southern Ireland seems to have kept a lot of the old school charm we have obviously lost.
So, to Belfast! In the morning, I just wanted to find an old school pub to sit and kill time until my hotel would let me check-in. This was not exactly an easy task ( I ended up in Brennan’s which did the job).
I also wanted an English/Irish breakfast, which I got to a fashion, but in reality, was rather small and hipster.
Dinner? I wanted fish and chips, or at worst a kebab (keep in mind I have been away a long time). I did not see either anywhere, and even following Apple Maps keep just taking me to places that clearly had not existed for a long time. The closest thing I found was “The Fish Shop”, which was a hipster type sit down fish and chip restaurant, which whilst it looked great, wasn’t what I had in mind.
I ended up settling for two sandwiches that were discounted to one pound each because it was so late.
The sad thing (in my mind anyway) is that there was every franchise you can imagine at every corner of the city, and malls with the same shops you see in every city center.
People have bemoaned how city centers are not just disappearing, but are simply clones of each other, well I had no idea it had made its way to Belfast.
I’m hoping tomorrow proves a massive revelation, but Friday night street fooding in Belfast gets a big thumbs down from me.