Wedding at Ballygally Castle

My wife and I attended a wonderful friends wedding nuptials at The Ballygally Castle. This is a delightful hotel with lots of character and dates back to 1625. It is part of the locally owned and run Hastings Hotels. 

On arrival we mingled whilst waiting to enter the Kintyre Ballroom for the wedding registration ceremony. The room was well decorated and the ceremony was  short and well conducted. After the pictures we retired to the hotel lobby and had drinks whilst the room was prepared for the dinner. 

This gave us time to explore the hotel and learn about the history. There is also a Game of Thrones door in the hotel. The bride and groom looked super!!

The weather was kind and we were able to take a walk in the well manicured and mature gardens, which sported a river flowing into the sea and various other features.

By now we had built up a healthy appetite and it was time to be seated and tuck into a very well cooked and presented 5 course meal. For starters there was a lovely Caesars Salad then Butternut squash and sweet potato soup served with a warm soft wheaten muffin. The first two course were amazing and set the standard for the mains. For mains we both had the chicken, potatoes and vegetables. The chicken was succulent and vegetables al dented and mash was perfect. Service was exceptional and staff very attentive and professional. For dessert there was lemon tart and profiteroles, again an amazing sweet. After the cake cutting and speeches we had our coffee and cake in the lobby.

Ballygally Castle is famous for the resident ghost, so we went to the ghost room to see if we could spot her.......and we........ didn't see or feel her!!!!! Maybe you will??

Finally the evening entertainment started and the DJ played a wide range of tracks and we danced for a while, relaxed, chatted and thoroughly enjoyed it!!! After a snack of fish and chips it was home to relieve the babysitter!!!

Sunflower Festival 2017

The Sunflower Festival 2017 is about to start!!! Roll on Friday 28th July and its all roads leading to Tubby's Farm just outside Hillsborough for three days of fun, food, frolic and music!!

There will be loads to do and I got a sneak preview and it's looking fantastic. There's lots for all age groups to see and do. The Bliss zone will have a strong emphasis on natural products and holistic therapies as well as Henna. 

There are seven music stages catering for all tastes. There's also a theatre and a cinema using the raw outdoors as its backdrop. I'm especially impressed by the food stalls on offer including Streetdogs, Ramen on the run, Pizza Pod, Wolf & Devour and Boojum to name but a few. They are around the edges of the impressive looking main stage.

Of course the festival has lots of sun flowers, novel tents, bars, woodland features...... so get your tickets, bring your wellies and waterproofs, and have lots of fun and get down to nature...it promises to be fun. There's so much to explore-what will you find?

Revolucion de Cuba Belfast

The Revolucion de Cuba has arrived in Belfast with a bang!!!! This is number 15 in the UK and the first on the island of Ireland. Revolucion de Cuba first started out around 2011 so is relatively new but is right up there with its compatriots!!! 

It's home is in the premises previously occupied by Cafe Vaudeville and let me tell you it is totally different!! 

It's very relaxed, bright and has a definite holiday/relaxed feeling about it. It's been dubbed as the Cuban Cocktail Rum Bar and Tapas Restaurant. I was excited to sample the non alcoholic cocktails and the tapas and a main course with my youngest daughter!!

The menu is as authentic as one would get in Cuba/ a Latin American country. All ingredients (meat/veg) are sourced locally and freshly made not from frozen. 

David the General Manager (and long time friend) explained to me the ethos behind the concept and his meticulous selection process (which included many phone/Skype and personal interviews). He was explaining that the idea was to have a relaxed entertainment experience which includes drinks, food and dancing.

The drinks include alcoholic and non alcoholic cocktails, 60 different rums and a fully stocked bar. There are also cocktail master classes. 

The food has a very relaxed dining feel to it and the kitchen is called the Cantina. The main attraction is the freshly made Tapas, large plates, burgers, burritos and sandwiches along with sides and of course tacos.

Before our lunch we were treated to moctails of lavender lemonade (daughter) and Shy Mai Tai (me). Both were tasty and refreshing and went well with the complimentary nachos. 

We shared a selection of Tapas being: Pork belly skewers, roasted chorizo, honey and lime chicken skewers, mojito prawns and skinny fries. They were all delicious-you have to try them!! The rum sauce adds a sweetish kick to the Tapas.

We then shared a Cuban BBQ glazed chicken served with skinny fries (ours had manchego cheese-yum) chargrilled corn and a salad garnish. The chicken was succulent and the glaze and spices were superb. The corn exhibited a lovely charred taste and the manchego fries were a rather good twist on cheesy chips!! Now I normally don't like food served on a wooden platter but this actually worked very well as it's a relaxed, holiday like setting. Top marks for the food and service. My daughter polished off her ice cream.

The entertainment will include music 7 days a week with a DJ (stage at front) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with live music (band on Mezzanine floor) to closing. The hours are 11.30-22.00 Monday through Saturday for food and slightly later opening on Sunday. There will be music until closing at 1am (12 Sunday). There is a happy hour from 5-7 Monday through Friday which is 241 cocktails and on Sunday it's all day 241 cocktails. The restaurant can seat 134 diners and the venue has capacity for 800 persons. This is the hottest place in town and on Friday 28th the Official Launch party kicks off at 5pm. If you have a ticket you can get a free Daiquiri from the fountain-I've got my ticket!!! All 1000 tickets were snapped up in two days!! Belfast welcomes Revolucion de Cuba!!!

Family dinner at The Loft

Family dinner at The Loft belfastfoodman.com/2017/07/25/fam…

SEVENTH HEAVEN AS LITTLE WING PIZZERIA OPENS IN LISBURN

SEVENTH HEAVEN AS LITTLE WING PIZZERIA OPENS IN LISBURN

Northern Ireland’s home-grown pizzeria chain, Little Wing, will open its seventh – and highly anticipated – restaurant in Lisburn on Tuesday 1st August.

 

Little Wing prides itself in offering authentic, made to order Naples-style pizzas including Northern Ireland's biggest pizza, which is a whopping 24 inches in diameter.

 

Offering a true taste of Italy and cooked in distinctive 6ft traditional woodstone pizza ovens, sourcing the freshest and finest ingredients is at the heart of the Little Wing ethos, with 100% mozzarella cheese used on its pizzas; sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes and pizza dough made to the restaurant’s own secret recipe right here in Northern Ireland (with no nasty additives, either). Combined with affordable prices and friendly service, it’s clear why this popular pizzeria has developed a cult following.

 

To mark the opening Little Wing in Lisburn, the new restaurant will run special events on Tuesday 1st and Saturday 5th August from 12pm – 3pm, with a variety of family activities, including a ‘clay pizza making’ workshop by Jumping Clay, face painting, plus free balloons and other prizes.

The new Little Wing Pizzeria will be located in Lisburn Square and will be open every day from 11am – 10pm.

 

For further information visit littlewingpizzeria.com, or follow Little Wing on Twitter and Facebook @LittleWingPizza.

THE SEARCH IS ON TO FIND NI SUPERSTARS

 

THE SEARCH IS ON TO FIND NI SUPERSTARS

Closing date approaching to nominate your local heroes

The people of Northern Ireland have been nominating who their local SuperStars are and as the deadline of August 19 is fast approaching, SuperValu wants to remind the people of Belfast, and beyond, to keep sending in their nominations.

 

SuperValu SuperStars will help shine a light on the people in communities who go out of their way to help others and who bring about positive change in the places they live, explained Desi Derby, Head of Marketing, SuperValu.

 

“Last year we recognised our SuperMums so in 2017 we decided that we would cast our net wider to identify the men, women and children who are SuperStars in their communities.

“Most of us will know a local SuperStar in our area so this is your chance to nominate them and give them the pat on the back they deserve.  We want family, friends and colleagues to nominate their SuperValu SuperStars and help us to show them that their efforts have not gone unnoticed!”, said Desi.

 

SuperValu, in conjunction with sponsors, Robinsons, Dairylea, Ben & Jerry’s, Persil, U105 and The Sun, want to find 36 SuperStars across every county in Northern Ireland who will be invited to Parliament Buildings, Stormont, where the overall winner will be announced on November 22.

 

“It’s so easy to nominate your local SuperValu SuperStars, just go to www.supervalu.co.uk and fill in an online form and leave the rest to us.  Anyone can nominate, including yourself, with the winner receiving a fantastic 5 star holiday and all finalists will be presented with SuperValu shopping vouchers”, said Desi.

To enter SuperValu SuperStars simply nominate online via www.supervalu.co.uk or www.facebook.com/SuperValuNI and describe what makes your nominee inspirational and worthy of the SuperStars title.

Desi continued: “We’ve had a fantastic response so far and we would like to thank everyone for taking the time to nominate. However, there is still time left to share the story of your SuperStars and we want to hear from you before entries close on August 19.”

If you think you or someone you know is a SuperStar and deserves to be recognised at the glittering reception at Parliament Buildings on November 22, simply enter online by August 19.

SuperValu is a leading foodmarket convenience brand for independent retailers in Northern Ireland providing real food from the heart of Northern Ireland.  SuperValu believes in quality local food that is from here and for here and sells in excess of £100 million worth of products from Northern Ireland in its stores every year. This helps to sustain jobs in local communities across the province.

New menu launch at The Loft

Very excited and looking forwards to the new menu being unveiled on Monday 24th July at The Loft in Mallusk. 

There will be dedicated breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, kids eat free on Monday and Tuesday and Steak night on Thursday.

So call 028 9084 0008, visit https://www.gototheloft.com or pop in

36a Mallusk Rd

Newtownabbey

BT36 4PP

United Kingdom

Parties, including weddings, Christenings, Communions and birthdays all catered for!!!

Dalriada Festival 2017

Attended the 2017 Dalriada Festival at Glenarm Castle today and had an absolute blast!!

The grounds of the castle came alive with music, song, dance, military displays,the best local food and drinks including a demo from Paula McIntyre and live demos from the Super Valu guys to Cossack horsemanship and guest appearance by Peppa Pig!!! 

Glenarm is home to the finest Glenarm Salmon and many local food and drinks producers showed their produce.

The weather didn't deter the masses who turned up in their droves- it was rather akin to a warm spring day rather than mid summer heat!!! The forecast is much better tomorrow. The performers kept the throngs entertained with music, song and dance. Credit to the groundsmen who kept the place very well in particular the phenomenal walled garden.

The Craft Village was nicely busy with lots of great gifts and innovative foods (loved the Rolld ice cream).

Also on hand was the International Henna Artist Binder who was doing some amazing henna designs on the lucky folk who got it!!

There's plenty to see, do, feel, eat and drink!! So make sure you get down to the festival!!

Judging at the IQFDA 2017

Well I've just finished judging at the Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards held at DIT.

Yesterday the category for judging was Irish  Good Choice Quality Food and today was the jewel in the crown, the Gold award judging. Yesterday we tried 34 products, today a whopping 94!!!! 

The judges were from all parts of the food world and friendships were forged as well as renewed. The quality and standard was exceptionally high. The winners will be announced at the Gala dinner on 26th October 2017.

Glorious gastronomy at the Gasworks

On a gorgeous July evening, the four of us (wife,two girls and I) dined in the glorious Belfast Radisson hotel restaurant called The Gasworks Restaurant and Bar.

The hotel is set in the Gasworks in Belfast, an area which has undergone a lot of regeneration over the last twenty years. It was a very busy place in bygone days, keeping Belfast lit-one can see the icons in the signage.

The logo is very striking and the style and typing font is very period appropriate. There are plenty of seats in the bar, outside along the lakeside, inside and in the private booths, which we opted for.

The Radisson Hotels used to house the Filini  Italian restaurants in all their UK hotels and it was great to see that Belfast broke away from the generic replacement and generated the Gasworks Restaurant and Bar. The menu offers a superb selection of all kinds of food from breakfast through lunch and into an amazing evening menu,with meals to satisfy all appetites and the superb thing is that it's all on a one sided menu!!

The restaurant is very child friendly and offers a very good explorers pack to keep the kids occupied, also for residents all kids eat free. Fresh baked seeded bread and butter was also served. 

For starters we chose the large king prawn and calamari tempura sharing platter and my older daughter had a large seafood chowder, whilst the younger one had chicken fillets with corn on the cob and skinny fries (kids menu). The tempura was lightly battered and crisp and fish was perfect. The chowder was creamy and had plenty of fish and potatoes. The chicken, fries and corn went down a treat!!

For mains I had the most delicious monkfish with apple and radish salad and mayo served with an onion ring side. My wife had the chicken and noodle broth. We both thoroughly enjoyed the dishes and were amazed about the portion size of the noodle dish, the monkfish was just right also. The fish was meaty, juicy and succulent and cooked to perfection. The seasoning was slightly salt heavy else two perfect dishes. To finish the girls devoured a strawberry and chocolate ice cream, while my wife and I shared a vanilla mocha.

The ambience of the restaurant was superb and all the staff were expertly trained. The attention to detail was amazing-example being the place setting napkin was a thick tissue based one whilst the napkins given for main course were white cloth.

This is certainly a restaurant which is ideal for special celebrations but is equally good for romantic meals and is very child friendly. There is onsite car parking which is free if one dines or stays in the hotel. A big thank you to all the staff at the hotel/restaurant for making our evening memorable.

Birthday and anniversary celebrations

My wife and I share our anniversary with our daughter and we celebrated with the youngest one at Pizza Express. This was our first visit at the St Annes Square, Belfast restaurant.

It's spacious and has plenty of natural lighting and I must say one of the nicest in Belfast!! Staff were fab also. Some great menu choices and deals. For the kids there's a 3 course meal for £7, girls had dough balls and salad to start followed by mini penne with ham and pepperoni pizza and then ice lollies. 

I had garlic bread with cheese, my wife had a tomato and mozzarella salad-both were lovely. For main I had an American hot pizza and my wife was so pleased to see her all time favourite dish back on the menu-cannelloni, which she ordered. Both were exceptional. To wash it all down we had water. Great vfm at £36!! All round fantastic

Dubai Duty Free Arabian Night

Yesterday evening Dubai Duty Free hosted an evening of Middle Eastern fun, food and frolic at their Arabian Night extravaganza. It was held in the oasis, that is The Thermal Village, which is situated in the grounds of the Galgorm Resort and Spa. 

The Dubai Duty Free Irish Open 2017 is currently being played at the Portstewart Golf Club on the picturesque North Coast of Northern Ireland. 

The Spa at Galgorm is a wonderful facility and I did get a good look around-will have to try it out soon.

The Thermal Village is a World Class outdoor venue to relax and unwind and soak in hot tubs and soak in the stunning views.

On arrival there was a drinks reception in The Orangery and canapés served in the village. The canapés were arancini, mini chicken Sumac baskets and non alcoholic Bloody Mary shooters. These were very tasty, complimented each other and went down very well!! The food was a mixture of classic Northern Irish and Middle Eastern.

Starters were then served, buffet style, in the Tee Pee, which had seating for 100 plus guests. The starters that I had were the pickled vegetables, flatbread, hummus, apple ketchup (amazing), very creamy chowder, smoked salmon,duck rillette and Baba ganoush. The culinary team at the Galgorm got it spot on-I really thought I was in Dubai!!

Throughout the evening there was an impressive falconry display comprising of Owls, Hawks, Falcons and an elegant Golden Eagle. There was also a chance to dress in traditional Arabian attire as shown off by four glamourous models and yours truly!! Also guests had a chance to get Henna (Mehndi) by the International Mehndi artist Binder Tohani.

The drummers played after dinner accompanied by fire artists​. Dinner was a fine feast of chicken harissa, aubergine and okra bamya, Ottoman lamb, BBQ meat (chicken, Merguez sausage and Rump steak). There was also beef and Guinnes pie and smoked haddock on a bed of creamy cabbage. I had all but the beef dishes (including Merguez sausage) and must admit surpassed my expectations and tantalised the taste buds. The mix of the spices was spot on!!

I must say that the whole evening, venue, food, service and event were World Class and we were blessed with dry and mild weather!!

I had to forego dessert and the band as had to relieve babysitter!! Big thanks to Aileen, Dubai Duty Free and the Galgorm.

Due to rights restrictions I'm unable to name or show pictures of any of the players or officials, suffice to say I did get to meet many wonderful people especially the CEO of Dubai Duty Free.

Belle Isle Castle

26 of us took over the whole of the magnificent Belle Isle Castle last week for 3 nights/4 days. 16 adults and 10 kids filled the grandiose property in Lisbellaw. We took enough food, provisions and drink for the four days and treated ourselves to a meal out on one night and takeaway pizza on another. 

The castle is set in its own private estate and there is plenty to do from walking to sailing, croquet to clay pigeon shooting. We took cricket sets, swingball, badminton, footy and rugby balls and all of us partook.

There was more than enough cutlery, crockery, glasses and gadgets to keep us going in the fully equipped kitchens. Also on hand were dish washers, glass washers, washing machines, fridges, gas and electric cookers and a 24/7 running Aga!!! There is a stock of tea/coffee and cereals available but we brought our own.

In the numerous reception areas were loads of books/magazines, TVs, Ipad dock, brilliant comfy sturdy furniture and fires in every room.

The many bedrooms were tastefully decorated in period furniture, some even having four poster beds!!! There was lots of hanging space (with hangers) and bathroom robes and toiletries were provided.

The most impressive room was the banqueting room. Beautiful furniture, a huge stags head candlearbre and a long table which the 26 of us all sat around.

It would be lovely to stay here for longer!!! It was really well worth it-the whole family was under the one amazing roof!!