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.