"This pretty CS Lewis inspired café in east Belfast is a treasure trove of vintage crockery, quirky Narnia-themed artwork and with its perfectly pitched playlist, is a delightfully cosy family run affair offering fabulous food, coffee, tea and delicious tray-bakes all using local produce and suppliers. The Lamppost is now open on Friday and Saturday evenings with a brand new menu featuring a great selection of large and small dishes with suggested wine pairing, and some great vegetarian and vegan options, so we were delighted to have been invited down to be one of the first to try out the new menu. We began with a gorgeous Mackerel Rillette with watercress, cucumber pickle, and toasted sourdough, a Tempura Oyster Mushroom with maple glaze, kimchi bean sprouts, and an incredible gochujang mayo, and Grilled Asparagus with harissa yogurt, dill and toasted almonds, all of which were perfect sharing starters. To follow, the Mussels with Orzo, leeks, peas and saffron cream were fresh and bursting with flavour, and the Lentil Dahl with miso tofu and crispy onions with triangles of pitta bread for dipping was one of the tastiest vegan dishes we’d had in quite a while, accompanied by some steamed Asian Greens in sesame and ginger. To finish we had a light yet luscious Lemon Roulade with fresh fruit and vanilla cream, and some vegan cheese, a plant based, spirulina blue-veined wedge of Cashew Blue from Nourish Good Food, with crackers and Irish Black Butter. All washed down with an excellent bottle of Porta 6, and some great cocktails, this is a terrific new menu. Many thanks to the team at the Lamppost for a wonderful evening of fantastic food, service and warm hospitality."
