Grilled Asparagus
The Lamppost

The Lamppost

19 Upper Newtownards Road, BT4 3, Belfast, United Kingdom

Cafe • Irish • British • European


"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."

The Scottish Steakhouse

The Scottish Steakhouse

Macdonald Inchyra Hotel And Spa, Falkirk, United Kingdom

Meat • Steak • Chicken • Chocolate


"I visited the MacDonald Inchyra Hotel Spa in Falkirk for a 2 Course Sunday Lunch for 2 people on Sunday 8th August, and would like to express how disappointed I was. My partner ordered the Roast Chicken with Yorkshire pudding, vegetables, roast potatoes and...jus. Instead of the roast chicken, roast beef, was brought out. We thought this as a simple mistake and returned it, awaiting the roast chicken to come out, with my meal going cold, as I did not want to commence my food before my partner’s had arrived. When the roast chicken dinner came back, the Yorkshire pudding was missing. I queried with the waitress, who came back 10 minutes later with a cold Yorkshire pudding on a small plate, with gravy on the underside of the pudding I can only suspect this was the same Yorkshire pudding that arrived with the original beef dinner, and had since been sitting to the side to also go cold. Before ordering her dessert, my partner asked the flavours of the the 3 scoop Arran ice cream, and was advised by Julia the waitress that it was strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. When the ice cream came out, it was strawberry, chocolate and rum raisin. My partner ate the strawberry and chocolate and left the rum raisin. Normally I wouldn’t have raised this as an issue, but due to the already disappointment with the mains it felt as though there was a lack of care and effort from the kitchen. I therefore raised this with Julia whilst paying. She was apologetic and advised that kitchen must have ran out of vanilla. As the manager of a food establishment myself, I completely understand how and why such mistakes happen, and that it is appropriate to replace with an alternative when certain products run out of stock. However, I would be inclined to believe that the more appropriate response would have been for the kitchen to advise the waitress of this, so as to allow for us to choose an alternative. If the kitchen hadn’t seen this as an option, due to staffing pressures or whatever other reason, I think the vanilla flavour should have been replaced with either chocolate or strawberry, as these were the other two flavours that were requested, so at least it was known that the customer liked these flavours. I feel that to assume rum and raisin as an appropriate replacement for vanilla was random, especially given that rum and raisin ice cream isn’t a flavour that everyone likes. Staff hotel were polite and the hotel was aesthetically pleasing, and as stated, the first one or two mistakes I could bypass, though this experience would definitely put us off returning in the future, either for a stay, spa or food. I had emailed the hotel privately prior to posting but like some of the other commenters, I also feel palmed off after having received no reply."