Belfast is an exciting, immersive, and vibrant place to go to university.
From an Irish coffee in the morning to fresh seafood for dinner, our number one piece of advice to all incoming students is to enjoy local cuisine and Belfast delicacies as often as possible throughout your university experience. But where should students start, and where are some of the best restaurants and eateries to visit?
The Priorities of Students Who Are Dining Out
First and foremost, let’s not overlook or forget the strange dining habits of a student.
How many times have you skimped on dinner in favour of pre-drinks, only to eat the majority of a full meal at the end of the night and in the early hours of the morning?
There’s a reason why university cities do so well out of their late-night eateries, and it’s because students eat at strange times of the day.
What’s more, value is important. It could be a restaurant that accepts student discounts or one that offers a deal at certain times during the day. However that value is delivered, finding restaurants that are affordable but deliver high-quality food – and lots of it – is important to the majority of students.
Belfast Delicacies and Things to Try
Countless people who visit Ireland come for the Irish coffee, the whisky, and the Guinness.
But this isn’t just the land of drinks. Belfast also has its own plethora of local delicacies and things to add to your student bucket list.
These include:
- Maud’s Honeycomb ice cream, also known as their ‘Pooh Bear’ ice cream
- Boxty, an Irish potato cake topped with your choice of sides and extras
- Dulse, a red seaweed that is found around the shores of Ireland and boasts a salty, crispy flavour when dried
- Potato Bread, somewhere between a pancake and a hashbrown. This is the perfect accompaniment to an Irish breakfast fry-up and is grilled before serving, making it a nice and warm snack
- Soda Bread. You may have seen soda bread in local shops outside of Ireland, but the truth is that nobody does it as well as the Irish
- Belfast Bap, a breakfast sandwich that is loved by students at all times of the day (and night!)
Some of these delicacies and local must-tries come from specific eateries and restaurants, while others are more of a cultural phenomenon that can be found across the city.
Either way, let’s dive straight into the restaurants that you need to add to your Belfast bucket list.
Must Try Restaurants in Belfast for Students
Here are just a few of our favorites…
Mauds
A dessert parlour that is known for its unrivaled ice cream and for experimenting with new flavours. Some of them sound funky or unexpected, but the taste explosion is always exceptional at Mauds!
Neighbourhood Café
Located in the Cathedral Quarter in the heart of Sheffield, this is the place to go to at the weekend or when you need a well-deserved break from morning study. Offering one of the best breakfast and brunch menus in the city, the Neighbourhood café combines its winning menu with a really pleasant and welcoming atmosphere.
It also experiments with a few fun menu additions alongside the standard breakfast dishes you would expect, making it a popular go-to for those with friends and family visiting as well.
Revolution de Cuba
Earlier in this blog we touched on the importance of value when it comes to student dining, and while this place is really known more for its cocktails than for its food, we love it for the discounts that are available.
Tapas dishes make it an accessible option for those looking for a full meal or for a snack with a few drinks, while the vibrant and theatrical cocktails make this a popular haunt for Instagram lovers.
EDO
Again, this is a restaurant that balances value with the quality of its food, with plates and dishes that span all price ranges.
We particularly love the way that so many of the dishes at EDO are sharing platters and small plates, meaning that you can pick a load of your favourites and mix and match with friends. Plus, the open kitchen makes this as much of an experience as it is a meal out.
Bunsen
The go-to place for burgers. We won’t hear anything against them. The team at Bunsen has got student food down to a tee and deserves all the praise we can give them.
The Dumpling Library
10/10 flavours, bringing a fusion of Asian dishes, spices, and ingredients to life on mixed and incredibly colourful platters.
This is another Belfast restaurant that offers some really great deals if you choose to visit and dine at the right time, and it’s a fun place to visit with friends prior to drinks. After all, what better way to line your stomach ahead of a night of cocktails and beers than with some well-balanced Asian flavours.
Madame Pho
The go-to for soup season (i.e., right now!) is Madame Pho. Think noodle soups with gorgeously fresh ingredients, piles of noodles, and really warming flavours.
Quality AND Quantity
All of the restaurants and eateries mentioned above offer a perfect blend of quality and quantity, meaning that you not only enjoy great bang for your buck as a student but can also tell your family that you’re eating well – and mean it!
We hope this inspires you to get out and about and think beyond the ready meals in your fridge!
