Radisson Blu Hotel Belfast Hotel Review, Northern Ireland

The restaurant menu is upmarket bistro style with local twists, such as fish fingers in a Belfast bap – a floury roll to the uninitiated. Top marks for salt and pepper mills that work, and a small black mark for paper napkins. The staff, quaintly, are in jeans and gingham shirts, as if they’ve just popped in on their way to an Oklahoma! audition.

I had perfect scallops to start, and four of the plump little darlings rather than the miserly two some restaurants dish up, followed by an equally flawless sirloin with red wine jus, then warm chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream, after which I had to be carried to bed in a sedan chair by a team of Assyrian bearers.

The wine list is small but sensibly varied, with most available by the glass or half-litre carafe as well as bottle. The bar’s also got a great beer selection, many from the Franciscan Well craft brewery in Cork.

Breakfast is a hot and cold buffet, plus pancakes and omelettes cooked to order. Thumbs up for jam and marmalade in big jars rather than silly little ones, freshly squeezed orange juice and oranges plus a press for DIY squeezers.