Orange is not the new black - Ginger Bistro, Belfast

Although part of my holiday planning always involves looking up where we can eat, it is really nice not having to research or plan all your meals in advance, even if you have dietary requirements. Ginger Bistro was one of the Belfast restaurants which boasted a separate vegetarian menu.

We walked past Ginger Bistro one evening - an unassuming restaurant which was near a busy cross-road. It's a classy place and describes itself as serving Anglo-European fare, but the best dishes we had were Asian-influenced. It's been recently renovated and there are 2 different areas to eat in. The main restaurant has larger tables, warm colours on the wall and a cosy atmosphere; the bar area is light with lots of glass, small tables or bar stools so you can sip on wine and have some small dishes. The main restaurant was fully booked but we were happy sitting in the bar for a casual dinner.

We shared the bread board to start. Three different freshly baked breads were served with a generous bowl of olive tapenade. The brown walnut bread was delicious, whilst the cheese scone was soft with a golden crust of cheese. Both were a good contrast to the sharp tapenade, with chunks of herby olives and capers.

For mains, hubby had the sweet potato and cashew nut"sausage" roll served with salad and sweet potato wedges. The pastry was good and the wedges were tasty but I thought it was quite stodgy and a bit repetitive given that it was a plate of orange. It was a large portion though, so if you are happy to have a rustic, filling dish of just sweet potato then you'll end up loving it!

I ended up having 2 starters as I thought the mains looked fairly uninspiring. The cheddar and mustard fritters - little balls of deep-fried cheesey goodness - were great especially with the apple puree and pickled vegetable salad to cut through the richness. But it was tiny portion - only 2 fritters for £6.25! I never complain in restaurants but was really unhappy paying that much for such a small plate. The waitress ended up getting another fritter from the kitchen but not sure I would still recommend this dish based on price.

The asparagus tempura was a much larger portion size and were served with a salty soy dressing. They were crisp and not too oily. The accompanying Asian-inspired salad with thinly-sliced carrot, chilli, mooli and pineapple was fresh and zingy. Would recommend this as a good starter for vegans as well.

Ginger Bistro is worth trying for its lively atmosphere and starters, but there is better vegetarian food to be found in Belfast. Although there are vegan dishes available, these are commonly found in other restaurants (such as a green vegetable curry or spaghetti with vegetables). It's a bit pricey so may not suit all budgets.

Peckish Pea rating - 3/5!

#dinner #PanAsian #European #pretheatre #lunch #vegan #expensive #bar #relaxed