A food lover's guide to eating out in Belfast

To eat well in Belfast, decide the occasion, then look in the right part of the city: the Cathedral Quarter and the centre for an evening out, St George's Market for a browse and a quick bite, and the Lisburn Road, Botanic and the Ormeau Road for neighbourhood places. Judge each place on ratings from people who ate there, with photographs of the food and a count of how many rated it, and book ahead for Friday and Saturday nights.

Belfast is in Northern Ireland, so prices are in sterling. If you are coming up from the Republic, your card will usually take care of that, but it is worth knowing before you compare menus with home.

Which parts of Belfast are worth knowing for food?

Belfast is compact, and most of the places you will want are within a walk or a short bus ride of the centre.

• The Cathedral Quarter, on the north side of the city centre, is the heart of the city's evening life: bars, music and a good concentration of places to eat. It gets busy at weekends, so book if the night matters.
• The city centre around City Hall is the obvious meeting point, with plenty of choice for lunch and pre-theatre meals.
• St George's Market, a Victorian covered market near the river, is the place to see what the city eats when it is not dressing up. Check its trading days before you plan around it.
• Botanic and the area around Queen's University, south of the centre, has a student-and-neighbourhood feel, with cafés and casual places.
• The Lisburn Road runs south-west from there and is known for cafés, brunch and shops.
• The Ormeau Road, running south-east from the centre, is another residential stretch with places locals use.

A rule that works in most cities and holds in Belfast: the further you get from where visitors gather, the more a place depends on people coming back, which is usually what you want.

What should you order in Belfast?

Some things are worth eating while you are there because they are done properly:

• An Ulster fry: a cooked breakfast whose defining feature is the bread, with soda bread and potato bread fried alongside everything else.
• Soda farls and potato bread on their own, from a bakery or a market stall.
• Champ: mashed potato with scallions, a staple in the north.
• Seafood from the coast around Northern Ireland, which turns up on plenty of the better menus.

The quickest way to find a good version of any of these is to search for the dish rather than for a type of place. When somebody rates a place on Mosey and names what they ate, that dish gets its own page there, with photographs from the people who ordered it and what they paid where they said. The guide to traditional Irish dishes covers more of what to look out for.

How to judge a Belfast place before you go

Some Belfast places have only a few ratings on Mosey so far, which makes it more important to read them well:

1. Check how many people rated it. The count shows people, not visits. A single glowing rating is a lead, not a verdict.
2. Look at the photographs. They are taken at the table by the people who ate there. They show portion size, style and whether the thing you want is any good.
3. Look for Gold. It replaces the score on places whose average is high enough, does not flicker off after one bad night, and cannot be bought. Owners' own ratings do not count towards it.
4. Read a reply or two. Places can answer ratings but cannot delete them.
5. Confirm the opening hours. Many listings started from public map data, so unless the place has claimed its page, the hours may not be current.

The Northern Ireland hub shows what has been rated across the north. If it is thin for the area you are staying in, that is a reason to rate where you eat, so the next person has more to go on.

How do I get a table in Belfast on a busy night?

Friday and Saturday evenings in the Cathedral Quarter and the centre fill first, as do nights when there is a big concert or match in town.

• Book early where a place takes bookings on Mosey. It is free, and you get a reminder before the day.
• Join the waitlist if it is full. Cancelled tables go to the list instead of sitting empty.
• Look again on the day. Tables come free in the afternoon as plans change.
• Eat early. A table at six is far easier to get than one at eight.
• Expect a deposit for a large group on a busy night. It comes off the bill and Mosey takes nothing from it.

Making a weekend of it

If you are visiting for a couple of days, plan around three different kinds of meal rather than three dinners: a market or bakery morning, a proper dinner you have booked, and a relaxed neighbourhood lunch somewhere south of the centre. It gives you a much better sense of the city than three evenings in the same few streets.

Save your candidates to a list before you travel. On the day it works as a map, and afterwards it is the best record of what you ate. The Travel feature explains how town and city pages help when you are somewhere you do not know.

Things to avoid

• Deciding on the street at eight on a Saturday, when the obvious places are full and the rest are the ones nobody chose.
• Judging a place on one rating in either direction.
• Forgetting the currency when comparing prices with home.
• Only eating in the centre. The neighbourhood roads are where the regulars go.

Try it on Mosey: look at what has been rated in Belfast, save three places to a list for your trip, and book the one that matters most.