Belfast - Moving On

Take a taxi ride around the city to see the places in the news during the nineteen-seventies when the Troubles tore Northern Ireland apart. It is a fascinating but touching way to see the situation from an insider's point of view. Celebrity chef Paul Rankin has re-opened Roscoffs - a sensational restaurant which uses superb local produce in delicious dishes. Take advantage of their special offers which make it very affordable even if you are on a budget. Continuing the foodie theme, don't miss Guiness and oysters at the Crown - great food and a wonderful Victorian era pub which has remained just as it was originally.

Quick Tips:

While the centre may seem like the place to be, do venture a little way out and see some of the areas just outside the city centre. In particular the area around the University and Botanic Gardens is full of good bars and restaurants and some interesting independent boutiques and gift shops as well as some fabulous antique shops.

Best Way To Get Around:

The city centre is great to walk around since it has little traffic thanks to the excellent system which takes traffic away from the centre. If venturing out of the centre most buses conveniently leave from outside City Hall. If thinking about taking a train up to the coast or to Bushmills (where the whisky distillery is) you should check train times the day before since you need to leave quite early to be able to make a day of it. We asked at the station at ten thirty and found it was too late!

We picked Travelodge because there was an offer on with rooms for just £5 a night. I can say that we found a decent hotel in a useful location. We booked on-line - a simple and speedy process. The hotel is near the Europa bus station and the Crown Pub. It is close to City Hall - handy for most of the city's bus services. Brunswick Street is open to traffic but is quiet. One drawback, though, is that at the back the hotel, there is a pub opposite staying open until the early hours. When the door opened you could hear loud music. If you are a light sleeper, earplugs should help. Check-in is 3pm but we arrived on an early flight. The receptionist let us leave our bags and suggested that we might be able to check in at 12 o'clock and should try back then if we wanted to do that. The bags were securely locked away and we were even given a numbered receipt so we felt confident they'd be safe. Freshly brewed coffee is available free of charge to guests in the reception area where there are a few easy chairs and plenty of free tourist information leaflets.

We paid at check-in making check out very quick, simply returning our room key. We found our room easily, the numbers are clearly signed. Our room was small but adequate for a short stay assuming you'll be out most of the time. Everything was in good repair and was clean. One odd point - the TV set was huge - too big for the room. There were tea and coffee making facilities but not enough milk! There was a desk but the lighting around it was woefully inadequate. The room had no central light, just two small lamps on each side of the headboard and a dim wall light at the other end of the room. The bathroom was also on the small side but was pristine . The hair drier didn't work and there was no bath mat. The water took ages to run hot and it was difficult to get a good temperature for the shower. Our room was at the rear of the hotel and looked out on a square with a few trees. The window barely opened more than a few millimetres. A cooked (£5) or continental breakfast (£4.50) is available until 11.30am in the Cafe-bar. We did not eat there so I cannot comment further. The cafe-bar is open until around 11.30pm serving drinks, snacks, and light meals. Free parking is available for guests. I have mentioned a few negatives but would still recommend this hotel - especially if there is an offer on. Even if there is not it is certainly worth the £55 which a double room usually goes for. The hotel has family rooms which are excellent value. All rooms are now non-smoking.

www.travelodge.co.uk  Register to be kept informed of special offers.

From outside it looked appealing; a menu was posted outside. The blinds were pulled almost completely down but you could see a little bit of the interior. It had nice wooden floors, small but attractively dressed tables - much more in the current style of modern Indian restaurants rather than the traditional flocked wallpaper decor.

We decided to skip starters and pick a side dish to share alongside our main course choices. The first choice was the okra dish but there was no okra. We then tried for the aubergine dish and were met with the same response.

We decided to have starters instead. CM plumped for the green chilli pakora and I opted for the chicken pakora. His dish consisted of deep fried green chillies with a thin crispy batter like coating and was served with a small salad. My chicken pakora was basically very, very red tandoori spiced chicken with the same kind of batter and a salad alongside. Neither came with any sauce or dip but luckily we had a little coriander/yogurt sauce left from the complimentary popadoms.

My chingri punjabi massala handi main course came in a wee brass bucket, hung over a tea light in a glass dish. Not especially novel...The sauce itself was a horrible grey/grown colour and looked lumpy and nasty. However, looks can be deceptive so I decided to hang fire with the criticism until I had tasted it. Frankly, it tasted as awful as it looked. It tasted like awful cheap gravy granules and the overwhelming taste of salt was disgusting.

Across the table things weren't any better. CM had opted for a chilli paneer dish (paneer is a homemade Indian cheese) which also turned out to be revoltingly salty. His was more brown in colour but that didn't do anything to recommend it more than my dish. We had ordered a naan bread (the underside of which was burned) and a portion of pilau rice to share.

When the waiter came over to check on us, CM said that his dish was just too salty and was inedible. I added that mine was also salty and the waiter took CM's dish and said he bring a new one. I was waiting for him to come back to take mine away too but the next time he appeared it was with CM's new main course. This time it was so bland it hardly tasted of anything!

I tried to plough on with mine but it was probably apparent from the way I was pushing the stodgy, salty lumps across the plate that I wasn't enjoying it. After a minute or so the waiter returned and asked if I would like a fresh dish as well - I had lost interest by then.

Their business card also says that Archana is "A unique name in Indian cuisine' - I should say so. This is the most singularly awful Indian meal I have ever eaten. £32 worse off - be warned!

Opium is one of the coolest bars in Belfast; first it's not easy to find, we stumbled on it by chance so you may need an street map. Second, it's so small that you might not get in. But it's not just that it's hard to get into that makes it cool. The interior really is something special. It may take a moment or two to get used to the darkness. There is some lighting but it's dim. Even during the day, bamboo blinds are drawn to keep prying eyes out. The walls are black and deep dark red. On the rear wall is a fantastic image of a Chinese woman from the nineteenth century - a black and white blown up newspaper photograph which fills the wall. A bar runs along three quarters of one wall and opposite are low level tables with low level seating. After a while they become uncomfortable, reinforcing my first thoughts that Opium is somewhere to be seen rather than somewhere to take the weight off! Upstairs is a small club area with a dance floor; DJs play here at weekends. The toilets are pretty cool, cutting edge design with more Chinese images.

 The cocktails, though, are what draw people here. A good long list of old favourites, some newer cocktails then some truly fabulous ones with unusual ingredients like cactus leaves, star fruit and papaya. At £5 a throw for a cheaper one this is not bargain basement but the cocktails are pretty special. Also, there are numerous more unusual brands of premium spirits like tequila, some of which are quite costly but excellent to try if you are a connoisseur. There area number of bottled lagers and beers from all over the world, these too are not cheap but by now you'll have realised this is not a cheap bar. I recommend Opium for the impressive decor and for the cocktails but I would suggest you go out of your way. I feel it's a little over-priced, but aren't most places like this?