OX

OX opened in 2013 in a narrow Oxford Street room facing the Lagan, and in 2016 became the first restaurant in Northern Ireland to win a Michelin star outside of a hotel. Chef-proprietor Stephen Toman (ex La Chapelle, London) and sommelier-partner Alain Kerloc'h have held the star ever since — a remarkable feat in a city where the dining economy has been boom and bust more than once.

The room is deliberately pared back: whitewashed walls, a long window onto the river, wooden tables without linen, chairs salvaged from a local church. There is no white-glove theatre. The cooking does all the talking — a five- or seven-course seasonal tasting menu driven by the Northern Irish larder, with extended work on dry-aged fish, wild herbs from the Mourne foothills, and fermented cabbage as a recurring motif.

The pace is measured, the portions disciplined, and the wine list — curated by Kerloc'h and extended into OX Cave next door — leans hard into biodynamic France with serious Champagne depth. For diners who want the tasting menu without the performance, the lunch sitting runs a shorter, cheaper version of the same kitchen's work.

For business dining, OX is the city's most sophisticated neutral ground — understated enough for a first meeting, accomplished enough for a closing dinner. The private dining room, tucked upstairs, seats up to twelve.

OX is where Belfast business deals close. The room is quiet enough to hear a counter-offer. The cooking is serious enough to signal you mean it. The wine list gives a host something genuine to offer. And the single Michelin star does the credentialling without requiring you to name-drop it yourself.