I look forward to visiting the newly renovated Ulster Museum shortly. It re-opened while I was abroad.
This article by the museum has caught my eye: Their new Girona Restaurant has served 8,500 meals in the first week. Have any readers eaten there yet?
The contract for the new restaurant was granted to the Stonebridge Group, based in County Armagh.
I went with my son on Friday, slightly apprehensive about the reports of overcrowding. We arrived at 10.30 and spent an enjoyable couple of hours browsing until the crowds got too much. Decided to give the restaurant a miss and had a lovely lunch at "The fatted Calf" at the top of the hill in Stranmillis. Highly recommended.
ReplyDeleteI suppose because the museum is free the management are divorced from commercial reality. The local news carried the story of the museum's Monday closure, and the subsequent disappointed people who had travelled from afar.
It's opening week coincided with the school's half term. One would have guessed it would, therefore, be busy.
The main exhibit is a mummified body in the Egyptian section, a small room with the exhibit in the centre. The idea presumably being the crowds move around the mummy in an orderly fashion. Not so. On our visit some workmen had decided to fit some shelves in this small room. They had closed off one corner of the square entirely, resulting in an undignified squeeze to get in and out of a cul-de-sac.
Ludicrous, when they could have worked this week, when the schools are back and the pressure is off.
Who gets to run these museums?
Are they accountable? I think not.
...and the museum was months late in opening too. Everything should have been ready, including the finishing touches.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of the Fatted Calf: Good name for a restaurant.
Tim
I think calling the Fatted Calf a restaurant may be misleading. Nice little sandwich bar / coffee shop. Excellent food and staff. And wi-fi!
ReplyDeleteCheers
My favourite restaurants in N.I. have to be the Londonderry Arms, Daft Eddies and the Portaferry Hotel. Visited all in a recent visit from Canada.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a youngster, we uses to go to a couple of interesting (!) places... Corr's Corner and the North Irish White Horse Inn. Not sure if they still exist, or whether I would care to revisit!
I'm fond of those places too, Stephen. There are bound to be lots of great bars & restaurants throughout the Province - which I'd be keen to hear about!
ReplyDeleteTim