This really is a 'secret' garden…read more My sister and I were seeking a venue for a little treat and she recommended we try here. Afternoon tea without the ridiculous price - perfect. At £24 for two this really is a steal. Sandwiches of your choice, scones (with the usual accompaniments) and some yummy traybakes. This is more like non pretentious, Northern Irish style afternoon tea. With the tray bakes including mini fifteens and malteaser squares. If you are looking for something cutesy, scrumptious and not breaking the bank then look no further! Will definitely be back. Don't forget to check out the gift shop for some trinkets and the perfect gifts for mums.

Well what can I say my mum took me out for lunch to this place over Easter week and I was a bit…read moresceptical. Tea rooms attached to a garden centre, tend not to have the most out there reputation. I'm glad to say my scepticism was blown out of the water. This place is definitely a little gem of Belfast. The actual tea rooms/restaurant are an elegantly appointed building with stunning views of the countryside. You feel like you are in the great hall of some stately Victorian home. Sumptuous décor and a varied and delicious sounding menu. As we were there during the week we availed of the two courses for £9.99 (I think that was the price so apologies if I got this wrong, my mum was paying) We both ordered the soup for starter, Butternut Squash, chilli and coconut. Very tasty and a huge portion, I couldn't finish mine because I wanted to leave room for the main. My mother ordered slow cooked beef brisket, Mash and roast root veg while I had the smoked haddock, creamy bacon and leek sauce and the same sides. I cannot fault the food, it was delicious. My only tipple would have been that a selection of different sides for the fish may have been a little better, Maybe some samphire and potato croquets or some such. We also caught a glimpse of their cram tea on another table which looked stunning (I think the Waitress said it was £20/25 per head) Overall an amazing place for lunch, but it doesn't end there. They also offer a dinner menu Thursday to Saturday and it is BYO so definitely cannot be doing wrong there. I highly recommend this place for lunch or for dinner! If you go for dinner though I think you have to book as this place is making its mark on the map and seems to be getting ever more popular!

All home baked food and treats. Staff are so friendly…read more Opens one Saturday a month from 10am to 4pm during North Down Craft Collective fair. Second Sat of month. Their ginger scones are lovely. Soft yet crunchy. Also their sandwiches and soups are lush. The tea room is in a wee room at the back of the hall. Not many seats. Parking can be difficult outside. Park across the street in the church.

I tried the tea rooms for the first time, last week with my treatments at the spa. £30 for…read moreafternoon tea for two. We had vegetable broth and wheaten, sandwiches (3 or 4 fillings), a large warm scone each and a plate of sweet treats. Everything was delicious, the top tier (desserts) were my Least favourite, but I'm a keen baker and fussy about my desserts. They just weren't my fave. Too sweet and not entirely worth the calories. The scones were amazing, the sandwiches were fresh and plenty for two and the soup and wheaten were delish too. The service and the girls here were excellent. Friendly, helpful and never let our teapot go empty!

Decorated like a beach cottage but filled with delicious fresh baked goods this cafe/bakery will…read morenot disappoint. It is surrounded by the close confines of Ashlea Cottages in a coastal village that seems like a throwback to a bygone era in a very good way. We sampled the scones and the shortbread along with various coffees on couple of visits and found everything delightful. It is a family run business that sometimes finds all hands on deck running freshly baked items from the family kitchen next door straight to the display case. The cottages make for a perfect vacation hub for families visiting the Antrim coast and this little cafe allows for the perfect start to each day of exploration.

My wife and I eat here most Sundays and can't fault one thing about the place. Always great food…read moreand great service. If you haven't tried here I'd put it on your list of things to do.

Had brunch here yesterday and couldn't recommend it highly enough for choice value and service!…read moreIf you haven't been it's worth the drive out to sample the delicious home style cooking on offer. There's a gift shop which stocks a range of items from quirky wedding favours to baby gifts and some stylish costume jewellery. Well worth a browse and I did! You can also purchase a selection of yummy baked goods to take home from the Pantry bakery. The tea rooms are on 3 or 4 different levels so there's plenty of seating and it's not too cramped either. I had a toasted bagel with cream cheese and bacon. There were 3 thick sliced pieces of lean bacon and a little pot of cream cheese. My friend had a bowl of porridge and honey with a mix of soft fruit on top. We both had a cappuccino which was hot frothy and a good hit of caffeine. We ordered and paid at the counter and our food was served to out table by a friendly chatty member of staff. The place was spotless as were the loos. There's a nice outdoor seating area for those warmer summer days but as it was a mixture of pouring rain and sun so we sat inside.

Went there yesterday as a party of six. The elder waitress who seemed to be in charge was extremely…read morerude. She watched us push our prams to the table, when we finally got to our table and sat down she asked us to take our prams down and leave them outside. No help given on where to place our babies who where too small for a high chairs so we had to set the chair seats on chairs(which took up just as much room). We had phoned ahead to say there would be babies/prams going and it wasn't an issue then. Everything we asked seemed to annoy her and she made us all feel very uncomfortable. The Christmas dinner was edible but not worth making the trip out for. We didn't stay for dessert.

WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! This place in actual fact deserves about 7 stars. It is FAB!!!! Okay, lets get…read moredown to brass tacks here, it is a bit off the beaten track, but you know me I will go to Hell in an hand basket for a good bun and or traybake (wasnt Helena Handbasket a 1970s drag queen??) its a short jaunt off the main road between Bessbrook and Mountnorris, look it up on Google maps or the AA road atlas or ask the sat nav woman to bring you to the door of Bide A While. You really will thank me, honestly this place will put most other eateries in the shade. Some lovely lady decided to build a large annex off the side of her house, now dont get me wrong this is no place for Anne Frank, its a large brightly lit airy conservatory type off shoot from the main house, lovely little tables and chairs not so crammed together that you feel you are almost having sex with the people sitting beside you like in some places I've been. Decor is bright and welcoming, tastefully furnished and with a distinctive homely feel without it being like sitting in your Grannys parlour. Now onto the menu. Tea, coffee and scones £1.50 ONE POUND FIFTY!!??? What, are we back in 1967? Too cheap! Slices of cake £2 and traybakes £1 I mean COME ON, this place is waaaaaay under priced for the absolute quality of stuff you are getting served up. We had soup and 2 THICK slices of the most delicious wheaten bread, a toasted sandwich and side salad, tea for 2, lemon cake and a humungous slice of apple tart, all for £12.80 I mean you just would not get it anywhere else. From what I remember the menu offered in the way of cakes (all I am interested in really) LEMON CAKE COFFEE CAKE LEMON MERENGUE RASPBERRY AND WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE CHERRY BAKEWELL CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE APPLE AND STRAWBERRY TART APPLE TART RHUBARB TART SCONES MUFFINS Also on offer ASSORTED TRAYBAKES TOASTED SANDWICHES SOUP SALADS Tea, Coffee etc etc A really delightful menu, I cant say enough good things about this place, really it is an absolute treasure and if you dont try it then you are a fool, well worth the wee trip out into the countryside. She only opens Thursday, Friday and Saturday though. Best service and fayre by far anywhere about, cafes in Newry take note, THIS is how proper food should taste. Love it

In between my three visits separated by a whole year, I can't believe I'm still the first to review…read morethis exceptional patisserie... the definitive hidden gem! I honestly didn't expect to find such top notch French pastries in Northern Ireland (and see my French patisserie list in case you think I've not had my share!!). But, I looked through Instagram pictures of Lazy Claire in July 2018, checked a bunch of websites, found nothing on them (they've since developed a strong reputation locally), and walked in to find delectable made-from-scratch pastries. The surprise didn't end there. The owner, Daniel, introduced himself to me and told me that he's originally from Alabama... though he did learn his craft at Angelina in Paris. I'm glad I walked in, per habit, around the time a bakery opens (9 am in this case on weekdays). Glad because I was the first customer. The guy after me looked around the display cases and casually asked for 4 butter croissants and 5 chocolate croissants (or vice versa). I turned around to look at him and exclaimed: you bought everything! He pretended as if he didn't know. Though he clearly did (given the mismatched order size). Daniel laughed and told me I'd been lucky. He's a wonderful conversationalist and I spent an hour chatting up with him as he shared his experience of living and operating a business in Belfast. The croissants were flaky with layers of rolled dough, but the shatter effect was more prominent the day Daniel was working. (I'm not dinging the other bakers, they were considerate people having recognized me from back to back visits) I also tried the macarons, but loved the Millefeuille and pistachio eclairs more. I wish I'd been there around December to try the Black Forest bûche de Noël. It looked lovely on Instagram. The New Yorker in me believes one can walk around any city in the world, but I'd forgotten all about "the troubles" on my way to the patisserie. If you're a tourist and don't know your way around the city, be prepared to cab it back to your hotel. Lazy Claire is a can't miss experience in Belfast. Even though, you're probably there for the GoT tours...

From the owner: Lazy Claire Patisserie is one of the truest French patisseries in Belfast and Northern Ireland…read more Each pastry is handmade on site by our chefs using pure ingredients to classic French recipes. We offer items that you would be hard to find outside of France.

Well within Donaghadee lighthouse's view sits the Bow Bells Tea Rooms. This has always been a…read morebakery in Donaghadee but more recently its reputation has grown and it has taken on the competitive breakfast and lunch market. Unfortunately when I visited recently I was too late for lunch, it was only just after 2pm am as I approached the counter I looked puzzled down at my watch and then up at the girl serving but this did not seem to gain me any favour. They still offer afternoon tea right up until 4pm and I delighted in this. I ordered a coffee, a sausage roll and a huge slice of apple pie that must have contained a whole apple tree. The prices are really reasonable all this only came £4.50, so you can fill up for under a fiver. 95% of the food in the Bow Bells is made on the premises and you can taste the fresh ingredients with every bite. The place itself has been decorated like your nans house, bone china, pink table cloths and strangely paintings of cats dominate the décor. But all this gives it a cosy touch and if this doesn't warm your belly the fresh food certainly will.

We went for a quick bite to eat while walking along the beach in Cushendun. The Tea Rooms are a…read moresmall, cosy little cafe just on Main Street. There's an upstairs with around 10 tables and a downstairs with 5 or 6 tables.(You can also eat on picnic tables outside, but the weather wasn't too kind when we were there!) I ordered a breakfast bap, while my husband ordered the fry. We also had a coffee and hot chocolate which warmed us up rightly! The service was very friendly and fast (although there were only 2 other customers there on a wet Wednesday afternoon so they weren't busy!) I would love to have checked in at the time, but there is no free wifi which is a shame because people would promote the fact they are there! Our bill came to a respectable £14. The Tea Room perfectly matches the village- small, friendly and homely!

Makes for a fantastic day out, beautiful topical butterflies in the butterfly house which freely…read moreflutter about and land on people - you can watch them up close feeding on fruit and flowers too. Noticed some other visitors brought bits of cut up orange to entice the butterflies and this was a great way to encourage them to come close. Lovely grounds to walk around too with free roaming peacocks and there's a decent cafe too. Loses a star as it was so sad to see some caged birds adjacent to the butterfly house - I hate seeing birds in cages.

Behind glass are insects and reptiles. Hundreds of exotic butterflies have a large flight area…read morehere. The gardens have a nursery for rare plants as well as a play area. There is a maze, parrots, and viewing tower. This also has a shop and tea-room.