Full Review – The Muddler’s Club – Belfast, UK (*)

I ate at the Muddler’s Club in Belfast recently, and here’s my full review. If any others have dined here, would love to hear your thoughts.

Entrance / Intro: The entrance to the restaurant is in an odd alleyway off a main street. This plays into the history of the restaurant’s name, which was a secret society of Irishmen.

It’s a small, darkly lit restaurant with an open-kitchen. After being seated, we were expecting either a verbal description of the tasting menu, or a physical menu, but we received neither.

Total Cost: $350 USD for two people. Tasting menus + two glasses of wine.

First Course: Bread service. Sourdough and a play on Irish brown bread, both served room temperature. Sourdough was nothing special, and the brown bread had an almost molasses-like sweetness.

Second Course: Snacks. Beef tartare tartlet, crab chip, and a tomato/cucumber “shot”. These were probably the best bites of the night. Everything was fresh, and the tomato shot was unique/fun.

Third Course: Scallop with a lime foam. Tasty little dish. Very tender little guy.

Fourth Course: Tuna tartare. The thin crisp on top was delicious with the tuna. Very flavorful dish.

Fifth Dish: Cod with dashi. Nice vegetable-forward dish.

Sixth Dish: Lamb with an herb-based sauce. This was the biggest shock of the night. It was a tiny piece of lamb, and the sauce was repulsive. It left a bitter, lingering taste in your mouth. I almost wonder if they made a mistake. I heard other diners expressing the same opinion.

Desserts: Strawberry sorbet pre-dessert. Chocolate, caramel, and blood orange. The “caramel” with the honeycomb was an odd consistency; we didn’t know what we were eating. Tasty because it was sweet, but seems very low effort.

FINAL REVIEW: Of all of the starred restaurants I’ve eaten in, this was my least favorite. They had some nice dishes, but others were confusing or just downright bad. However, the price is quite good for 7-8 different dishes.