Overlooking the River Lagan opposite Andy Scott's Beacon of Hope sculpture in downtown Belfast, the location of one of Northern Ireland's most exciting restaurants seems appropriate - and owners Alain Kerloc’h (former restaurant manager at Deanes Restaurant) and Stephen Toman (former head chef at James Street South) showed vision and courage when they introduced OX to the city in 2013.
The concept - of simplicity, quality and accessibility, combined with a steadfast focus on seasonal local foods - is strong, original and confident, and it has generated (and sustained) huge excitement. The atmosphere is electric in the restaurant, which is partly down to the sense of anticipation among diners, but it's also that the room just works. The lighting is excellent and, whether in the ground floor restaurant or the first floor dining room (which is especially suitable for groups, although it can be very noisy), it's a wonderful venue when looking out over the river at night.
The main restaurant is a simple, modern room; designed by Oscar & Oscar, it flows into the open kitchen where both front of house and chefs are all kitted out uniformly, a statement of intent, as - in the modern Scandinavian style - dishes coming out of the kitchen are placed on the table by the hand of both waiting staff and chefs, who are equally well versed in the ingredients on the plate and the ideas behind the dishes.
OX describes itself simply as 'A restaurant with seasonal creativity’, and a short à la carte menu probbaly offering just four (extremely reasonably priced) dishes on each course is a model of pared down promise.
The month's Larder of foods in season is the starting point for every dish and meat, fish and other ingredients, including foraged foods, are each afforded equal respect. Two tasting menus are also offered and while one is the OX Menu of the Season, the other, more unusually, is the OX Vegetable Menu and anyone seeking inspiration with vegetables will thrill to the creativity of this kitchen.
While Stephen doesn't list suppliers, some are name checked on dishes and the care taking with sourcing is very evident - as also is the originality of each dish, notably the vegetarian ones which offer a creative and deeply flavoursome combination of non-meat ingredients.
Every dish is equally appealing so choices will be hard to make, but there should be no disappointments here. As would be expected of a man who has worked in the three star restaurant Taillevent (and returns annually to stage at great kitchens in Paris), Stephen Toman's cooking is exquisite, with great attention to detail - and interesting use of textures is a special feature.
Service has been impeccable from the outset too, with seemingly laid-back, yet highly efficient service from Alain Kerloc’h and his team bringing a casual air to proceedings.
Alain Kerloc’h has long been highly respected in the world of wine and (although tasting notes would be welcome) his original and well priced wine list complements the food perfectly. Here too, accessibility and quality go hand in hand, with wines by the glass offered from about £7 - while the classics include just one or two splurge bottles for that day of exceptional celebration...
Beginning with aperitifs that include a locally made kefir as well as craft beer and cider, a very welcome manzanilla and equally welcome 'juice of the day', it just gets more interesting as you work through bubblies and a seasonal selection of about a dozen of what are effectively house wines, all available in a choice of sizes), to a brilliant collection of 'Artisan wines from interesting places', which is given equal weight with the classics.
A great team and a wonderful, affordable restaurant - and Belfast diners clearly know how lucky they are to have this gem in their city. Such is the popularity of OX that, in its first year, it became clear that extra space was needed. So, with the help of the original design team, they knocked into the building next door and created the relaxed and atmospheric Ox Cave, where you can not only enjoy an aperitif before going to your table (or linger over a post-prandial glass or two) but also enjoy some exceptional small plates and cheese selections, at certain times.
