Chef Niall McKenna, owner of leading Belfast restaurant group James St & Co, relocated his famous cookery school to the city’s Cathedral Quarter in 2021 - and renamed it Waterman House Cookery School after the Grade B listed building that was acquired in 2018 in order to redevelop the cookery school.
Formerly the James Street South Cookery School and housed within the long established James Street restaurant, the spacious new cookery school now occupies the ground floor space of what was once a Bushmills bonded warehouse, where it can accommodate larger groups of up to 18 with state-of-the art work stations and the latest kitchen equipment. A reception and first floor areas will later become an events and cultural space, providing a new creative hub for this vibrant area.
The class schedule includes culinary classics, customer favourites and some exciting new cooking challenges incorporating a newly installed wood burning oven. With a diverse schedule suited to chefs of all levels - from beginner to master chef - the aim is to ensure that there is something for everyone to enjoy at the new Waterman House Cookery School.
In addition to the new cookery school, Niall and his team also launched Le Four, a novel street food offering which serves up fresh, made-to-order stone-baked pizzas from a converted Land Rover Defender. Designed to offer a taste of Waterman House Cookery School whilst allowing diners to enjoy the location, Le Four also has an outdoor dining space in the courtyard between the Harp Bar and Waterman House Cookery School.
In 2022, sister business Hadskis restaurant in Commercial Court was closed and the entire team moved to Waterman House, to create the new Waterman restaurant (see entry).
