Belfast-born chef Chris McClurg and his partner Alice Stewart this week launched their ambitious debut restaurant at the Regency House boutique hotel in the city.
Chris was previously chef patron at Paul Ainsworth’s No 6 in Padstow, Cornwall, which appears regularly on the Harden’s 100 list of the UK’s best restaurants. He stepped down in January last year to pursue his ambition of running his own restaurant, having won Great British Menu’s dessert course in 2022 with a trifle called ‘Derry Girls’.
He and Alice met at No 6, where she rose up the ranks from chef de partie via head of pastry and sous chef to restaurant director.
Regency House opened in 2022 in a grand Georgian terrace in Belfast’s Queen’s Quarter that had been restored over several years. The hotel has eight bedrooms and six suites, plus the new 40-cover restaurant with open kitchen, a courtyard dining space and a private dining cellar.
Chris and Alice came on board as consultants in 2025 before taking over last month with the ambition of creating “a restaurant of national significance“.
Ahead of its launch this week, Chris said: “On a personal level, this announcement has been 20 years in the making. Dining at Regency House promises to be exciting, energetic and guided by the incredible larder of local produce we have on this beautiful Island: think of an intimate Parisian luxe bistro with a distinctly Northern Irish accent.
“We have spent a huge part of this past year out on the road meeting and building relationships with our fantastic farmers, growers, fishermen and craftspeople. We feel a huge sense of pride and responsibility to showcase their efforts in the best way we know!”