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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Entertainment
Sophie McLaughlin

Great British Menu: Where you can taste the Northern Ireland contestants' food for yourself

On Tuesday night we saw four Northern Irish chefs battle it out in the first stage of Great British Menu, showing off their skills with canapes, starters and fish dishes inspired by 100 years of British broadcasting.

With some mouthwatering and creative ideas put to the plate, it was Marty McAdam from Co Fermanagh who unfortunately did not make it to the next stage.

As Stephen Hope, Chris McClurg and Gemma Austin take on mains and desserts in Wednesday nights episodes, you may be wondering where you can enjoy their talent and taste what they have to offer.

Read more: Meet the NI chefs facing off in this series of Great British Menu

Here are the restaurants where you can check out this series NI chefs' own menus:

Paget Lane/ The Street Kitchen - Marty McAdam

The Street Food Kitchen by day, The Paget Lane by night (Marty McAdam)

Despite being first to leave the competition, Enniskillen man Marty McAdam's name is synonymous with top quality dining in the heart of Co Fermanagh.

Marty's passion for kitchens and food began when doing my work experience through school with a local restaurant Francos before taking the leap into the Michelin star world when he moved to Edinburgh to work for Tom Kitchin.

Marty opened The Street Kitchen in the heart of the town that now opens as a lunch and brunch venue during the day and transforms into new venture, Paget Street at night.

The Street Kitchen serves dishes inspired by cuisines from all over the globe -what you will be served up is far more imaginative than you’re regular breakfast.

Brunch dishes will include eggs benedict, smoothie bowls and croque monsieurs. Lunch will follow with foot-long hot dogs with crispy crackling, pork belly baos buns, battered cod fish tacos and so much more.

Paget Lane, open on Saturday boasts a tasting menu of 15 courses and wine pairings in one sitting.

The restaurant is reservation only and the menu prominently focuses on modern Irish cuisine served in a unique and relaxed environment.

Dawsons Restaurant - Stephen Hope

A meal from Dawsons Castledawson (Dawsons/ Facebook)

Belfast-born chef Stephen Hope began his career at Merchant Hotel, where he worked his way up to Sous Chef before moving to Michael Deane's 1* restaurant, Deanes.

He is proud owner of Dawsons, a small casual dining restaurant in Castledawson and he plans to further his love of cooking over fire by opening a BBQ restaurant in the near future.

Stephen entered the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship along with 500 other hopefuls to claim the top spot, and has since cooked at many of Ramsay’s restaurants around the world.

Dawsons serve a range of 'modern Irish cuisine' in Co Derry with reviews raving about the quality of their food, fantastic atmosphere and welcoming staff.

Stephen will be battling it out tonight to show off his main and desserts talent that he has perfected at Dawsons.

A Peculiar Tea - Gemma Austin

Having competed last year, Carryduff chef Gemma Austin is back in the Great British Menu kitchen.

Gemma worked at the Fitzwilliam Hotel in Belfast (5* hotel) where she rose to head pastry chef, before moving to luxury hotel The Old Inn, Crawfordsburn (4* hotel) where she worked all the sections and eventually became sous chef.

Her new venture A Peculiar Tea, on University Road Belfast, was created as an "escape from reality and the stresses of adult life".

Gemma loves the magic of children's imaginations and uses food to make her guests feel a sense of nostalgia and playfulness.

A Peculiar Tea offers both a six-course tasting menu that is to be rotated approximately every eight weeks to ensure diners get the best of seasonal food and afternoon tea - with different fantastical themes to get diners excited.

The current tasting menu is inspired by the classic board game Cluedo.

Paul Ainsworth At No6 - Chris McClurg

Paul Ainsworth At No6, England (Google)

Co Down Chef Chris McClurg is also back in the Great British Menu kitchen with a hunger to prove he has what it takes to go all the way to the banquet.

Whilst Chris has made England his home he couldn’t imagine representing any other region than Northern Ireland in the GBM kitchen

Unfortunately, Chris lives and works in Padstow so Northern Irish fans are not able to try his creations unless they are holidaying over the water.

Chris is proud to have worked with veteran chef Paul Ainsworth for over 10 years, and is now Chef de Cuisine at No6 - a Michelin star restaurant located in a beautiful Georgian townhouse in the heart of Padstow serving modern British food with a focus on locally sourced Cornish produce.

Great British Menu continues on Thursday at 9pm on BBC 2

Read more: Food review: A Peculiar Tea brings quirky fine-dining to Belfast

Read more: Derry chef on life after 'Great British Menu' and opening new restaurant

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