Queer Gear

Paul Rankin isn't alone in creating exciting new restaurant ventures in Belfast. Edmund Lau, of the revered Sun Kee Chinese restaurant on Donegall Pass, has moved down the road to an old church and opened up the stunning new Water Margin restaurant. It's an awesome place; two floors, a high arching ceiling, a long bar, cool sounds, brilliant stained glass windows, and fantastic Chinese food. If you are a lover of Chinese food who craves all the sticky, glutinous weird stuff ­ the queer gear ­ then the Water Margin is for you: shark's fin and meat soup dumplings; steamed chicken's feet; fish head in black bean sauce; jelly fish and pig's shank; frog's legs with bitter melon; fried eel with salt and chilli; crispy fried pork intestine. Here, at last, is the real Chinese thing, but given the enormity of the menu ­ it runs to 24 pages ­ there is something for the most conservative as well as the most radical appetite. The staff are ace ­ bring in baby and the waitresses will have the nipper off on a kitchen tour while you eat ­ prices are keen, and the Water Margin is a pure blast. The Sun Kee, meantime, is as simple, subtle and special as ever.

The Water Margin, 159-161 Donegall Pass, Belfast
Tel: 028 90 326888 Email: watermargin@btconnect.com