4th December 2002

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The restaurant at the University’s Portrush site has been given a top culinary accolade – a glowing entry in a prestigious Irish good food guide.

Georgina Campbell’s Jameson Guide has described the Academy Restaurant at the Portrush site as providing “excellent food beautifully presented” and said the staff were “friendly, attentive and highly efficient”. The entry said menus and wine lists were “bang up to date”.

The honour is unique among university restaurants in Ireland, said a delighted Martin Caldwell, Academy restaurant manager for the past nine years,
“We are probably the only University restaurant in the UK which has been included in such a guide and our opposition were all commercial concerns”.

The staff and chefs at the restaurant are all students at the former NIHCC, which has now become part of the University of Ulster’s School of Hotel Leisure and Tourism.

Mr Caldwell added: “This is a great accolade for everyone at the School. The staff and chefs are only learning, and change constantly - so it is a tremendous achievement to keep standards high.

The restaurant is open to the public for lunches Monday to Friday and dinner Wednesday to Saturday. On a busy Saturday night up to 70 diners are catered for. The restaurant also caters for wedding receptions, functions and buffets.

Mr Caldwell said: “Hotels and restaurants throughout Northern Ireland and much further afield benefit from the high class students who pass through this School. This entry in the good food guide shows just how good the students are”.

Special Christmas lunch and dinner menus are available at the Academy Restaurant up to and including 20th Dec.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk