The Apartment 2-6 Donegal Square East, 02890 509777
Giant windows overlook the gardens of Belfast City Hall from where you can watch the world go by over an espresso cocktail with chocolate syrup, Bailey's cream and Kahlua for £3.50. Living-room decor with comfortable sofas and wall-length lampshades. Open until 1am, a venue for night owls.
High point: Spacious, great views of the city
Low point: Gridlock in the evenings
Beer: Lager £2.30
G&T: £3.10
House wine: £9
Food: Light lunches, casual dining
Music: Jazz, hip-hop, garage
Popular with: Ladies who lunch in the day; hip clubbers after dark
Best for: A drink with a view
Bar Bacca 48 Franklin Street, 02890 230200
The closest any pub can come to an Ibiza chill-out room, it exudes calm from the minute you walk under the head of the giant Buddha above the door. Try the speciality: Arc beer that creates its own ice crystals when poured, £2.60 a pint. Plus an array of original cocktails and spirits including the chocolate martini and the champagne sorbet, both at £3.95.
High point: Funky far eastern decor and ambience
Low point: Needs a bouncer 24/7 because of the drunks hanging around
Beer: Guinness £2.25
G&T: £2.50
House wine: £8.50
Food: Thai, Indian and Chinese bites
Music:
Garage, house, acid jazz
Popular with: Students, clubbers
Best for:Daytime drinking when you want to escape from the world outside
Bar Red
One Linenhall Street, 02890 241001
This is part of the Ten Square hotel, sited behind the Victorian splendour of Belfast City Hall. The food and drink theme in this overly lit bar is Japanese. Sushi and oriental dishes in the deli next door. It offers six different varieties of sake, £3.50 a shot, £29.50 a bottle, plus an impressive range of 13 vodkas.
High point: A relaxing watering hole for the weary shopper or worn-out tourist
Low point: Slightly soulless atmosphere
Beer: Grolsch £2.40, Beamish £2.25
G&T: £2.50
House wine: £10.50
Food: Sushi, wild boar sausages, pasta
Music: Garage, funk, soul
Popular with: Over 25s, lunchtime business types Best for: Lunch or time out from shopping
Christie's Brasserie Bar
7-11 Linenhall Street, 02890 311150
A restaurant-bar close to the BBC and the Ulster Hall, which attracts visiting and local celebrities. One of the attractions of this airy, subtly lit eatery is its 'Lights for Lunch', mainly seafood dishes, somewhere in between a starter and a main course, good for a quick bite. Wicker furniture and local art work on the walls. Friendly staff and easygoing ambience.
High point: Excellent beers and wines
Low point: Loud business types swilling back the Veuve Cliquot
Beer: Miller, Grolsch £2.80
House wine: £10.50
G&T: £3.20
Food: Seafood chowder, crab and prawn omelette gratin
Music: Light jazz, garage Popular with: Journalists, businessmen and women, ladies who lunch
Best for: Long, boozy if light lunches
The Crown
46 Great Victoria Street, 02890 279901
National Trust-owned, this is a treasure from late-Victorian /Edwardian Belfast with snugs and stained glass windows. Popular with tourists, it offers a range of traditional, highly recommended Irish fare. It was the location for Carol Reed's film Odd Man Out in the 1940s, and mercifully not much has changed since, except the live internet link, which beams images from the pub across the planet every few seconds.
High point: An architectural joy to behold
Low point: Crowds at lunchtime
Beer: Guinness £2.10
G&T: £2.50
House wine: £8.75
Food: Irish stew, oysters Music: None, just good old-fashioned conversation
Popular with: Tourists, students, punters (there is a bookies called 'Crown' next door)
Best for: A long lunch inside a private snug with a pint of the black stuff
East
Floral Buildings, East Bridge Street, 02890 240055
One of the city's newer pubs/restaurants/nightclubs with an emphasis on soul and garage. Fans single out its female-friendly facilities: eight toilets, giant mirrors, water features and ornate wash basins. Strict dress code - no trainers, shellsuits etc - but still a chilled, non-aggressive atmosphere.
High point: Comfortable seating, living-room ambience
Low point: Looks like an empty aircraft hangar when the crowds are thin
Beer: Lager £2.20, bottled £2.25
G&T: £2.50
House wine: £8.75
Food: Tapas
Music: House, garage, funk; guest DJs from Manumission
Popular with: Clubbers
Best for: Arguably the largest dancefloor of any pub in the city
The John Hewitt
51 Lower Donegal Street, 02890 233768
Named after the late Ulster poet and socialist, this bar is owned by a workers' collective with some profits channelled into the Belfast Centre for the Unemployed. Situated in what is left of the city's newspaper district, it's a favourite haunt of old lefties, students and journalists.
High point: Reasonably priced booze in a laid-back, unpretentious pub
Low point: Limited seating when the bar fills up on live Irish folk nights
Beer: Guinness, all lagers £2.10
G&T: £2.50
House wine: Glass £2.75
Food: Irish fare, Ulster fries
Music: Irish traditional in the week
Clientele: Trad music fans, trade unionists, reporters
Best for: No-frills boozing
Kitchen Bar
16 Victoria Square, 02890 324901
Established in 1859, this is one of the best-loved, well-preserved pubs in Belfast. A long, narrow bar, but well worth putting up with the squeeze, given the delights on offer from the chef. Try the 'Paddy Pizza', with an Ulster soda bread base. The tired and emotional are offered bed and a hearty Irish breakfast for just £25.50. An unpretentious, friendly gem of a pub.
High point: Friendly staff, unspoiled old world atmosphere
Low point: No non-smoking section for lunchtime dining
Beer: Guinness and most guest ales £2.50
G&T: £2.50
House wine: £8.50
Food: Solid traditional fare
Music: Traditional folk sessions at weekends
Popular with: Racing lovers, office workers, trad fans at the weekend
Best for: An afternoon on the rip
The Morning Star
17-19 Pottingers Entry, 02890 323976
Very much a pub of two halves: downstairs is the traditional bar that serves up good Guinness and Irish stew; upstairs the food and the wines are more exotic: pan-fried duet of kangaroo and crocodile £6.95. In one of the oldest and most interesting parts of Belfast. There's a TV on all the time for horse racing.
High point:
Friendly staff; excellent beers and wines Low point: Can get quiet late evening downstairs
Beer:
Guinness £2.10
G&T: £2.50
House wines: Impressive Chilean and French cabernets, merlot and sauvignon blancs all around £9.95
Food: Trad Irish downstairs, exotic upstairs
Music: Little/none
Popular with: Those meeting the old man for a drink downstairs, or the boss for lunch upstairs
Best for: Marvellous menu and wine list
The Pavilion
296-298 Ormeau Road, 02890 283283
A racing and football fan's paradise. Best time to visit is on a Saturday when one half of the bar stares up at the giant screen at the Racing Channel and the half are transfixed by live Premiership coverage, during which the bar knocks 20 pence off a pint each time a goal is scored.
High point:
The giant TV screen
Low point: A little way out of the city centre
Beer: Lager £2.15
G&T: £2.50
House wine: £7.15
Food: Fresh fish; salad buffet in the summer
Music: Chart discos Fridays, Saturdays
Popular with: Pensioners poring over their Racing Post, under-25s avoiding the hipper haunts
Best for: Cup finals, Grand Nationals, crucial World Cup qualifiers
Ta Tu
701 Lisburn Road, 02890 38081
Minimalist interior, high ceilings and giant images of planet Earth projected on the wall - very new age, très trendy. A long bar at the front; at the back a restaurant-bar with chocolate-coloured sofas. Four different champagnes and a long cocktail list including the 'Hot Kiss Goodnight': Bushmills whiskey, freezomint and coffee. Music a tad loud for conversationalists. Latin/Irish traditional fusion music sessions on Tuesday.
High point: A virtual catwalk for the stunning young things of Belfast
Low point: Off the beaten track
Beer: Bottled Tiger £2.35
G&T: £3
House wine: Glass £3.50
Food: Three tapas plus a bottle of wine for £12
Music: Latino, acid jazz, garage, soul Popular with: Scrubbed-up students, models, hairdressers
Best for: Letting your hair down at weekends
Zinc
12 Stranmillis Road, 02890 682266
Situated in the university district, so popular with students. Harshly lit, with tables and chairs in the front bar too close to the floor for comfort. It has a lounge at the back where the sofas are more conducive to chilling out. Flat-screen TVs showing live European football most weeknights.
High point: First-class food, unique wine list
Low point: Furniture at the front reminiscent of a Japanese restaurant
Beer: Bottled Budvar £2.60
G&T: £2.90
Wine: £9.25
Food: Best selection of tapas in the city
Music: Trance, garage in the lounge
Popular with: Under 25s, students, arty types
Best for: A perfect place to end a night on the town
