Oyster Bar, Victoria Centre, Belfast

Tucked in a corner of the ground floor, between ladies shoes and the stationery department, of the House of Fraser, is the Oyster Bar.  As it’s name implies it specialises in shellfish and champagne and it makes a pretty good hand of serving both with a certain degree of panache.  It is the perfect place to people watch whilst indulging in a seafood chowder or Dublin bay prawn (except for the colour they could almost pass for  lobster) salad and a glass of what you fancy.  The clientèle is mixed,  parties of solicitors from the adjacent law courts, only on a Friday afternoon of course,   to establishment matrons recovering from stress of choosing the right corsage.  Being a fairly small establishment eavesdropping is de rigueur so you never know what you may learn.  Give it a try, the food is great and the location, to say the least, interesting.