When I first heard that a new restaurant had opened its doors under the name Chubby Cherub, I was intrigued. For some reason my mind drifted back to a Nintendo game of the same name from the mid-80s.
I couldn’t get past it. I knew it wouldn’t be so, but I was ever hopeful that the Italian restaurant would be decorated with images of Mario and Donkey Kong and the little Chubby Cherub with a red hanky over his face that anyone who owned the Bandai game would recognise.

Unsurprisingly, the owners went for traditional Italian décor in the Upper Arthur Street premises. It’s tacky Italian décor (complete with a large chubby cherub mural) but it’s no more so than some of the restaurants I’ve eaten in whilst in Italy.

When we first sat down for lunch we were the only customers and I started to worry. Our waitress gave us the menus, which threw up few surprises. The pizzas come from a woodstone oven with toppings that you’re more likely to find in Italy than Belfast and as someone who has been crying out for a ‘proper’ Italian restaurant in Belfast, I’m delighted to see it.

The rest of the menu is made up of salads (devil’s chicken, a gorgonzola and a Caesar ‘done the traditional way’) and a handful of starters/ snacks that include soup and bruschetta.

What pleased me most about the menu was the section under homemade pasta, which doesn’t list any dishes, and points the diner to a specials menu where the pasta changes on a daily basis (as does the fish, meat and poultry of the day). It’s great to see a new restaurant confident enough to put a small menu up and produce other dishes depending on the produce that can be found on the day.

That was one point up for the Chubby Cherub. I opted for the escalope of chicken, which came with oven-roasted potatoes, wild mushrooms and pesto. The chicken was cooked perfectly, tender, moist and with great flavour. Whilst there were one or two potatoes that were just a little on this side of undercooked, the majority of them were wonderfully tender and mixed with the sautéed mushrooms and beautiful pesto made a spectacular dish.

My partner in crime opted for egg tagliatelle with sundried tomato chilli oil and prosciutto de Parma. Another point to the Chubby. Any restaurant in Belfast that insists on making its pasta fresh on the premises deserves a massive pat on the back. This dish was the perfect example of why – simple in its makeup, with just oil and Parma ham to back it up. The pasta was perfectly cooked and was the epitome of Italian cooking – simple food that lets the produce do the talking.

Our waitress, who by the end of our main had a few more tables to deal with, was a little over eager from the start. Maybe it’s the fact that the restaurant has only opened but she seemed to be a bit too over-the-top in insisting the food was great.

There was no need. The food was spectacular and I’m glad to see we finally have an Italian restaurant here that isn’t centred on Anglicised versions of Italian classics. I was so impressed with the main course that I ordered a dessert, something I rarely do during the day.

We decided to split the dessert and opted for oven-roasted peaches with Amaretto cream. What came out was another example of Italian elegance. The peaches were juicy and perfectly cooked with a sweet and rich sauce married perfectly with a light Amaretto cream. It’s been some time since I’ve had a dessert as sublime as the Chubby Cherub peaches.

I hope the chef and owners continue to produce fresh food cooked from scratch. If they do, the Chubby Cherub will quickly become the in place to eat Italian food. Get in now before it gets so popular you need to book months in advance.

The Chubby Cherub
49a Upper Arthur Street, Belfast
Telephone: 02890 312964

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