Nex D’or

One thing that recently grabbed me about Belfast is the decline of the humble caff. You know, the sort of place where you could order eggs, beans, chips all washed down with many cups of strong tea and still have change left for a fiver. I’m all for a bit of gentrification and the rise of the coffee bar in town seems to have been relentless and never ending.
Anyway, as part of that dying breed how does Nex D’Or match up? Its small, smells of fried food and normally packed. The last time I was in I opted for the Chicken Maryland which delivered an insane amount of food on the plate… everything bar the chips was battered and deep fried. As a consequence it was hard to wade through it all but despite the sheer artery clogging madness of it all, I quite enjoyed it.
Certainly better ‘caffs’ in and around town but having been coming here since I was very young I do have a soft spot for it and the food certainly isn’t as terrible tasting as some would have you believe.
Pros: Large menu.
Cons: Perhaps not the most healthy option.

Nex D’or is a typical greasy spoon. With its retro furnishings and yellow walls it wouldnt seem out of place in London with the best of the bunch. Its long and narrow with booths down either side and while it may not be the best looking place there are often queues out the door at lunchtime. Its noisy, busy and suprisingly very punctual with the food despite this. Definately some well organised staff!
They have everything on the menu you’d expect from a greasy spoon all with chips, chips and more chips! And the portions were pretty adequate too! I opted for a baked potato (Beans and cheese) which came with a side salad and it was great. Will definatley be back for a visit.
You can expect to pay around £5-£6 for a meal which is pretty average for belfast and as this isn’t exactly gourmet its pretty good. I ordered a coke which came in a tin with a paper cup but this more added to the charm of the place!

I would agree with the last review but my view of N’ex Dor is tainted a little. Before the venue in Rosemary St opened, N’ex Dor was an American style café in Castle St with the loveliest staff and food (but similarly cramped!) I can only assume they’ve had a drop in business over the years with competitors opening up and have therefore moved to the smaller premises in Rosemary St as they used to be packed out every Saturday afternoon. It is tiny and it tends to be populated by young Goths/​Metallers, but it’ll always have a place in my heart to be honest.

Nex’Dor is a café on Rosemary Street. We called in here one day because the usual café we would go to near by was packed and we just wanted to get out of the rain. It has to be the narrowest café ever. On either wall they have tried to cram in as many many booths as possible. You feel like you’re eating with the people on the other side of the café. The food on the greasy laminated menu’s seemed pretty basic and it tasted pretty basic too. Everything was from a packet in the freezer in the back and didn’t have much taste at all. We were pretty unhappy with what we got. So much so the rain seemed a better prospect. We left.