Morning Star Nose to Tail Lunch | Food Pairing | Belfast Whiskey Week 2023

Name: Belfast Whiskey Week 2026
Start: 2026-07-24
End: 2026-08-01
Location: Belfast

Filed: 15 Jul 2023
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 4 min
Ref: BWW/23/460

There are lunches, and then there are lunches that stay with you — not just in memory but somewhere deeper, in the bones. The Morning Star Bar & Restaurant's Nose to Tail Bespoke Lunch, served on Friday 21st October 2023 as part of Belfast Whiskey Week, was emphatically the latter. This was a food pairing event in the truest sense: a celebration of provenance, craft, and the ancient Ulster instinct to feed people well and pour generously.

About This Event

Lunch is essential. This Lunch is much more than your daily soup and sandwich or gourmet wrap. Let's go on a journey; Nose to Tail, of one of our most beloved foods, with the Historic Morning Star Bar & Restaurant. James and his family are 5th Generation Farmers and Publicans and pride themselves on serving the finest local produce with their in house butchery and herb garden. Using their own Irish Dexter Herd Beef, we are presented with a sustainable and wholesome way to enjoy this tremendous rare breed; a Bespoke 5 Course Nose to Tail menu where James and the team use all of the animal and pair it with 5 drinks, ranging from Whiskey Cocktails, Half'ins & Irish Coffees. Timeslot: 12pm-3pm Start Time: 12pm Duration: 2.5hrs Venue: Morning Star Drinks: 5 Drinks Type: Food Pairing Disclaimers Please note that individual dietary requirements are not being catered for with any food at this event. Each Brand/Distillery and Collaborative Partner have agreed to our Min/Max Pour Policy. Please Respect this, and enjoy your festival responsibly. Festival Participants who are deemed to be too inebriated, or are not respecting themselves, will not be permitted into events and venues. ALL Hosts/Ushers/Collaborators and Venue Staff have the right to refuse participants without question and recourse. Please Drink Responsibly. All events are only available to those 18 years old and over. Do not purchase tickets if you are under the age of 18. Be prepared to produce ID if required. Venue staff & ushers may ask you to provide ID when showing your valid tickets. You may be refused enter to events if you can’t prove your age. Some venues may change, if they do, you will be notified. All events are subject to changes out of the control of the festival organisers. Any issues, please contact us @belfastwhiskeyweek on socials, or via email on marketing@belfastwhiskeyweek.com or 07773675179 (8am-8pm) to discuss. NO Refunds will be given. Please only buy tickets if you are prepared to attend the event. Tickets are transferable. If you are going to transfer tickets please email, marketing@belfastwhiskeyweek.com

Looking Back

The Morning Star is one of Belfast's most storied institutions, tucked down Pottinger's Entry in the heart of the city — a narrow cobbled lane that feels like a sheugh between centuries. The bar itself carries the weight of history lightly, all dark wood and warm light, the kind of place where the word duchas comes to mind: a belonging, a sense that this is exactly where things like this should happen. For BWW 2023, it was the perfect stage for something genuinely rare.

What made this event distinct was the story behind the food. James and his family are fifth-generation farmers and publicans — an unbroken line of people who understand that land, animal, and table are one conversation. Their Irish Dexter Herd, a compact and hardy rare breed with deep roots in Irish agricultural history, provided the centrepiece: a sustainable, whole-animal approach that honours both the creature and the craft of the butcher. With an in-house butchery and a working herb garden, the Morning Star team brought a kind of seanchas — a living knowledge — to every plate that arrived at the table.

The five-course menu moved through the animal from nose to tail with intelligence and care. Each course was paired with a different drink: whiskey cocktails, half'ins, and Irish coffees that shifted in character as the meal progressed — lighter and brighter early on, richer and more contemplative as the afternoon deepened. It was a masterclass in the way uisce beatha can shadow food rather than overwhelm it, finding the grain note in a braised cut, the fruit in a seared one. Guests who had perhaps arrived with a more conventional idea of whiskey pairing left with something recalibrated.

Running from noon to half past two, this was an event that asked you to slow down — no small thing in a festival full of sessions demanding your attention. The Morning Star's room, its staff, and the unhurried rhythm of a long Friday lunch conspired to create something genuinely convivial. Slàinte was raised more than once, and meant it every time. If you're curious about the other timeslots that ran across the festival week, the Saturday afternoon session and the later Sunday sitting offered the same menu to equally appreciative crowds. For those who paired their BWW 2023 with a broader food-and-whiskey adventure, events like the Tribal Burger and Jameson collaboration offered a different register entirely — louder, bolder, and no less satisfying in its own right.

At £45 a head for five courses and five drinks in one of Belfast's most characterful rooms, the Morning Star's Nose to Tail lunch represented the kind of value that only reveals itself once you're sitting down, glass in hand, watching a plate arrive that someone has genuinely thought about. It was, without qualification, one of the highlights of Belfast Whiskey Week 2023 — and a reminder that the best whiskey experiences are always about more than what's in the glass.