Gift Reviews, Health and Beauty, Leisure Gifts, Luxury Hotels & Spas, Pampered Experiences
The Europa Hotel Belfast Christmas Gift Vouchers.
The Europa Hotel Belfast Christmas Gift Vouchers are on sale now. These can be bought the old fashioned way over the telephone, from the hotel itself or online.
Please, someone, buy me one! The Europa Hotel is one of my favourite hotels in the United Kingdom. Part of the Hastings group, the service you receive as a guest is more than impressive, the hotel itself is simply stunning and an absolute delight to visit and its in the most perfect location – 5 minutes walk from the Belfast Christmas Markets at City Hall.
I have made a few visits to The Europa and on my last visit at Halloween I couldn’t help but notice the sign advertising gift vouchers and made a mental note to add this to my Christmas wish list!
The Europa at Halloween was a real treat. The hotel had went ‘all out’ to get into the Halloween spirit with various arrangements throughout, all in keeping with the seasonal theme.
On arrival, the room was immaculate as per usual and the staff had made a lovely platter also in keeping with Halloween.
This consisted of delicious petite squares and the pumpkin icing stencil was a really special touch.
Tea’s of many descriptions and coffee were readily available and presented on a tray with Belleek mugs – a really lovely ‘local’ touch.
Dinner was not disappointing. We had our starter and main meal served in the Causarie restaurant which is a very beautiful place to dine. Its quiet and perfect for a romantic meal for two yet also great for families. The staff were super attentive without ‘over doing’ it and they were also excellently presented – everyone was immaculate and ever so polite. Nothing was too much trouble and they seemed to care about customer experience to the highest level.
Now, the food! The younger kids opted for garlic bread while Jenny and I couldn’t decide so we opted to share – big mistake on my part as she ate both the starters herself – I got a nibble and no more! She started with the prawn cocktail which was served to perfection in a steel dish with iceberg lettuce, lemon and a paprika dusting.
I had ordered Pate and I had one slice of toasted soda bread with the most delicious spiced pear chutney – my daughter enjoyed the rest!
Mains was nothing other than bangers and mash, the children’s favourite! My daughter said this was served with the nicest gravy she had ever tasted – wonder would they give me the recipe??
My son had a chicken goujon wrap and chips, also neatly presented with the chips in a little miniature basket.
Mum opted for the ‘8oz Northern Irish Salt Aged Carnbrooke Canon Steak’ and it didn’t disappoint. I ordered my steak well done and that was exactly the way it arrived – not pink and not cremated either so well done to the chef – so many get this wrong. I was delighted with the presentation – who eats steak without a fried onion ring? Yummy.
Unfortunately that’s all we had time for as the X Factor was starting at 8pm and the kids were so excited. The flat screen television in the room was calling so we declined dessert in favour of viewing Simon and his fellow judges tell the contestants how it should be done!
However, a very kind waiter suggested we need not skip dessert and that he could have this delivered to our room – the kids were delighted.
Delicious ice-creams were presented in little mini cups along with chocolate sunday’s making this an X Factor show to remember – what a treat!
It would have been rude not to try the crème brulee, wouldn’t it? This was passion fruit flavour accompanied with a madeline finger expertly positioned on a slate and dusted with icing sugar for that extra special touch.
No-one stirred throughout the night and we woke to a beautiful autumn morning and a wonderful Hasting’s breakfast.
I have a family of fruit fanatics so they enjoyed helping themselves to the fruit selection accompanied with natural yoghurt.
The granola and muesli were locally made and this was explained in a little booklet on each table – the other food products were also locally sourced.
The bread board was used to serve some Guinness bread which we simply had to sample and it was interesting to hear so many other guests also comment on this delicious, local and almost ‘comical’ addition to the breakfast spread!
Now for the hot food and the test we carry out at every hotel – its a sort of a family tradition as we had hens as pets for years and our eggs were as fresh and free range as you could get.
The yolk of a free range egg will glow like the sun does in Majorca! A pale yolk is an unmistakeable tell-tail sign that the egg is from a caged hen. Look at this…there can be no doubt that these eggs came from free range and happy hens!
You cannot go wrong when you book a Hasting’s Hotel and if you are visiting Belfast over Christmas do pop into the Europa for a look around or why not have an Irish coffee at the bar. Its a wonderful place to stay and I look forward to our next visit.
For further information visit www.hastingshotels.com/europa
Comments are closed