Italian bistro flourishing on Lisburn Road

A former personal trainer who created a little corner of his home country of Italy on Belfast’s Lisburn Road has seen his wonderful deli, bistro and food market flourish in recent months.

Created with help from the Go For It programme in association with Belfast City Council, Francesco Iaquinta’s La Bottega, has been serving up authentic Italian produce since it opened in November last year.

Francesco said: “It’s an Italian deli where you can find Italian produce which comes in from Italy every week.

“If you go to Sainsbury’s and Tesco and find something the same as in my shop, I’ve failed. But if you have to go to Italy to find it – that’s my shop.”

When La Bottega first launched, the idea was to serve up takeaway and authentic deli dishes from the north and south of Italy such as lasagne and arancini, but the vision has evolved and he now employs a chef who serves up delicious food at what is now a sit-in bistro.

Since moving to Northern Ireland nine years ago, he has been working both as a manager at Belfast Castle and a personal trainer, before discovering Belfast’s Lisburn Road while working for French Village Group.

“We wanted to serve the best coffee in the world – we have pastries, we have tiramisu made every day.”

While there are many pizza restaurants in Belfast, their food is customised to suit local tastes and many of the dishes served up in La Bottega may be quite unfamiliar.

Francesco said: “We have sfogliatella from Naples, a small pastry with filo pastry and orange flower. We do bomboloni with Nutella, which is like a doughnut without the hole.

“We’re really famous for our cannoli, including pistachio, chocolate and cherries with candied orange. And our charcuterie board is also very famous. It’s a little piece of Italy on the Lisburn Road.”