Vietnamese Café comes to Castle Mall creating jobs

Banh Boy Antrim is a 28-seater café located on the ground floor of the shopping mall, opposite popular retailer Poundland, and is the latest concept from restauranteur Gerard McQuillan who has enjoyed previous success with Freight Belfast.

With a relaxed, casual dining atmosphere Banh Boy Antrim will be the first food offering to open in the centre since the Covid pandemic and marks a real step forward as shoppers return with confidence to Castle Mall.

Known for his creative flair and ability to fuse street food with fine dining, Gerard McQuillan has a proven track record of transforming unoccupied spaces into cutting edge restaurants and cafés. Mr McQuillan has said Banh Boy will not only provide a fun environment for people to eat and drink but it will also add a vibrant, cosmopolitan dimension to Antrim town.

He said: “Right across Northern Ireland there is an increasing appetite for world cuisines and the demand for authentic street food shows no signs of disappearing. What makes Banh Boy Antrim so unique is that we’re putting our own spin on the sandwiches and visitors can expect to see all of their local favourites on the menu in a totally new and creative way.

“We are excited to begin this new venture and believe we can add to what is already a thriving café culture within the town. After months of planning and menu preparation it’s been great to finally open our doors and bring these dishes to life. We’ve had a really positive opening weekend and now look forward to building on this over the weeks and months ahead.”

Pamela Minford, centre manager at Castle Mall, added: “Banh Boy Antrim is the first in what we hope is a series of exciting announcements for Castle Mall and marks a new era in what we expect to be a significant period of transformation for the centre. We’re pleased to be able to offer food and drink once again to our customers and wish to extend a warm welcome to Gerard and the team as they officially open their doors. Having just relocated our Asian supermarket to a larger unit, we know there is strong demand for world cuisines here and are confident that Banh Boy Antrim will be a hit with local shoppers and add to our overall visitor experience.”

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