Restaurant libel hard to swallow for foodies

RESTAURANT owners may sometimes find reviews hard to digest, but industry bosses say most accept they have to swallow criticisms.

Newspapers and restaurant critics were yesterday mulling over the implications of a court case which resulted in a Belfast daily being ordered to pay £25,000 (€37,000) to a restaurateur who took offence at comments carried about his eaterie in a review six years ago.

The owner of the Goodfellas restaurant in Belfast city successfully claimed that criticisms by respected food writer and consultant, Co Cork-based Caroline Workman — in a review carried in the Irish News — were defamatory and damaging to his business.