Danny Millar, owner of Stock Kitchen & Bar, shares his inspiring journey from humble beginnings in Belfast to becoming a celebrated chef featured in the Michelin Guide.
London, United Kingdom Jul 19, 2026 ALN: Growing up on meal tickets in Belfast’s New Lodge, Danny Millar never imagined he would one day become one of the city’s best-known chefs.
The owner of Stock Kitchen & Bar says those early experiences taught him that food was about far more than what was on the plate.
“I think that initial love for cooking came from being in survival mode, because back then we were on dinner tickets and all that. We didn’t have anything,” he recalls.
“There’s a lot to be said for sharing food with people that you love and care about. It seems like a pretty basic thing but it’s very rewarding.
“That’s when I realised I just loved feeding people.”
However, Danny admits it was “a bit of a fluke” that he discovered cooking in the first place while at school.
“We had these Wednesday afternoon activities where you could’ve gone to Gaelic or swimming or whatever it was. But I went to cookery school,” he explains.
The first thing he made was a batch of German biscuits which he proudly carried home to his family.
“My mum and dad were on the brew so there was no money in the house. So when I brought home those biscuits they thought it was great,” he recalls.
“And getting a bit of praise in our house was something else. It just meant so much to be doing something and doing it well.”
That encouragement continued when he secured a week of work experience at local restaurant The Gregory.
“The highlight for me was when the sous chef burned a tray of chickens and told me not to tell anyone,” he laughs.
“He said to me, ‘Look it’s your last day, why don’t you go and make up a wee cake to take home’.
“And I remember walking down to the Lodge with this big strawberry gateau thing. It looked class, I was buzzing and everybody loved it. This wee cake I’d knocked up.
“I think from that point on that whole idea of sharing and making people happy through food just became part of my DNA.”
From there, Danny enrolled at catering college while taking his first restaurant job at The Strand on Stranmillis Road.
“We never could have afforded to eat in restaurants growing up so I’d never experienced anything like it before,” he recalls.
“I walked in and there was this lovely smell and energy. It was nearly a bit sexy. As a young 16-year-old, it was just ‘Wow’. I fell in love with it on the first day.”
After cutting his teeth in restaurants across the north, Danny moved across the water where he worked at The White Hart in Guernsey with his friend and mentor Aaron Sullivan before spending three years refining his craft at a five-star hotel in Germany’s Black Forest.
That whole idea of sharing and making people happy through food just became part of my DNA
— Danny Millar
Although the opportunities were exciting, home was never far from his mind.
“I got a bit homesick. I missed my mum and dad,” he says.
“I’m always going to be a homeboy. I love Belfast.
“I think it’s such a great city. I don’t think there’s another place like it in the world.”
Returning home, Danny built a reputation as one of Northern Ireland’s leading chefs before friend and fellow restaurateur Andy Rea approached him in 2018 about a vacant unit overlooking St George’s Market.
“By that stage I’d worked with Paul Rankin in Cayenne, I’d done 10 years in Balloo, I’d been on Great British Menu and Saturday Kitchen and stuff like that so I didn’t feel like I had anything else I needed to prove,” he explains.
“But then I walked in and saw this amazing space which overlooked the gorgeous St George’s Market and that was it.
“It’s just so Belfast and I wanted the opportunity to do it proud.”
Drawing inspiration from food markets across Europe, Danny wanted Stock to become somewhere that celebrated not only the city, but the people producing its food.
“When I go to Lisbon, Madrid or Barcelona, any time you go to the market you always eat in the restaurant beside it,” he explains.
“I always thought Belfast was missing that.
“I wanted people to come here and get a taste of Belfast and what we’re about.
“We’re blessed to have some of the best waters in the world with some of the best seafood and dairy.
“I think we’re on a wave of great Irish cooking at the moment.
“There are some great restaurants in our city and we should hold our heads up high and be very proud of our food scene.”
It’s a belief that’s reflected across Stock’s dishes.
Rather than beginning with recipes, Danny says each menu starts with the people growing, rearing and catching the ingredients.
“It’s always product-led. I don’t write the menus, the farmers, the butchers and the fishermen do,” he says.
“They’ll say, ‘Danny, I’ve got X, Y and Z’ and I’ll plan around that.
“Currently our executive chef is doing lobster stuffed courgette flowers. So that’s courgettes from Armagh and lobsters from Ardglass.
“I’ve trained enough to know those two things work well together and that’s what it’s all about.”
For Danny, good ingredients rarely need much interference.
“Honestly, the menus write themselves. I know that sounds very easy, but it is. If you’ve got good produce it’s simple.
“There’s langoustines coming in now and all we need to do is cook them, cut them in half, stick a bit of butter and lemon on them. They’re from Portavogie. You don’t need to do anything more to them.”
Three years after opening, Stock was added to the Michelin Guide, marking a major milestone for the Belfast restaurant.
Although he admits none of it would be possible without his team.
“When we started running this kitchen we knew we wanted it to be a different environment to the sort of places we worked in,” he says.
“We wanted something that was a bit more us.
“I was probably still a bit strict but I don’t believe in shouting.
“That’s somebody’s daughter and somebody’s son you’re shouting at. It’s not clever, it’s not smart and it’s not right.”
Today he works alongside executive chef Gráinne Donnelly, head chef Chris Kelly and sous chef Ethan Kelly, with many members of staff having been with him for years.
“The team gets better every year because we’re a bit more easy-going and a bit more relaxed about how we do things,” he says.
“I’d be nowhere without them.
“People say it’s cliché but it is like family. You spend so much time with these people they become your family.”
Eight years on, Danny says he still can’t believe how quickly the time has passed.
“It’s flown by,” he says. “I’ve done some really exciting things and worked in some great places but this was my first real solo project.
“I’m delighted we’re still here eight years later but, as I say, I’d be nowhere without the team.
“It’s a great privilege for a wee boy from Belfast to have a restaurant in his own city that I love.”
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