Sika byNiall

Sika by Niall occupies one wing of Sion Stables, the stable block built by the Herdman family alongside their linen mill in Sion Mills, and opened as a restaurant in 2023 under chef Niall Gorham. Gorham, originally from Dundalk, spent more than a decade as a chef at Oysters in Strabane before opening this, his first solo restaurant, inside the vaulted stone stable building. The name refers to the sika deer once kept on the neighbouring Baronscourt estate, seat of the Duke of Abercorn. The kitchen runs separate lunch, high tea, and dinner menus built around dishes such as stuffed corn-fed chicken with bacon and pea risotto, and pan-fried salmon with sundried tomato and saffron sauce. The dining room retains much of the stable building's original stonework and timber, with additional outdoor seating used through summer. It opens Wednesday to Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday, and has been reviewed in the Irish News food column.