Table for one please?
Several years ago I would have rarely visited a restaurant or coffee shop on my own for fear of the pitying looks from staff. Never mind making the dreaded request for a 'table for one'.
Then there was the cringing feeling of being stuck in the lonesome corner table, as if to hide me away from prying eyes of other people dining together. It just doesn't bear thinking about.
Some of the unease around solo dining was often about those childhood lunch-hours when you would find yourself alone at a table in the school canteen.
I was always used to our family meals sitting around the dinner table where there was lots of conversation, mainly centred on everyone's events of the day.
If it's what you are used to, then eating alone is a hard concept to take on board, never mind execute.
There has often been a stigma surrounding solo dining - there's the Bridget Jones stereotype that automatically springs to mind or the business traveller with only their paperwork for company.
But it appears that stigma is finally moving on.
Single cover reservations have more than doubled in the past two years, shooting up by 110 per cent, according to data published by the restaurant booking service OpenTable.
The poll found that restaurant-goers have begun to shrug off their inhibitions, with 87 per cent of people surveyed saying they would have no problem with eating out alone.
People are now craving some peace and quiet by themselves, with 42 per cent of respondents saying the biggest motivation for dining solo is the chance to enjoy time on their own.
Restaurant proprietors across the world are now also embracing the trend of people wanting to dine solo and are trying to entice more single patrons through their doors.
Mike Xenakis from OpenTable said: "Restaurants across the globe are increasingly accommodating the rise in dining alone by installing clever solo seating arrangements such as extra bar seating, counters where customers can watch chefs work and single window seating, to enjoy a view whilst eating their meal".
Take, for example Dutch restaurant Eenmaal, which was the world's first eatery that only has tables for one.
It aimed to break the taboo of eating alone by providing the perfect place to dine, with only yourself for company where customers can enjoy a two-course solitary meal and where diners are discouraged (but not banned) from using their phones.
It has led to many more restaurants across the world popping up and encouraging single patrons, trying to make themselves more welcoming to individual diners.
The whole thing reminds me of the episode of Sex and the City where Carrie Bradshaw lunches alone without any company - and ends up loving the experience.
Despite not having her usual SATC pals, she sits and enjoys a glass of wine all by herself.
The rest of the world doesn't really care if you are sitting on your own in that Belfast city centre eaterie.
They are more concerned about how their steak is cooked, what sort of side order would taste best and what dessert looks nicest - they're not thinking about other people's personal dining status.
If others are judging you - so what?
Solo dining is fast becoming an attractive option, especially in a world where we are constantly in conversation either face to face or via social media.
Attitudes towards it are changing and the stigma is being shed with many people now viewing it as a liberating, rather than a lonely experience.
Requesting a table for one does not mean you need to feel sorry for yourself and it doesn't necessarily mean sitting staring at a wall.
There are actually benefits to dining solo, even quite simply to blissfully sit and watch the world go by.
Solo dining is nothing to be scared of and it may end up being the best way to truly enjoy a meal.
