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Laralu
Offering a carefully selected range of deli delights very much in keeping with its 'slow food' philosophy, this popular counter at the Drury St entrance of the George's St Arcade offers healthy soups (including wheat- & dairy-free options), sandwiches and specials like slow-cooked Moroccan lamb and Thai chicken curry with cardamom and coconut. The coffees are superb and the Valhrona hot chocolate is the best in town.
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Larder
This new caff-by-day, restaurant-by-night eatery has a positively organic vibe to it, with its wholesome porridge breakfasts, gourmet sandwiches like serrano ham, gruyere and rocket, and Japanese speciality suki teas (try the China gunpowder). They're confident about their food - we like the fact that they list suppliers - and so are we.
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Lemon
Dublin's best pancake joint has branches on both sides of Grafton St, one on South William and the other on Dawson St. Each serves up a wide range of sweet and savoury crepes - those paper-thin ones stuffed with a variety of goodies and smothered in toppings - along with super coffee in a buzzy atmosphere that is popular with literally everyone.
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Leo Burdock's
You will often hear that you haven't eaten in Dublin until you've queued in the cold for a cod 'n' chips wrapped in paper from the city's most famous chipper. Total codswallop, of course, but there's something about sitting on the street, balancing the bag on your lap and trying to eat the chips quickly before they go cold that smacks of Dublin in a bygone age. It's nice to revisit the past, especially if you don't have to get stuck there.
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Léon
Unashamedly baroque in style and unmistakably French in substance, this wonderful new brasserie has us humming Edith Piaf as we tuck into the sublime fresh salmon blini or the lovely salade paysanne . For something truly divine you'll have to tuck in the belly and tackle a réligeuse , a chocolate or coffee pastry so named because it looks like a nun in her habit. They are so good that you will be singing ' non, je ne regrette rien …'
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Listons
The lunchtime queues streaming out the door of this place are testament to its reputation as Dublin's best deli. Its sandwiches (with fresh and delicious fillings), roasted-vegetable quiches, rosemary potato cakes and sublime salads will have you coming back again and again - the only problem is there's too much choice! On fine days, take your gourmet picnic to the nearby Iveagh Gardens .
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Lock's
When chef Troy Maguire left the immensely popular L'Gueuleton in early 2007 to team up with ex-Bang manager Kelvin Rynhardt to take over one of the steady stalwarts of the Dublin dining scene, the bar was suddenly set very, very high. Would Lock's shake off its old-town dust? Could Maguire recreate the informal-but-superb French campagnard cooking that made his former kitchen such a huge hit? Thankfully, yes on all counts.
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Market Bar
This one-time sausage factory, now fashionable watering hole , also has a super kitchen knocking out Spanish tapas and other Iberian-influenced bites in a light-filled, cavernous room, which is just perfect for a slow lunch. The dishes also come in convenient half-size portions, so you can mix and match without feeling like you've gorged.
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Mash
This tiny, eclectic place is run by Bobby and Jerome, possibly the friendliest hosts in the capital. It is well regarded for its tasty, homemade dishes and cosy atmosphere, and the small menu features daily specials such as Thai chicken curry, roast red snapper, organic steaks or the popular range of Mash potato cakes, all made with TLC and served with a smile.
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Mermaid Café
Mermaid is one of the city's favourite restaurants, as much for the superb cuisine as for the friendly and informal atmosphere. The menu is loaded with inventive ingredient-led organic food, such as roast monkfish tail with sweet potato and chorizo mash. But what makes this place that little bit extra special is the atmosphere, fostered as much by the excellent staff as by little touches like free coffee refills at brunch.
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Monty's Of Kathmandu
It has won a ton of ethnic dining awards, but Monty's still leaves us a little flat. The food is good if not exceptional, focusing primarily on Nepalese dishes like gorkhali (chicken cooked in chilli, yoghurt and ginger) or kachela (raw marinated meat). The atmosphere is muted, but on weeknights it can tend towards the moribund.
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Nude
This fabulous and environmentally friendly take on Dublin fast food looks like the juice bar at the end of the universe. The massive kitchen is fronted by a space-age counter and the communal benches are very human and sociable. Just checking out the huge pre-packaged display, with all its juices, salads and cold dishes, makes your vitamin count surge, while the hot menu mainly features hunky and healthy Asian-style filled wraps.
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Ocean
Once the docks are redeveloped, Ocean will have one of the best views in town (hence the floor to ceiling windows). The problem is, it's already charging for the view while it - and the food - aren't quite there yet. Standards include oysters, crab salad and a langoustine (lobster) cocktail, but portions are small and the convoluted cooking unreliable. That said, there's a nice terrace, should the sun stick its head out.
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Odessa
Odessa and the hungover brunch go hand in hand, but this stylish eatery's dining credentials have long been maintained by its excellent dinner menu, which combines solid favourites like the homemade burger with more adventurous dishes like roast fillet of hake, served with chorizo, clams, white bean stew and Serrano ham. Although it's been around for more than a decade, the loungy atmosphere have kept it a perennial fave with the cool crowd.
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Panem
Pasta, focaccia and salads are the standard fare at this diminutive quay-side cafe, but the specialities are wickedly sweet and savoury pastries, which are all made on-site. The croissants and brioche - filled with Belgian chocolate, almond cream or hazelnut amaretti - are the perfect snack for a holiday stroll along the Liffey Boardwalk. Lunchtimes are chaotic.
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Peacock Alley
Super-chef bad-boy Conrad Gallagher runs this super-posh operation in the modernist Fitzwilliam Hotel. Original and wildly energetic, Gallagher puts an innovative spin on traditional French cuisine with tastebud-tingling results. However, his burgeoning restaurant empire means he's not always in the kitchen.
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Peploe's
Lots of air-kissing and comparing of shopping-bag contents takes place at this sophisticated and sumptuous wine-bar, which is basically Dublin's answer to London's Ivy Rooms. It's all about elegance and attention to detail - check out the sumptuous tableware - and not really about the perfectly adequate continental cuisine, which is merely a complement to the superb wine list.
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Pizza Milano
There are four branches of this large and pretty stylish pizza emporium spread throughout the city centre, all sharing a similar menu, but this one is our favourite because of the al fresco dining area on Dawson St and the on-site free child-minders on Sundays, who entertain your little ones while you eat.
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Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud
Few disagree that this exceptional restaurant is a leading candidate for 'Best in the Country', not least those good people at Michelin, who have put two stars in its crown. This is the most prestigious restaurant in the country, where the service is formal, the setting elegant, the wine list awesome and the fare proudly French. While the food is innovative it's rarely too fiddly, just beautifully cooked and superbly presented.
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Rhodes D7
The northside got its first real taste of trendy dining when celebrity TV chef Gary Rhodes decided that this was the spot to open his first Irish venture. While you won't spot the Tintin-haired one sweating it out in the kitchen of this big, brash restaurant, he did devise the menu and his British staples - cheddar rarebit, roast cod with lobster champ - have been given an Irish twist, which really just means that the ingredients are local.
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Roly's Bistro
Roly's is an institution with Dublin's business fraternity (the Daily Mail is based beside it). It's always packed and serves up reliably good nosh. The menu is confidently traditional but most people come for the hobnobbing.
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Saba
The name means 'happy meeting place' and so far this Thai-Vietnamese fusion restaurant has proven to be just that, packed virtually every night with all sorts tucking into the extensive Southeast Asian menu amid the kind of contemporary decor that screams designer cool. We thought both the menu and the look were good without being exceptional, but it's really popular, so what the hell do we know?
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Shanahan's On The Green
'American-style steakhouse' hardly does justice to this elegant restaurant where JR Ewing and his cronies would happily have done business. Spread across three floors of a stunning Georgian building are four elegant dining areas, where impeccable service and a courteous bonhomie attract the great, the good and the not-so-good to its well-laid-out tables.
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Silk Road Café
Museum cafes don't often make you salivate, but this vaguely Middle Eastern-North African-Mediterranean gem is the exception. On the ground floor of the Chester Beatty Library, it is the culinary extension of the superb collection upstairs, gathering together exotic flavours into one outstanding menu that is about two-thirds veggie.
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Simon's Place
Hogging a prime corner spot off the very groovy George's St Arcade , Simon's Place is a bustling cafe that serves up big, chunky sandwiches, nutritious, rich soups and decent pastries. The coffee is only satisfactory, but the cute European staff are more than all right. Avoid the downstairs part, which is dark and dingy.
