Restaurants in Dublin
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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.
reviewed
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La Maison des Gourmets
This thoroughly Francophile café is a wonderful spot to enjoy a tartine, salad specials or a plate of charcuterie. It also has a fine range of pastries, baked goodies and herbal teas. We prefer sitting on the street outside, where you can watch the world go by on Castle Market; the upstairs room is just that little bit too lacking in atmosphere.
reviewed
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Nude
This 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.
reviewed
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L’Ecrivain
A firm favourite with the bulk of the city’s foodies, L’Ecrivain trundles along with just one Michelin star to its name, but the plaudits just keep coming. Head chef Derry Clarke is considered a gourmet god for the exquisite simplicity of his creations, which put the emphasis on flavour and the use of the best local ingredients – all given the French once over and turned into something that approaches divine dining. The €50 dinner menu, available between 6pm and 7pm Monday to Wednesday, is a virtual steal.
reviewed
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Seagrass
Utterly unassuming from the outside, this is one of Dublin's best new openings of the last couple of years: the locally sourced, roughly Mediterranean menu (baked seafood penne, pan-fried lamb livers and a bacon and cabbage risotto are typical) is uniformly excellent, the dining room is quietly elegant and the service absolutely perfect.
reviewed
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Bar Italia
One of a new generation of eateries that’s showing the more established Italian restaurants how the Old Country <em>really</em> eats, Bar Italia’s specialities are its ever-changing pasta dishes, homemade risottos and excellent Palombini coffee.
reviewed
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Green Nineteen
The newest addition to Camden St's growing corridor of cool is this sleek restaurant that specialises in locally sourced, organic grub – without the fancy price tag. Braised lamb chump, corned beef, pot roast chicken and the ubiquitous burger are but the meaty part of the menu, which also includes salads and vegie options. We love it.
reviewed
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Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill
The long-established Fitzer's restaurant group scored quite a coup when they enlisted bad-boy chef Marco Pierre White (he who once made Gordon Ramsay cry) to lend his name to their newest venture, which opened in 2009. Steaks, grilled meats and chunks of fish are the fare, presented with minimal fuss but with plenty of taste. There are some nice surprises, like the rib-eye, garnished with snails on the side.
reviewed
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Gallic Kitchen
Gallic Kitchen ‘Our food is so fucking good you won’t believe it’ advises the sign on the front wall of this little bakery shop. Standing at a bench, devouring a goat’s-cheese brioche, salmon roulade, smoked haddock quiche and chocolate pecan tart, we – wait for it – tend to agree.
reviewed
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Good World
A hands-down winner of our best-Chinese-restaurant competition, the Good World has two menus, but to really get the most of this terrific spot, steer well clear of the Western menu and its unimaginative dishes. With listings in two languages, the Chinese menu is literally packed with dishes and delicacies that keep us coming back for more.
reviewed
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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 alfresco dining area on Dawson St and the on-site free child-minders, who entertain your little ones while you eat, on Sunday between noon and 4.30pm.
reviewed
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Café Mao
Mao's often spicy mix of Vietnamese and Thai specialities, cooked to order and served with a musical soundtrack that declares its super-cool credentials, is one of the city's most successful restaurants. You can feast on the likes of nasi goreng and bulkoko here or at its other spots in the Dundrum Town Centre and Dun Laoghaire.
reviewed
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Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud
Handing out the title of ‘Best in the Country’ involves some amount of personal choice, but few disagree that this exceptional restaurant is a leading candidate, not least those good people at Michelin, who have put two stars in its crown. As a result, this is the most prestigious restaurant in the country, where the service is formal but surprisingly friendly, the setting elegant but not stuffy, the wine list simply awesome and head chef Guillaume Lebrun’s haute cuisine proudly French. The food is innovative without being fiddly, beautifully cooked and superbly presented. The lunch menu is an absolute steal, at least in this stratosphere.
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Cobalt Café & Gallery
A splendid little cafe just opposite the James Joyce Cultural Centre, the Cobalt occupies the ground floor of an elegant Georgian building and serves honest-to-goodness sandwiches stuffed with lots of lovely fillings. The big fireplace is the spot to warm those winter toes.
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Juniors
Cramped and easily mistaken for any old cafe, Juniors is anything but ordinary: designed to imitate a New York deli, the food (Italian-influenced, all locally sourced produce) is delicious, the atmosphere always buzzing (it's often hard to get a table) and the ethos top-notch, which is down to the two brothers who run the place.
reviewed
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Oar House
A feast-o-fish is what the menu is all about at this newish restaurant – particularly the locally caught variety. Par for the course in a fishing village, but this place stands out both for the way the fish is prepared and because you can get everything on the menu in smaller, tapas-style portions as well as mains.
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Gotham Café
A vibrant, youthful place that is decorated with framed Rolling Stones album covers, Gotham extends its New York theme to its delicious pizzas named after districts in the Big Apple. Chinatown and Noho are among our favourites, or you can opt for pasta, crostini or Asian salads. And, hey, they love kids here.
reviewed
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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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Butler's Chocolate Café
Heavenly hedonistic; the coffee might not be the very best in town, but the combination of a delicious handmade chocolate and damn good coffee is hard to beat. Actually, sod the coffee and double up with its famous hot chocolate for an unforgettable treat. There are branches around the south side.
reviewed
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Simon's Place
Simon hasn't had to change the menu of doorstep sandwiches and wholesome vegetarian soups since he first opened shop two decades ago – and why should he? His grub is as heartening and legendary as he is. It's a great place to sip a coffee and watch life go by in the old-fashioned arcade. Downstairs is dingy and appropriately popular with Goths and other types with an aversion to sunlight.
reviewed
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Cedar Tree
An old stalwart of Dublin's restaurant scene, this marvellously low-key Lebanese eatery is still a top spot to while away an evening in the company of friends, delicious meze (such as falafel, spicy sausage, dips), meatballs, kofta and several bottles of red wine. The service here is warm and personable.
reviewed
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Canal Bank Café
Life is good at Trevor Browne’s airy American-French style bistro, just off the canal. Moules frites share the menu with burgers and fish and chips, but there’s nothing mundane about the quality of the cuisine, which is uniformly excellent. Prices are the same, day and evening.
reviewed
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Harry’s Cafe
Harry’s has some great drops on the wine list, many of which you’ll see mounted on the bare brick walls of this friendly place. House specialities include organic beef burgers or bangers and mash, but the baked Mediterranean stack oozing melted goat’s cheese is our favourite.
reviewed
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Melody
Lots of red lacquer, black marble, a couple of fish tanks and the biggest TV we’ve ever seen is clear evidence that this place was designed to suit the sensibilities of the city’s substantial Chinese community, but it works for the Irish too: they come, preferably in big groups, and tuck into the fairly standard Chinese fare. Downstairs, a warren of tunnels leads to the karaoke dining rooms – probably the real reason this place is so popular.
reviewed
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Honest to Goodness
Wholesome sandwiches (made with freshly baked bread), tasty soups and a near-legendary Sloppy Joe, all made on the premises using ingredients sourced from local producers, have earned this lovely spot in the George's St Arcade a bevy of loyal fans who want to keep it all to themselves. No place this good can stay secret for long.
reviewed