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With the Irish food revolution long over and won, Dublin now has a city full of fabulous, hip, and suavely sophisticated restaurants. More realistic rents have seen a new cohort of experimental eateries crop up alongside award-winning Euro-toques and their sous-chefs who continue to come up with new and glorious ways to abuse yo
With the Irish food revolution long over and won, Dublin now has a city full of fabulous, hip, and suavely sophisticated restaurants. More realistic rents have seen a new cohort of experimental eateries crop up alongside award-winning Euro-toques and their sous-chefs wh
With the Irish food revolution long over and won, Dublin now has a city full of fabulous, hip, and suavely sophisticated
With the Irish food revolution long over and won, Dublin now has a city full of fabulous, hip, and suavely sophisticated restaurants. More realistic rents have seen a new cohort of experimental eateries crop up alongside award-winning Euro-toques and their sous-chefs who continue to come up with new and glorious ways to abuse your waistline. Instead of just spuds, glorious spuds, you’ll find delicious new entries to New Irish cuisine like roast scallops with spiced pork belly and cauliflower au gratin topped with a daring caper-and-raisin sauce or sautéed rabbit loin with Clonakilty black pudding. Okay, there’s a good chance spuds will still appear on your menu—and most likely offered in several different ways.
As for lunches or munchies on the run, there are scores of independent cafés serving excellent coffee, and often good sandwiches. Other eateries, borrowing trends from all around the world, serve inexpensive pizzas, focaccia, pitas, tacos, and wraps (which are fast gaining in popularity over the sandwich).
Dubliners dine later than the rest of Ireland. They stay up later, too, and reservations are usually not booked before 6:30 or 7 pm and up to around 10 pm. Lunch is generally served from 12:30 to 2:30. Pubs often serve food through the day—until 8:30 or 9 pm. Most pubs are family-friendly and welcome children until 7 pm. The Irish are an informal bunch, so smart-casual dress is typical.
This fresh, one-stop shop for everything organic and delicious in Dublin combines a huge deli with a cozy cellar wine bar and expansive second-floor French brasserie. Located on the top floor of a beautiful old telephone exchange building, the high-ceiling, light-filled dining room is always bustling. The menu covers everything from burgers to loin of rabbit, but the Wicklow pork belly, celeriac, and Savoy cabbage are typical. Leave room for the lemon-ricotta cheesecake. You can pick up a bottle of wine in the wine cellar and enjoy it for a small corkage fee.
Also known as "Dublin's finest restaurant," this Michelin-starred place on the ground floor of the Merrion Hotel boasts a menu described as French, but chef Guillaume Lebrun's genius lies in his occasional daring use of traditional Irish ingredients—so often taken for granted—to create the unexpected. The ambience is just as delicious, if you're into lofty, minimalist dining rooms and Irish modern art (the Roderic O'Conors and Louis le Brocquys are all from the owner's private collection). The best dishes are flawless, such as the roast red leg partridge. Follow that, if you can, with the assiette au chocolat (a tray of five hot and cold chocolate desserts). Nearly as impressive are the 70-page wine list, the view of the Merrion's manicured gardens, and the two-course lunch special. Soaring white vaults and white walls won't make you feel warm and cozy, but you can always go somewhere else for that.
The elegant dining room of this Michelin-starred restaurant is a touch posh, with turquoise velvet seats and white tablecloths, but the food of one of Ireland's hottest and most creative chefs, County Clare man Mikael Viljanen, deserves its stage. The four-course, fixed-price menu is proud of its French influences, but constantly surprises with starters like a whipped foie gras topped with Granny Smith apple gel, walnut, and smoked eel. For a main try the sole with miso, cauliflower, roasted yeast, and winter truffle. The rhubarb blancmange with ginger is a thrilling dessert. The lunch menu is surprisingly good value.
When is a wine bar not just a wine bar? When it's also one of the city's most talked-about restaurants where you can drink or dine (tapas-style) at the bar, in the lush armchairs of the open-plan lounge, or in the more formal, restrained-modern dining room. The Roscoff onion tart is an adventurous starter, while the cold meat platter is a finger-lickin' little bar dish. The wine list is the envy of many a more expensive eatery, and with a couple of dozen wines poured by the glass you can dare to try something really special. There's a sister café in the same building with equally scrumptious offerings at a lower price point.
23 Pembroke St. Upper, Dublin, Co. Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
This exceptional eatery just off George's Street lost a little of its intimacy when it expanded, but the crowds still come for authentic French food at a fair price. Start with 12 snails, fresh herbs, garlic, and pastis butter. For a main course, the slow-roasted pork belly with black pudding manages to be hearty and adventurous at the same time. Desserts have a devilishly childish touch to them—passion-fruit cake with white chocolate sauce is a typical example. Pop next door to Hogan's bar while you're waiting.
This Breton-inspired, unpretentious eatery has one of the most inviting and good-value menus in the city. The look is very much casual bistro, a satisfying backdrop for starters like the beet risotto with winter truffles, and such mouthwatering mains as the loin of venison with red cabbage and celeriac paste.
The stuffed fox on the wall with the pistol in his hand inspired the name of this warm, gamy, stylish new eatery in a Georgian basement conveniently located near the Gate Theatre. The chef-owner graduated from a Michelin-star kitchen and he brings that elevated standard to the seasonal, fixed-price menu, with dishes like venison with parsnip, black pudding, chestnut, and blackberries. Lighter choices include a roast barley risotto, with pickled mushrooms and smoked ricotta. The staff at Mr Fox know their wines and love nothing more than to match a bottle to your meal choice. The cozy little bar is perfect for a predinner tipple.
It can be hard to re-create that classic bistro feel outside France, but this intimate spot at the heart of busy Dublin has managed to get the mix of bustle and tranquility just right. A quick glance at the gilt-framed, mirrored menu reveals that this kitchen is all about rich, evocative French fare—two winners are the rib eye and the panfried bass. The Earl Grey cheesecake is an original, tangy take of a classic dessert. A mix of warm brick walls dotted with black-and-white snaps of French film stars from the 1950s and wood paneling with tongue-in-cheek French movie posters keeps the vibe informal. Lunch is a great value, and keep an eye out for adventurous plats du jour and lively wine list.
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