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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 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.
Head chef Alex Zhang has brought his own brand of daring Northern Chinese cuisine to this cool, new, city-center spot. The menu changes regularly, but the deep-fried duck wings tossed in secret seasoning and the fresh Irish lobster with tofu egg custard are typically thrilling dishes.
The Japanese teppanyaki area at this classy Pan-Asian restaurant on bustling Baggot Street, where the chef cooks your food right on your tabletop, is a feast for the eye as well as the palate. The simplicity of the white walls and dark lacquered furnishings are enhanced by the delicate glassware and fine green-washed porcelain. The menu picks the best from Chinese, Thai, and Japanese dishes, with the Asian tapas a good eat-and-go option.
You might not expect to come to Dublin for fabulous Nepalese cuisine, but this place is a real standout. The decor is nothing to write home about, but the food at this little eatery in the middle of bustling Temple Bar is as authentic as it is unique. Kachela, raw minced lamb with garlic, ginger, herbs, and spices, served with roti bread (a delicacy among the Newars of Kathmandu) or a shot of whiskey, is a more adventurous starter. For a main course try momos, dumplings served with momo chutney, a favorite street dish in Kathmandu.
