4 Best Restaurants in Dublin, Ireland

Background Illustration for Restaurants

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.

Cake Café

$ | Southside Fodor's Choice

At this dreamy little cafe, local, organic, and seasonal are the words to live by, where you can chow down on simple savory and sweet delights, all made with a loving, homey touch. The plant-filled courtyard is also the perfect summer spot for a daytime glass of prosecco and small bites. The surprising eggs and soldiers with roast tomatoes and shallots is a typically delicious dish. Save room for the delicate tarts and moist sugar-dusted sponges. Ask about the fun cooking classes: they're the talk of the town.

Dunne and Crescenzi

$ | Southside Fodor's Choice

The unpretentious brilliance of this husband-and-wife restaurant and deli just off Nassau Street is what makes the classy little Italian joint so popular. The menu is extensive but simple: panini, a horde of antipasti, a few choice pasta specials, and some evening meat dishes and desserts. The all-Italian kitchen staff work wonders with high-quality imported ingredients. The gnocchi with a slow-cooked ragù of Gilligan's Hereford Irish beef makes a great lunch. A couple of long tables are perfect for groups, and the hundreds of bottles of wine on shelves cover every inch of the walls. 

Honey Truffle

$ | Dublin North

Recently voted the best café in the city, this busy little breakfast and lunch spot is the brainchild of former Avoca head chef Eimer Rainsford. Salads dominate the menu, with wonderful combinations to choose from for your salad box. Try the beetroot, apple, and quinoa or spiced potatoes with giant couscous and roasted peppers. Dressings or dips are equally creative like the yogurt with cumin and lemon. Other popular dishes include Asian noodles with broccoli, lime and chili. All that healthy eating probably earns you one of the killer chocolate brownies with raspberry and blackberry.

Café $ Breakfast Lunch Coffee Brunch
45 Pearse St., Dublin, Dubin 2, Ireland
01-537--7766
honeytruffle.ie
Known For
  • Interesting salads
  • Great coffee
  • Genuine service
Restaurant Details
No dinner

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Il Valentino Bakery and Cafe

$ | Dublin South

Located in a nondescript building in Grand Canal Harbour, this stylish café is gaining a reputation for its impressive baked goods. Nearby tech workers flock here in hordes for the inventive salads, sandwiches, handmade pasta and focaccia romana, but it's the stunning array of cakes, tarts, and buns that really entice. Try the outrageous strawberry Charlotte or the explosion of color and taste that is the mango bavaroise.