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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.
Owner Roberto Mungo brings his brand of simple Calabrian cooking to this classy little Italian, family-run joint in hip Stoneybatter. There are touches of other Italian regions on the menu, but standouts are Calabrian classics like deep-fried aubergine with tomato, mozzarella, and green pesto and baked mackerel with potatoes, herbs, red pepper cream, and asparagus. The wonderful nibbles menu (each for around €5) is perfect for a quick bite.
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.
éThis buzzing café bar is a pleasant place for a lunchtime break. Sandwiches are large and delicious, with plenty of vegetarian choices, and the people-watching is unmatched.
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.
Old man Burdock has moved on and the place hasn't been the same since, but the hordes still join the inevitable queue at Dublin's famous 100-year-old takeout fish-and-chips shop. You can't eat here, but why would you anyway, when you can sit in the gardens of St. Patrick's Cathedral a few minutes away. Fresh cod is a classic, and the battered sausage a particular Dublin favorite, but the real stars here are the long, thick, freshly cut chips, which have a slightly smoky aftertaste.
Look like a local and ask to season your chips with "crispy bits."
This unassuming little shop on Francis Street conjures up some of the best pastries in town. There's no seating in this powerhouse patisserie, but long counters allow space for perching your coffee and tucking into the finest sweet and savory treats. Try the tomato, basil, aubergine, and goat cheese quiche or the hearty duck pie; or simply take afternoon tea with a pear tartlet or scone. Expect queues at lunchtime, and buy in bulk for the tastiest of take-out picnics.
A great-value, Middle Eastern delight hidden away in the Chester Beatty Library, the Silk Road Café has a buffet-style menu always full of exotic surprises. The light-filled atrium (Tuesday–Friday 10 am–4:45 pm, Saturday 11 am–4:45 pm, and Sunday 1–4:45 pm) and serene atmosphere make you want to linger longer than you should.
The open plan and family-style tables have kept Yamamori popular with noodle addicts and the younger, hipster crowd. The meals-in-a-bowl are a splendid slurping experience, and although you'll be supplied with a small Chinese-style soup spoon, the best approach is with chopsticks. The bento box combo meal is the best value in town. The seafood yaki soba, stir-fried egg noodles with a combination of fresh seafood and seasonal vegetables with wakame (an edible seaweed), is a favorite example. You can also get sushi and sashimi, delicious chicken teriyaki, or house specials like baked lobster.
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