All The Food

Why is a Dublin restaurant guide talking about a pub and restaurant in Wicklow? Because GLENDALOUGH. We all talk about doing it, suggest doing it, mean to do it more regularly, but without a food-based carrot at the end of an activity stick we struggle to commit to just about anything. Well consider this a carrot of titanic proportions, and the best excuse for an 8km hike since you trekked from the Electric Picnic carpark to the campsite. What are the essential must-knows

What’s the lowdown on Lulu’s? We should have believed them when they said they’re “not a restaurant”. We’d taken it in the sense that it's more trattoria as the storefront announces, but on our first Friday visit there’s very little food at all - just pizzette. It was aperitivo hour’s €2 cicchetti more than wine that lured us to Lulu’s, but no harm. A glass in hand, the world passing by a people-watching perch up front -we enjoy the atmosphere and plot a return.

Steak frites but make it bigger and better; spenny chocolate cake but make it sexier; sandwiches but make them sunnier - the colour, flavour and imagination dials are turned to the top in Dublin this week. Here's what made our hit list... 1) Ribeye steak frites, Hera If you imagine steak frites as a simple bistro-style slip of a thing with some crunchy fries on the side, prepared to be dazzled and amazed by the one at Hera. A 9oz, aged ribeye comes swimming in green peppercor

Glovers Alley reopens this September with one of Ireland's most exciting young chefs at the helm, and we've managed to secure a very special preview for ATF Insiders on Friday 4th September, before doors officially open on Wednesday 9th September. Adam Nevin is taking over following Andy McFadden's departure, and if you've been following him over the last few years, you'll know this is a big deal for Dublin. He took over The Morrison Room at Carton House in September 2023,

- The brothers behind Coppinger and Row Wines are opening a new all-day restaurant, Onóra, in new aparthotel The July on Capel Street this October. They're promising Irish produce “through a European lens" so we're expecting similar food to their other restaurants - Goat's Gruff have opened their much anticipated restaurant in Castleknock, and the snippets of menu and plates we've seen so far look even more exciting than we were expecting - Fade Street Social have launched a

A five-star stay in Dublin city centre, multiple meals out across Dublin, and luxury food deliveries - here's the nine prizes you're going in the draw for this August if you're one of our premium subscribers (i.e. our favourite people). As an ad and invite-free website, ATF Insiders is how we operate autonomously, ensuring every recommendation is made without bias, and that reviews are honest and not bought via gifts from external forces. Everyone who signs up for ATF Insider

Scallop tartare; barbecued tomatillos; peach on pizza - you don't even need to go outside to tell you what season it is, the plates this week are screaming it... 1) Scallop tartare, Mister S Mister S are sporadic Instagrammers, but their announcements are always worth waiting for. They're seeing summer out in lip-smacking style with this scallop tartare with charred piquillo pepper, shallot and cucumber brunoise (tiny dice), tarragon, smoked Chardonnay vinaigrette and grated

What’s the story with La La Burger? There isn’t much worth queueing for around the IFSC, so we weren’t the only ones shocked to see a snaking line of salivating punters packing the footpaths outside the Harbourmaster in March. It wasn’t €7.70 pints of Guinness they were out the door for, but a peculiarly placed In-N-Out Burger popup. The California chain’s milkshakes might have brought all the boys to the yard, but this was less a market toe-dipping than planting a flag les

We play favourites with the seasons every time the latest one comes round, but it’s hard to claim summer doesn’t have an in-built advantage. Pop into any farmer’s market about town and you’ll see heaving shelves of stone fruit alongside crates of courgettes, all kinds of currants competing for your eye with ten types of tomatoes. So broad’s the bounty that we compiled this best-in-season list without once repeating a single star ingredient. Now how will autumn top that? Car

- Damange control was enacted this week after last week's PR disaster for the group behind China Hunan, China Song and Little Canton (among others). The group released an "open letter" from their staff on social media which was later deleted from Instagram (you can still find it on Facebook here), and director Ian Keegan went on RTE Radio to defend the housing situation and say the group would no longer be renting transitional housing for new recruits. He said that staff memb

- A PR nightmare today for the owners of China Hunan, Hakkahan and Little Canton, who've been discovered housing 34 staff members in a four bedroom house in Killiney, suffering from damp and mould. The owners are blaming "a perfect storm" and an inability to find other accommodation, but this one is going to be hard to recover from - The opening of new café Supp in Finglas has been delayed due to a €2000 chair mistake among others - Do you stalk fishmonger Sebastian Skill

Dublin has just never smashed brunch the way other cities like London or Melbourne do, with menu after menu featuring the same eggs/hash/pancakes combo that's tried and tested and just plain 'oul safe. But those times are a changing, and these seven new-ish brunches have entered the chat to shake things up. From pizza brunch to crème brûlée porridge, crab rolls to congee, here's some options for when you've had your fill of eggs benedict and avo toast... Cora, Lucan Cora

Expansions, second sites, and summer popups gone permanent – if there’s a theme to thread in the latest batch of new openings around town, it’s established names stepping up and striking out to big(ger) new things... Nippon-Kan, Capel Street Are we at peak matcha yet? Not if the opening crowds at Nippon-Kan are anything to go by. The new Capel Street café has slipped into the space previously occupied by ill-fated booze-free bar The Virgin Mary, and comes from the folks b

Seafood is for life, not just for summer, but it definitely shines in these sunnier months when meaty mains and richer dishes feel like a bit too much in those warmer temperatures. From palate-livening combos like gildas and sherry, to fresh-as-it-gets seaside spots, to everywhere leaning into lobster season, here's where we're going in Dublin to get the best seafood now and all year round... The Seafood Café, Fownes Street Niall Sabongi’s Temple Bar mainstay The Seafood Café

Our first sighting of blackcurrants; crab cannoli; and a chicken caesar slice are just some of the thing enticing us out of the house and into that muggy air this week. Here's the top five things we want to eat in Dublin this week... 1) Blackcurrant and honey twist, Scéal Bakery Scéal have released this month's seasonal Danish and it's a summertime cracker. They've been playing around with the shape of their pastries and came up with this twist, brushed it with a tart Irish b