ALL THE FOOD

Soup Ramen opened on Dun Laoghaire's main - in need of some TLC - George's Street Lower in summer 2018, adding life and a bright pink neon sign to an unloved part of town. It also gave Dubliners another place to go for ramen, in a city brutally under-served (yes first world problems but still)...

Mr Dinh sits at the far end of Capel Street, close to Parnell Street, in a site that formerly housed Vietnamese restaurant Hanoi Hanoi. We've been unable to find out whether the owner and manager of Mr Dinh are the same as Hanoi Hanoi, but they're both from Vietnam...

We first started hearing whispers about ALMA before Christmas of last year, but it was when their Instagram feed started posting pre-opening teasers that we really sat up and took notice. It was, (and still is) a thing of beauty, and inspiration for anyone wanting to attract the visually dependent Insta crowd, and the Argentinean-inspired menu looked like nothing else currently available in the city...

Unless you've had your head under a rock for the past two months you've probably heard of Frank's, the new wine bar serving small plates around a communal table, from the guys behind Delahunt a few doors up...

Bun Cha opened on Moore Street in early 2018 and immediately stood out from the few Vietnamese restaurants in the city thanks to their slick website and professional food photography. We weren't the only ones who noticed, as they had Lucinda O'Sullivan and Tom Doorley through the door in the first couple of months...

In January this year it was announced that The Red Bank restaurant in Skerries, open since 1983, would close, and the site would be taken over by ex-Chapter One head chef Cathal Leonard and his partner Sarah Ryan...

Has Dublin ever been more excited for chicken? It feels like we've been waiting for Chimac for an actual eternity (in reality it's been about a year), but after very long delays with the site on Aungier Street, they finally opened their doors two weeks ago...

We're not a city (or a country) known for having all the dim sum options, but every so often a conversation strikes up online about where to get the best dim sum in Dublin and our ears prick up...

Legit Coffee Co. started on Meath Street in the Liberties, Dublin 8 in 2015, after French man Daniel Vossion saw a gap in the market for a café serving interesting food and good coffee. They were accepted into the area with open arms, and even made it into the Lonely Planet's guide to Dublin, and last summer opened their second location in Phibsboro, where Daniel and his partner live...

Dax was opened by Frenchman Olivier Meisonnave in 2004, who wanted to bring a piece of his hometown Dax in Southwest France to a Georgian basement in Dublin. They've had various head chefs over the years, many of whom have gone off to open their own successful restaurants, but Dax got a new lease of life in 2017 when Graham Neville took up the mantle...