Search Results

The approaching time of year can be one of the most frustrating when it comes to finding somewhere for friend catch ups, work drinks, and all of those Christmas pints you've been promising people you'll definitely do before the year is out. Most people want the option of food on a festive night out, but not always a multi-course, over-priced set menu, so here's where to go when you want somewhere more casual where the focus is on drinks, the food isn't coming out of the freezer and into the deep fat fryer, and where you can order as much or as little as you'd like... Allta Bar, Grand Canal Dock Allta 's more casual sibling next-door bills itself as a cocktail bar first, but the wine and beer lists are nothing to sniff at either. The bar food menu has everything from oysters and tuna tartare bites to what many are calling the best burger in Dublin, and if you haven't booked ahead you can always wait for a seat at the bar. With cocktails €16 a piece this won't be a cheap night out, but you can have exactly what you want with no festive arm-twisting. Check out our once over of Allta Bar here . Caribou, Stephen Street Lower The guys behind Caribou (who also own Kodiak and Bonobo) know how to do a pub for 2024. The drinks menus are in the top 1%, the staff always seem very happy to be there, and there's always an excellent, uncomplicated food menu for when hunger strikes. While their other two sites are pizza focused, Caribou has branched out with fish sandwiches, steak frites and pork schnitzel, and it's the loveliest room to while away a few hours in, with no one hovering over you trying to get you to overspend. Frank's, Camden Street Natural wine bar and shop Frank's is where you'll find the ones who really love wine splashing out on some special bottles - tis the season. The short food menu changes regularly but there's always, meat, cheese and a few interesting seasonal small plates. When it comes to drinks, tell them what you like and let them do their magic. Hidden, Smithfield New opening Hidden in Smithfield (from the same owner as One Society) is gearing itself up as the casual Christmas option, where Italian tapas meet lovely European wines. You can keep it simple with pizza and antipasti, or if you have a big gang they have options for 15+, with standing and sit down options for €30-€35 a head. Check them out here . Fallon & Byrne's wine cellar Another easy place for a seasonal meet up, Fallon & Byrne's wine cellar lets you pull anything off the shelves and drink it for just €10 corkage - we can hear the Champagne corks popping. Pair it with small plates, pizza or pasta, or just enjoy your wine with no food fuss. Bootleg, Drury Street Drury Street's "disco lounge" Bootleg adapts to many a night out. Wine bar? Check. Restaurant? Check. Late night Italo-disco tunes? Check. Get in and out early if you're looking for wine, cocktails and tasty small plates like Iberico ham and turkey scotch eggs, and stay late if you're not ready for the night to end. Lenehan's, Dawson Street Lenehan's describes itself as a "social hub" for Dublin, and with a sprawling place spanning multiple rooms and floors, in the most central of locations on Dawson Street, there's usually a corner you can slink into with friends, even if you haven't booked. Stay downstairs around the bar areas if you're looking for a laidback night out, and there's a gastropub menu with chowder, salads and burgers for when you get peckish. Row Wines, Coppinger Row Wine bar, vinyl lounge, purveyor of some of the most intensely flavoured small plates in Dublin, is there anything Row Wines can't do? While we'd always advise booking, it's definitely worth chancing a walk in, and the laid back vibes makes it easy to customise your night to exactly what you're looking for. Saying that, if you don't eat here you're making a BIG mistake. Read our once over here . Fidelity Studio / Sister 7, Smithfield A mecca for music lovers, craft beer lovers, and food lovers, it's no shock that Fidelity Studio has been run off its feet since opening a few months ago. Between the frequently changing beers, ever delicious dishes from the team behind Big Fan , and occasional dancing after hours, it's the kind of place you'll never regret clearing a space in your diary for. Read our once over here . The Blind Pig, Suffolk Street You will definitely need to book The Blind Pig (unless you like living on the edge and who knows, you could get lucky), but the dimly-lit, basement room hidden behind a bookshelf is worth planning ahead for. Order drinks from their award-winning bartenders, and pick at antipasti or something a bit heartier, all with an Italian lean. If you're lucky you might catch some live jazz in the corner. The Legal Eagle, Smithfield You can settle in for a full three-course affair in The Legal Eagle , but you can also pull up a seat and graze on bar snacks like homemade salt and vinegar crisps, Korean fried chicken wings, and Irish sardines with sourdough. The wine list has always punched well above its weight for a pub, and it has all the cosy, softly-lit winter vibes we're looking for at this time of year. Cellar 22, St. Stephen's Green From 4pm until closing time, wine bar Cellar 22 serve a menu of picky bits to compliment their extensive, far-reaching wine list. If you just want a cheese plate go for it. If you want a multi-course tasting menu of beef tartare, tomato salad and duck breast you can do that too. We love an underground room on a dank winter's day, and it's the comfiest, cosiest of places for a catch up.

To get you in the spirit of Samhain, we've rounded up the spookiest and tastiest treats in this town for all you Hallow-Queen's out there. Eat, drink, and be scary because it'll be next year before you get another chance to get your hands on all of this... Spooky bread, Noisette Artisan Bakery These Jack-o'-lantern style loaves from Noisette Bakery in Rush are a very fun way to carb-load around All Hallows Eve. Never have we ever seen a spookier or tastier looking batch loaf. Halloween croissants, Medialuna Croissanterie Medialuna's black croissants are back and they look suitably killer. Stocked in spots all over the city, check their following list on their instagram page for places you can find these black beauties. Bone appétit! Bram Stoker pie and Bloody Marys, No. 27 Bar & Lounge at The Shelbourne In honour of Ireland's original spooky man, No. 27 Bar & Lounge at The Shelbourne are cooking Bram Stoker Pies (€25) inspired by a dish in Dracula, filled with slow cooked beef cheek, button mushrooms, bacon lardons and veggies. To pair with it they're shaking up a selection of Bloody Marys for €17, or you can have both for €39. The deal runs from 30th October through to Bram Stoker Day on the 8th of November. Halloween afternoon tea, InterContinental Dublin Dust off your broomsticks and head to Ballsbridge, where InterContinental Dublin  are serving Halloween afternoon tea. There's a pumpkin ‘scary’ spiced cheesecake, ‘bloody’ blackberry bakewells, a milk chocolate ‘Hocus Pocus’ panna cotta and a ‘broomstick’ coconut cocoa bar with mango panna cotta. Running from 25th October until the 3rd November, their Halloween afternoon tea is €62, or €82 with a glass of champagne. Spooky and  bougie. Spooky Cookies, Slice Slice in Stoneybatter are nailing the Samhain spirit with their cute spooky skeleton, ghost, and pumpkin cookies. Pair it with a pumpkin spiced latte for a one way ticket to Halloween heaven. Beetlejuice Margarita, Saba Not gona lie, Saba's special Halloween cocktail, the "Beetlejuice Margarita" is low-key terrifying. It's made with Espolon tequila, lime juice, sour apple and Midori to give it that luminous green glow, and check out those eyeball ice cubes. They're also running an “Embrace the Pumpkin” menu from October 24th to November 3rd so you can tick all your Halloween food boxes in the one place. Pumpkin Spiced Latte, Tir Deli Tir Deli on Hatch Street are serious when it comes to coffee, and if like us you detest the large coffee chains, but still want that Autumnal drink, this is the place to get your pumpkin spiced latté. They roast off the seeds and pulp from Irish pumpkins to make a spiced syrup, and combine it with Cloud Picker coffee and Village Dairy milk. Autumn coffee goals. Pumpkin spice cheesecake, Meltdown Pumpkin is this season's it fruit ( yes you read that right ), and it's currently in everything. These cute little ghostly pumpkin spice cheesecakes from Montague Street's Meltdown   are bringing all the sweetness we want during spooky season. Halloween cheese, Sheridans This Halloween you really can have it all, including top cheese in spooky shapes. Sheridans are stocking Chällerhocker, a cow's milk Swiss-style cheese from Switzerland, the ghost-shaped 'Fabtome', and the bat-shaped Chauve Sourise. Your Halloween cheese board is now complete. Halloween treats, Rustic Honey Rustic Honey out in Cherrywood have all the Halloween sweet treats at the ready, including spooky orange iced cupcakes, bloody witch hat jammy dodgers, trick or treat chocolate fudge brownies, and gingerbread ghosts. Boxes of four are €10.50, which is scarily good value. Nancy burger, Nancy Hands We love Nancy Hands ' nod to Halloween with their eerie version of their Nancy Burger. With a charcoal black bun and a slice of bacon as its tongue, it ticks all of the savoury Samhain boxes. Pan de Muerto, Pickosito Northern Mexican Taquería Ireland's not the only country with a national holiday dedicated to those who have passed. Mexico's version of Halloween - Día de Muertos aka Day of the Dead - is also being celebrated this week, and Pickosito Taquería on Mary Street are baking Pan de Muerto. The traditional circular Mexican sweet bread symbolises the circle of life, while the crossbones honour the departed. Charcoal Latte, Brew Lab Brew Lab are stepping up their latté art game with this spooky charcoal latte - a great coffee alternative for the spooksters that avoid caffeine. It's made with food grade activated charcoal so you can be Halloweeny and healthy at the same time. Halloween Cocktails, Electric Circus Electric Circus on Talbot Street are running a "Pick your Poison" menu in honour of Samhain, and this Blood Bag cocktail with vodka, peach schnapps, cranberry, orange and lime juice, sounds eerie-sistible.

Spooky season is approaching, and we've got all the treats to give away to ATF Insiders this month. ATF Insiders is ou r premium service offering added benefits for readers, that allows us to operate ad-free and independently, with everything featured and recommended here paid for by us . Getting entered into this draw every month is one of the benefits. Everyone signed up to ATF Insiders by midnight on Thursday 17th October will be entered into the draw, and winners will be picked and notified on Friday 18th October. Here's what your name could be going in the hat for this month... 1) €100 voucher for The Old Spot and their new cookbook The Old Spot in Sandymount has just turned 10, and to celebrate have released their first cookbook, unveiling the recipes for their mussels pil-pil, short-rib lasagne and famous Sunday roasts among others. There's also tips and tricks from the kitchen, cocktail recipes and inside stories from 10 years serving local and famous faces. The book retails for €35 and we've got a copy PLUS a €100 voucher for The Old Spot to give away this month. Check it out here . 2) Food & wine tasting evening, Little Washer, Glasnevin Little Washer is the latest addition to the Northside's happily growing wine scene, and their small plates, pasta, pizza and desserts have been going down very well in Dublin 9. We've got a food and wine tasting evening for you and a guest to give away this month, where you'll try four small plates, two pizzas and four different wines, for a very good time. (Redeemable Wednesday or Thursday) 3) €100 voucher for Harry's, Malahide Harry’s in Malahide is offering a new four-course menu, inspired by the French Riviera. It starts with homemade focaccia, before moving into Mille Feuilles Caprese, then a choice of Beef Ragu, Carbonara Risotto, or a French Lentil Casserole for mains. You'll end with Tiramisu and Cannoli, or Chocolate Mousse, and it sounds like an absolute steal for the price of €35. It's available all night Thursday - Saturday, and for lunch on Saturday, and we've got a €100 voucher to give away so you can go all in and have enough for some wine too. Check out Harry's here . 4) A wine tasting evening with food at Hidden, Smithfield Hidden is the newest Italian tapas and wine bar with wood-fired pizza in Smithfield, in the location that used to house Thundercut Alley. The laid back vibe and menu is perfect for casual meet ups without the pressure of a three-course meal, and 13 wines are served in varying sizes, from small, to large, to carafes. We're sending one of you into Hidden for a wine tasting evening with food, where you'll get to try three white wines, three reds, charcuterie, cheese and pizza. Ideal midweek catch up sitch. 5) €100 voucher for Glas to celebate being Ireland's first fully gluten-free restaurant This year vegetarian and vegan restaurant Glas on Chatham Street, became Ireland’s first fully gluten-free fine dining restaurant, with no wheat, barley, or rye handled in the kitchen. This is huge news for coeliacs who struggle with eating out, and makes it an even more inclusive dining experience. While there's no meat on the menu, they aim to appeal to all, showing the depth of flavours that can be achieved with vegetarian and vegan ingredients. We've got a €100 voucher for Glas to give away this month, so you can head in for Miso Parsnip, Carrot Risotto, Artichoke Granola, and Candy Carrot whenever it suits. 6) A Luxury Food Box from Naomi's Kitchen Naomi's Kitchen , the award-winning catering service has just taken home Gold and Silver awards at Blas na hÉireann 2024, for their beef bourgignon and their Belgian chocolate honeycomb squares. From high-end corporate catering to delivering wholesome, homemade meals to your door, they only use fresh ingredients with no nasty additives, and we've got a luxury food box worth €125 to give away to one of you this month, with mains, sides, cake and extras from their larder. Check out Naomi's Kitchen here . 7) The Christmas Coffee Advent Calendar From Brewbox If you love coffee like we love coffee, there can be few advent calanders as exciting as a Christmas coffee one, and that's what Brew Box have brought to the table this year. 24 days, 24 coffees, 12 different UK and Ireland roasters, and the best beans from each singled out for a mini bag with a QR code on the side so you know what you're drinking. The coffee advent calander costs €150 and would make a great gift for the coffee lover in your life, but an even better gift for yourself. Check it out here . 8) A limited edition Rye Cask Whiskey from Boann Distillery Boann Distillery  and craft brewery, Rye River Brewing Company have teamed up to create  The Whistler “Fisher in the Rye” Doppelbock Rye Cask Finish , a limited-edition whiskey release of 6,000 bottles. After being aged in rye casks, the whiskey blend of 11 to 17-year-old whiskeys are matured further in Doppelbock beer-seasoned rye casks for 18 months, and the result is a fusion of sweet, spicy, and malty flavours. We've got a bottle of this unique whiskey along with a limited-edition Kingfisher poster print to give away this month. 9) A hamper from Five Farms If you haven't swapped your Christmas Bailey's for Five Farms Cream Liqueur , get on the case and we'll wait for your messages of thanks. This superior Irish drink is made with fresh Irish cream sourced from family-owned farms along the Wild Atlantic Way, blended with Cork whiskey within two days of cream production. It's won gold at the Blas na hÉireann Awards for four years running, and is the highest-ranked Irish cream liqueur in history at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge. If you haven't yet had the pleasure, we've got a Five Farms hamper this give away to someone including glassware and merch, so this could be your lucky month. Everyone signed up to ATF Insiders for October (new and old) will be automatically entered into the prize draw - you don't need to do anything. If you're not signed up yet join here before midnight on Thursday 17th October. You'll be supporting independent reviews and news in Dublin and beyond, and be able to get answers to all of your burning questions about eating out, here and abroad, directly from us.

Soup season is upon us, and there doesn't exist a better way to warm up than with a bowl of something hot and supremely tasty. We've rounded up the best of the best to warm your cockles, and there isn't a funeral style "country veg" in sight... Honey Truffle, Pearse Street A popular lunch spot and independently run café with a mission to serve the best of Irish ingredients, Honey Truffle has a great selection of sandwiches and salads, as well as excellent coffee on tap, but for us their soup specials are always very special. Exhibit A: roasted sweet potato, cumin, carrot, butternut squash, caramelised red onion, ginger and coconut milk soup, garnished with a spiced maple, lemon beetroot and yoghurt dip, with thyme roasted croutons, finished with a herb jalapeño oil. If that's not a serious bowl of soup, what is. Nomo Ramen, Portobello Nomo is our go to spot in the city for steaming bowls of ramen. Their noodles are imported from the US from the same supplier as Momofuku and Ivan Ramen in New York (humble brag), and their bowls are on the less flashy side, but with layers and layers of flavour. They recently updated their Yuzu Shoyu Ramen (aka Chintan broth) after working on the new recipe for the last couple of months, putting it right back to the top of our must try list. The La La Café and Restaurant, Balbriggan Seafood chowder is an adopted Irish hero (by way of North America), and The La La Café and Restaurant in Balbriggan have only gone and won the best bowl of chowder in the country in the SOUPerb Awards 2024 , judged by food writers Sally & John McKenna. They smoke their fish in house, and put an interesting spin on the classic, adding sweet corn and sweet pepper to offset the smoky fish. Served with a crunchy white croute and home-made brown bread, this bowl of the good stuff is one we've earmarked to try soon. La Maison, Dublin 2 French onion soup is a classic, and we reckon La Maison on Castlemarket (you know, the one Grogan's is on) does one of the best in Dublin. They use a traditional blend of rich, caramelised onions in a savoury broth, all topped with melted Gruyère croutons. This with a glass of bold Bordeaux equals Autumn evening heaven. The Goodies at NCAD, The Liberties Not the first place that might spring to mind when you think of soup, but when we stopped by earlier in the year, The Goodie's  Jerusalem artichoke soup took first class honours. The sweet and nutty flavours from the chokes, paired with garlicky crunchy croutons and smoky cream, are all reasons we're still thinking about it. At €4 a pop it's also some of the best value for money, by a longshot. Read our two minute review here . Full Moon Thai, Parliament Street Husband and wife owned Full Moon Thai on Parliament Street, just outside the Temple Bar madness, have a whole section dedicated to Thai soup on their menu. From brothy noodle soups to spicy Tom Yums, their steamy fragrant bowls will transport you to flavour town while warming you from the top down. Biang Biang, Smithfield Biang Biang is the most recent opening from the folks behind Hakkahan , Nan Chinese , Bullet Duck & Dumplings and Little Dumpling , so rest assured you're in for a good time. Their short and sweet rice noodle soup section allows you to choose your own meaty, spicy adventure, and is best paired with a Roujiamo (a Chinese hamburger) on the side. Read our once over here . Pho Kim, Parnell Street Vietnamese veterans of this viking city, Pho Kim , are masters of the fragrant dish of their namesake, consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs and meat. The extra spicy Bún bò Huế is a variation on the classic pho, made with beef and pork broth, and using vermicelli round rice noodles. With a bowl of this in our hands and our eyes closed, we could be wedged on a plastic stool in hot and humid Hanoi, instead of tucked inside on blustery Parnell Street with the Luas dinging past and people's umbrellas going inside out. The Pepper Pot Cafe, Powerscourt Centre, South William Street Dearly loved by the people of Dublin, The Pepper Pot Café in the Powerscourt Centre always has a soup of the day that's hard to resist. They can sell out fast though, so be sure to get there early to avoid leaving soup-less. Their hearty bowls come served with their freshly baked breads, and both are perfection. Blas Café, Dublin 1 Sometimes we wish Blas Café was our little secret, but it’s not and that wouldn’t be fair to everyone else anyway. The high-ceilinged hideaway can be found behind Cineworld on Parnell Street, and they're big soup heads in here, chosing it over birthday cake to celebrate their 10th year in business. With dedication like that you know their rotating flavours are going to be good. Meltdown, Montague Street We challenge thee to find us a more comforting or indeed classic combination than an oozy gooey ham and cheese toastie with a hot bowl of tomato soup. Meltdown know a thing or two about a hang and cheese sandwich, and their vegan spicy tomato soup is the perfect accompaniment, each making the other just that little bit more whole. The Gravediggers, Glasnevin Whether you're in the "it's a watery stew!" camp, or the "it's a chunky soup!" corner, Wikipedia lists coddle as a soup, so it's going on the list. The famous Dublin dish is the closest we've got to a legit Marmite situation, but one thing is for sure - a bowl of this paired with a pint of the black stchuff at the Gravediggers is a direct way to inject heat back into anyone's bitterly cold bones. If it's good enough for Tony B ...

The prettiest plate of fish in South Dublin, a wagyu short rib with all the char, and a selection of Bloody Marys that there's eating and drinking on. These are the five things we won't shut up about in Dublin this week... 1) Bloody Marys, Row Wines Technically not something we can eat, but this Bloody Mary line up from Row Wines looks bloody delicious. They're flogging two for €20 [bargain alert] during brunch on the weekends, and frankly, those who don't get a Bloody Mary with brunch need to think about how their lives have panned out. They've put some spins on the classic, with a gin, tequila, and Michelada version, and you'll make a date there this weekend if you know what's good for you. 2) Cheung fun, Nan Chinese If you haven't tried Cheung Fun before let this be your sign. Silky steamed rice rolls stuffed with various fillings are one of our dim sum go-to's, and in this case Nan Chinese have filled theirs with BBQ pork, bathed in a soy and hoisin based sauce. Dim yum. 3) Wild turbot, Orwell Road We're not sure if we want to frame the picture or eat the dish, from Orwell Road's latest specials. Wild turbot from Wrights of Marino is served with roast potato velouté, seaweed, and chive, and topped with Goatsbridge Trout Caviar. It's almost too pretty to eat, but when has that stopped us. 4) Wagyu beef short-rib, Achara It's no secret that we're fangirling over recent opener Achara , and this new menu addition of Wagyu beef short-ribs has solidified the obsession. These McLoughlin bad boys are grilled over coals for that beautiful char, and are served with nam jim jaew - a spicy Thai dipping sauce of tamarind, palm sugar, dried Birds Eye chilli and toasted rice powder. 5) Caramelised figs, La Gordita We love a seasonal dessert and La Gordita's latest is a crema con higos caramelizados (that's custard cream and caramelised figs to you). It's giving all the Autumn feels.

We could tell you all about the history of Spanish capital Madrid, about the Christian city walls, the Prado museum, the city centre El Retiro park (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site), but there's just too much food and drink to tell you about so you'll have to get that info elsewhere. More like London than Lisbon, the Madrid buzz and energy is electric, and while the city sprawls across 21 districts and 131 barrios, it's pretty walkable (if you don't mind walking). From the city's most electrifying restaurants, to the markets where the Madrileños shop, to the cheesecase you can't unsee once you see it, here's our guide to a very nice few days eating and drinking in Madrid... Bakeries Alma Nomad Bakery Timi Árgyélán and Joaqin Escriva opened their first bakery in Budapest, but after Timi became pregnant they decided to relocate to Joaqin's hometown of Madrid to have family around. They took over a rundown building in a quiet neighbourhood, and from the first day they pulled up the shutters Alma Nomad has had an unrelenting queue. Now known as one of the capital's best bakeries, get there early for custard tarts, gianduja croissants and crusty slabs of quiche. Read more lovely background on the duo here . La Duquesita Called Madrid's "most beautiful pastry shop" by Eater , La Duquesita (which translates as The Duchess) has welcomed all kinds of Spanish royalty since opening in 1914, including Queen María Cristina. After briefly closing in 2015, new steward Oriol Balaguer took over and has kept standards as high as ever, and a tea room opened next door in 2021. The croissants are said to be the best in the city, with the palmeras also legendary. (La Duquesita) Alex Cordobés An essential stop for cheesecake lovers, Alex Cordobés opened his first shop in the upmarket Salamanca, after Instagram posts for his at home business resulted in a waiting list for cake. Pick from three different sizes in seven speciality flavours, including traditional, Belgian chocolate, and Iberian pistachio. (Alex Cordobés) Food and wine shops Formaje Friends and collaborators with Alex Cordobés, Formaje has been described as Madrid's "temple of cheese". Part gourmet food shop, part cheese gallery, you'll find cow, sheep and goat cheese from every encalve of Spain and its islands in here. Use the staff's encyclopedic knowledge when choosing what to pack in your suitcase to bring home, but our favourite was the Mahón from Menorca (hot tip - if you can, pack it in your check in luggage for cooler temperatures, and put a chilled bottle of water in the same compartment before you fly). Don't miss the smoked meats, cheeses and anchovy butter from Barcelona's Rooftop Smokehouse too. Cuenllas (Calle Ferraz & Salesas) Known as one of the best gourmet delicatessens and wine shops in Madrid, it's very easy to spend a pretty penny in Cuenllas . Find their original deli, wine shop and restaurant at Calle Ferraz, while their more modern bistro featuring an even larger wine selection (much of it natural) is in the Salesas neighbourhood. The latter is ideal for casual drinks and bites, the former needs to be booked well in advance. Markets Mercado San Miguel Madrid's most famous covered food market, Mercado de San Miguel was built in 1916, but reopened in 2009 after a big renovation. It's packed full of Spanish tapas and drinks, like gildas, seafood cones and cheese and charcuterie plates, but it's a tourist mecca and prices for some items are eye-wateringly high in comparison to the rest of the city. It's a buzzy, easy choice for a bite to eat and a few drinks, but if quality is the most important thing to you there are far better food options around. Mercado De La Paz For a taste of what the Madrile ñ os want from a food market, head north to Mercado de la Paz instead. It's far less touristy and over-priced, and home to one of Madrid's most famous tapas bars - Casa Dani, know for that tortilla . If you can't face the queues then pull up a seat anywhere else - it's all good in here. The little wine bars out front are weekend meet up goals, and there's plenty of Spanish delicacies like Cantabrian anchovies, olives and vinegars at fair prices to stuff in your suitcase if you have space. Restaurants Taberna Laredo When the owners of Uno Mas recommend a restaurant in Spain you write it down, underline it three times and draw a circle around it. You will not have a more perfect opening meal than Taberna Laredo so head straight here from the airport to feast on all the anchovies, prawn rice, and tomato tartare (thanks to the guy on the airplane for that truly stellar reccomendation). Sit at the bar or in the more formal dining room upstairs looking down at everyone below, drinking wines from Madrid and watching the owner join table after table for a chat and a drink. You'll probably want to go back again after meal number one, and you will definitely have had worse ideas. Angelita Another Uno Mas recommendation that we now consider non-negotiable for an all-out dinner in Madrid, Angelita has staff whose welcome is like a squeezy hug, a menu of modern Spanish dishes cooked by a thriving team of chefs, and what must be one of the most epic wine lists in Europe - we gave up half way through and asked the sommelier to bring us glasses of her choice, which was the right decision. Don't miss their famous ratatouille with egg yolk and rosemary, the steak tartare toasts, and the tomato and basil puff pastry for dessert - the talent on show here will have you grinning like an idiot from start to finish. Restaurante TriCiclo For something more cheffy with amuse bouches and bread courses, head to Triciclo (Spanish for tricyle) down a quiet street in the Literary district. The focus is on local and sustainable produce, cooked in a variety of ways inspired by countries from Spain to Japan to Peru. The dining room weaves its way around corners to create lots of quiet spots, and while the by the glass wine list looks tiny, the sommelier is happy to pour anything he thinks you'll like using the Coravin system (for a fraction of the prices we pay for Coravin wines at home). Sacha Restaurant Out of the centro, North past the Bernabéu stadium, is Restaurante Sacha , which is something of a pilgrimage for chefs and restaurant owners coming to Madrid just to eat. It's been described as everything from " an intimate dinner party among friends " to " a culinary icon ", with flawlessly excuted dishes featuring Catalan and Galician influences. There's no Instagram feed or promotion, owner Sacha Hormaechea has built up his global reputation since opening in 1972 on quality, atmosphere and little else. La Gilderia A whole restaurant dedicated to gildas - no you're not dreaming! We were sold long before looking into this modern take on a traditional Spanish bar, with gildas the star attraction at La Gilderia . Pick from 14 different types of gildas as you sip on a cold glass of Vermouth, with combinations liked smoked sardines, cheese and sun-dried tomatoes; egg, smoked salmon and pickle; and artichokes, candied padron peppers and spring onions. There's plenty of other pinxtos and raciones on the menu if you need something more filling than food on sticks. (La Gilderia) Chuka Ramen Bar If you're there for a while and get tired of Spanish food, make your way to Chuka Ramen Bar for culinary mash ups like pastrami bao buns, tempura shrimp with roti canai, and Madrid's best ramen. The menu abides by Japanese traditions with novel flavour combinations, and would give fusion food a good name. (Chuka Ramen Bar) Bars and tapas La Venencia This rammed bar down a dark street near Puerta del Sol only serves sherry, and its shelves are full of dusty bottles drank long ago. A simple snack menu offers cured meats, cheese and anchovies to hungry bar-goers, and there's no photographs allowed at La Venencia , so prepare to be scowled at if you take out your camera. Hermanos Vinagre Specialising in pickled food (hence the name), Hermanos Vinagre 's three bars are the ideal locations for early evening Aperitivo if your dinner booking is later that night. Enjoy gildas, conservas and anchovy toasts with a beer or wine, and save space for the flan. (Hermanos Vinagre) Casa Dani As mentioned above, Casa Dani is the site of the most famous tortilla in the city that's inspired countless others, although their ta gline is " Algo Más Que Tortilla" (more than omelette ). The queue can be heart-sinkingly long, but we're told its worth the wait. A salmonella outbreak last year shut them down for several months and ignitied a huge debate on the safety of under-cooking eggs, but was eventually traced to the workers at the restaurant and not the materials or methods used for food preparation. It hasn't affected business a jot. (Casa Dani) Cocktails Del Diego Tucked just behind the Gran Via, Del Diego is one of Madrid's most iconic cocktail bars, with a vibe and interiors that could have been lifted out of NYC from the Sex and the City years. Waiters are tuxedoed and it's one of the most extensive and expertly executed drinks menus in the city, with all the classics, including Cosmpolitans. (Del Diego) Salmon Guru Currently 16 on the World's 50 Best Bars list, Salmon Guru is another must stop for cocktail lovers. After closing to undergo a major refurbishment in 2023, the team returned with a slightly more restrained interior, playlist and cocktail vessel selection, with drinks inspired by their travels while the bar was shut. Critics say it's better than ever. More recommendations from our ATF Insiders Restaurants Casa Macareno  - "Really cool restaurant worth a visit!" Restaurante Los Montes de Galicia  - "This was a recommendation we got and it was brilliant. The blue fin tuna tartare was a standout but the whole experience was amazing."   A'Barra  - "Ate here a few years ago. It was exceptional. Had a lovely set up for a tasting menu where the chefs cooked right in front of you and explained every course." Comparte Bistré  - "Can't recommend Comparté enough. Still dreaming of that meal." (Clockwise from top left: Casa Macareno, Restaurante Los Montes de Galicia, A'Barra, Comparte Bistré) Bars/Tapas Calle Ponzano  - "Street which all the locals hang out on at weekend or evenings, it’s a long strip of bars and restaurants but not at all tacky. Very much for locals." Vi Cool  - "We stumbled upon this and it was a really great find! The tapas were delicious but they weren't just your average tapas, like tapas with a twist." Bodega de la Ardosa  - "On the Devour food tour for a vermouth and cod fritter. Very authentic!" Casa Revuelta  - "We went back again and again, got chatting to loads of people." (Clockwise from top left: Calle Ponzano, Vi Cool, Bodega de la Ardosa, Casa Revuelta) Drinks Amazonico  - "They did brilliant cocktails and it was super buzzy." Baton Rouge  - "Cool cocktail bar. The staff are really friendly and they have some really interesting cocktails and ingredients." Kaskais Wine Bar  - "We had so many lovely pitstops here either going out for the evening or coming back. It just had a lovely vibe about it, really felt so welcoming and nice wine, sure what more could you want." (From left to right: Amazonico, Baton Rouge, Kaskais Wine Bar)

We all have those friends or family members whose favourite restaurants list originated in the early noughties and hasn't had an update since. They think Fire is the glammest night out in Dublin, Yamamori is the only Japanese worth talking about, and Shanahan's on the Green is THE place for steak. Well it's 2024 and the landscape has drastically changed, and while it's very hard to pull creatures of habit out of a restaurant rut, here's some swaps to guide them towards the next time they suggest Trocadero for the next family meet up... For fans of: The Ivy Send them to: Floritz Let's be frank. A UK-made chain restaurant with 43 locations, whose staff have had to fight for tips and basic worker's rights , holds little appeal for us, but The Ivy still manages to pull in the crowds day after day. If you have a pal/mother-in-law/workmate who thinks that high ceilings, floral covered walls and leather chairs supercede everything else, do them a favour and point them towards Floritz around the corner instead. It's got all the style, but with a substance-filled menu of modern Asian dishes, craft cocktails and attentive staff to go with it. Read our once over here . For fans of: Fire Send them to: Hawksmoor If you're looking for steak and seafood in a grand setting, Hawksmoor is the 2024 update. Less a menu of crowd pleasers and more a menu of stomach teasers, every part of eating and drinking here is right up the minute - from the ultimate Martini menu, to the oysters roasted with bone marrow, to the whopper list of 14 sides to add onto all those sharing steaks. Standards are consistently high, and if you want to dip your toe in on a budget go for an early dinner on a Monday, when three courses costs €35 before 18:00, and you can bring your own wine for €5 a bottle. Read our review here . For fans of: Trocadero Send them to: Coppinger Trocadero has long been known as Dublin's theatre restaurant, with the restaurant's website proclaiming they've "attracted the stars of the stage and screen for over sixty six years." It's been a while since we've heard of a bonefide celeb in there, but you've a decent chance of spotting one around the corner in Coppinger . Julia Roberts was in for dinner last month, and they famously hosted Beyoncé when she toured Dublin. Don't expect to see any pictures on their social media feeds, with chefs and staff summoned for a group shot, arms flung around the poor celeb who just wanted a quiet dinner - they're way too cool for that, which is why the glitterati keep coming back. For fans of: Carluccio's Send them to: Amuri Another UK chain import, Carluccio's was once seen as an exotic, glamorous location for Grafton Street-adjacent meet ups, but these days you'll find much more of the Dolce Vita at Amuri on Chatham Street. Brothers Luca and Andrea have created a feel-good, genuinely family owned and run restaurant, with all the "Buona Notte!"s on arrival and Limoncello on departure. The food is every bit as good as you'll find in Sicily, with the pasta a la sarde one of the most unmissable dishes in Dublin. Read our once over here . For fans of: Ukiyo Send them to: Sister 7 Many tears were shed over the last few weeks over the closure of Ukiyo , with nostalgic memories of nights gone by flooding past customers' social media feeds. If Asian small plates and great tunes is your kinda thing, Sister 7 in Smithfield needs to be your new regular. The food is from the legends at Big Fan , the Whiplash -heavy beer list is a craft beer lover's dream, and the state of the art sound system was built by Toby Hatchett . For fans of: Yamamori Send them to: Lotus Eaters Yamamori has been a city centre go-to since opening in 1995, with their consistent sushi, tempura and gyoza making it an easy pick for Japanese, but for something a bit more à la mode, head to Lotus Eaters . From the team behind The Pig's Ear and Spitalfields (in the former Pig's Ear dining room on Nassau Street), it's Japanese food but without the California Rolls and Yaki Udon. Instead you'll eat Wagyu hamburgers with rice, cured egg yolk and all the condiments, or oysters with nahm jim and bonito, and wonder what else you've been missing. Read our review here . For fans of: Marco Pierre White Send them to: Etto We can't even pretend to understand the appeal of celebrity chef led restaurants where the chef in question is rarely if ever seen, but maybe the name lends an element of safety to less adventurous diners. If steak is the draw at Marco Pierre White , walk nine minutes to Etto instead for a sharing steak at a considerably lower price, with their famous crispy garlic potatoes, house salad, and Bordelaise plus Bearnaise sauce. Start with the mussels with nduja, end with the red wine prunes, and you'll never feel the need to go and see Marco again. For fans of: The Market Bar Send them to: La Gordita An easy choice for tapas and drinks, The Market Bar has been knocking out a global tapas menu in an expansive space for two decades. For the real Spanish deal instead, walk up Wexford Street to La Gordita to feast on anchovies with blue cheese butter, Spanish black pudding bombitas, and seafood rice for two. Patatas Bravas are over-rated anyway. For fans of: Captain America's Send them to: Dash Burger You're not 16 anymore, and Captain America's isn't the place to go for a burger anymore. If beef between two buns is what you're after, take yourself up to Dash Burger on Kevin Street or Capel Street and see why smashburgers are taking over the globe. The flattened, crispy, craggy patties are a revelation if you've never tried them before, and once you smash, it's hard to go back. For fans of: Shanahan's on the Green Send them to: The Butcher Grill The once major domo of Dublin steakhouses, you took people to Shanahan's when you were looking to show off, or take a step back in time. The prices were outrageous, the interiors from the last century, and the clientele was (male) tourist heavy. For a more "Dublin in 2024" experience head for a high table at The Butcher Grill in Ranelagh, where the best of Irish, US and South American beef is cooked on a wood-smoked grill, alongside Napa Cabernet and high-end cocktails. Steak isn't cheap anywhere in Dublin, but prices here are at least easier to swallow in comparison.

Special dishes only on for Autumn; lunchtime bargains to lure you in for those noodles you still haven't tried; and a pop up that is likely to be something you've never experienced before. Here's where's on our to-eat list for October... For a new and improved legend of the café scene: The Fumbally After a self-enforced break in August to reassess their business model, The Fumbally are back with a new layout, second counter, new opening hours, and a return to ordering at the till instead of table service. There's a new pre-10am deal of Fumbally eggs and filter coffee for €13.90 (a €2 saving), and they've abolished corkage so you can drink anything off the shelf for retail price (maybe not with the eggs). There's also a new communal long room dinner on Fridays, with one dish served to walk-ins at an affordable price - have we given you enough reasons to visit this month? For unbeatable Autumn value: Biang Biang, Dublin 7 We think about Biang Biang 's Liang Pi (cold skin noodles) far more often than we'd admit in a published article, and if you haven't tried them yet, consider their new Sangin set menus the sign you were waiting for. From 12:00 - 17:00 Monday - Thursday, you can get their Liangpi, a Roujiamo (Chinese burger) and an Ice Peak soft drink for €15.99 (usually €19), or sub in rice noodles for €17.99 (usually €21). We'd happily pay either price, but God knows we love a saving. For feelgood food to warm you up: Nutbutter, Grand Canal Dock We're never not impressed at Nutbutter 's commitment to sourcing Irish grown and reared produce, and getting maximum nutrients into their food, but an Irish stew was something we never saw coming. They say their head chef has been working on this one for a long time, and with the additions of brown rice, baby radishes, lime, sesame chili salt and slow cooked brisket, we bet it would give your Mum's a run for its money. Bring a friend and make them get the Mexican pepper pozole - another newbie stew with Beluga lentils, sweet potato, avocado, feta and coriander. So much health in one bowl. For lunch specials worth booking a table for: Hawksmoor, Dublin 2 Nando's never really reached cult status here like it did on the other side of the pond, but when Hawksmoor do a riff on their Piri Piri chicken as an Autumn special, and founder Huw Gott calls it "one of the best things we've ever done!", you can mark us interested. There's also s teak, eggs & HP gravy for the protein chasers; a fried fish and frites sandwich; and a charcoal-roasted cauliflower steak if you're denying yourself nice things. For more wine in the 'burbs: Little Washer Little Washer in Glasnevin seems to be off to a great start, with diners (our readers included) raving about their small plates, pastas and wines. Dublin 9 is having a serious wine moment right now (where was this , this and this 10 years ago), and we're endlessly jealous of people having this much wine bar choice on their doorstep. Here's hoping the wine buzz spreads to all the other suburbs soon. For something totally different: IBÍLÈ God knows we live in a city that isn't short of burgers, chicken wings, or pizza slices, but African cassava salad, seared beef suya, and yams with chicken gizzards - not so much. IBÍLÈ is a new pop up from friends who want to showcase the flavours of West African, with wine and cocktail pairings with an African twist. You'll find them at The Fumbally Stables on Saturday 6th and 27th October, with seatings at 13:00, 16:00 and 19:00, and you can get tickets here . For gastropub nostalgia and kitchen inspiration: The Old Spot, Dublin 4 The Old Spot have just released their first cookbook, so the recipes for their ham hock croquettes with brown sauce, shortrib lasagne, and those Sunday roasts of legend can now be yours. We recommend booking in to reacquaint yourself with how it all should taste, before trying your hand at home. Get a copy here .

Our 30 hottest list features the most talked about restaurants in Dublin right now, based on column inches, Insta love and the general pain involved in getting a booking. There are the restaurants with all the buzz, in alphabetical order, with four new entries for October... * This list doesn't include cafés or lunch-only options, everywhere here is open for dinner at a minimum

It seems that everyone and their mother has tickets to Hamilton at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre (running now until mid-November - it's amazing), so no doubt at some stage you musical lovers (and simultaneously food lovers if you're reading this), will need some inspo for pre-show eats. AND with the exciting shows to come (Mary Poppins from 11th December - 11th January, and Steve Coogan's Dr. Strangelove from 5th - 22nd February), this is one to keep in your back pocket for your next trip to the theatre... Osteria Lucio (six minute walk) Starting off with the best, Osterio Lucio is a brilliant spot in general for dinner, and happens to be conveniently close to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre . Owned by Ross Lewis of Chapter One fame, he's created a cosy but oh so chic Italian dining room in Grand Canal Dock on the cute cobbly street of Clanwilliam Terrace. They have a scaled down menu from 17:00 - 18:00 to cater for show goers, but you'll need to plan this as far as possible in advance, as this place totally books out on show days. Charlotte Quay (four min walk) The Bereen bros are having a bit of a moment at the moment, with the return of their cult classic Coppinger Row - now just Coppinger  to you and I - and next door sibling, Row Wines , a small plates and wine bar. Charlotte Quay   is another of their restaurant babies, and their pre-theatre menu runs from 17:00 to 19:00, with two courses for €37 and three for €45. Another one to book in advance or you'll have no chance. Nutbutter (three minute walk) If you've just finished work and are in a rush to get some good food into you before settling into your seats, Nutbutter is your man. They serve a super healthy menu, but are still naughty enough to serve booze. Fill up on delicious warm bowls, tostadas, or tacos, and it's great for veggies and vegans too. Yoi Ramen (eight minute walk) For a quick/delicious and also cheap/cheerful meal minutes from the theatre, Yoi Ramen is more than just ramen. There's sushi, poké bowls, gyoza, donburi and katsu curries, and it's perfect if you're short on time and need something that ticks all the aforementioned boxes. Allta - nine minute walk Allta  has been one of Dublin's most exciting restaurants since their first edition in Setanta Place, and they're now onto Allta 4.0 (if you count their summer stage in Slane). This one resides in the most eastern part of Grand Canal Dock, which on a normal evening can feel like the middle of nowhere, but if you have a show at the Bord Gáis it won't matter in the slightest. Dinner runs from Tuesday to Saturday, starting from 17:30, and there seems to be a decent amount of availability earlier in the evening. Musashi, Hogan Place & IFSC (10 minute walk) From their humble Capel Street beginnings, Musashi have made quite the dent in the Dublin sushi scene, and tend to be pretty consistent across their eight locations. With one either side of the river, both a ten minute walk to the theatre, it's a great shout if you're in the market for a wide range of sushi with snappy service. Note - 12 minute walk Note  is not the first place that comes to mind when brainstorming a pre-dinner spot before a show at the BGET, but it's a mere twelve minute walk door to door, and well worth it. Grab a quick, casual bite at the bar with any of their killer wines by the glass, and dinner starts at 17:00 so no excuse not to eat very well before the show. Paulie's Pizza - 14 minute walk A Southside staple, Paulie's Pizza  has been around for over 15 years, which in restaurant years is a life sentence. Their menu has stuck to the same format since day dot - starters, pasta (a lot of them fresh), and Neapolitan meets NYC meets Paulie's style pizzas. The Old Spot - 15 min walk The Old Spot is one of Dublin's best spots for proper gastropub grub in the cosiest of settings. Their menu has some absolute belters like deep fried truffle mac ‘n cheese; pork and black pudding scotch eggs; and Wagyu cheeseburgers, and their cocktails are top class - the salted caramel espresso martini is one of the best we've had in a long time. Bonus points if your show is on Sunday and you can catch their roast. Dinner starts from 17:00, or 17:30 on Sundays.

The early bird menu is a bit of a throwback these days, mostly resigned to the 90's and noughties along with free bread baskets, balsamic glaze on everything, and garlic baguette as an acceptable starter. However the elusive early bird/pre-theatre/set menu can still be found in some more than acceptable places to eat, you just need to know where to look... Achara, Aston Quay Taking our gong for the best pre-theatre menu in town is new opening Achara , cooking Thai flavours over open flame. Their three course offer, featuring must-try dishes from the à la carte, is just €25 for three courses , available Monday - Friday from 17:00 - 18:30. Choose from chicken wings in chilli fish sauce caramel; baby kale fritters; or chilli beef krapao; with charred pineapple and whipped sheep's yoghurt for dessert. Read our once over here . Hawksmoor London-born steakhouse Hawksmoor have a set menu available until 18:00 Monday - Saturday, with two courses for €31 or three for €35. You'll find lots of their menu stalwarts on there like potted beef and bacon, rump and chips, and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Read our once over here . The Seafood Café, Temple Bar Prefer seafood to steak? Head across the road to The Seafood Café , whose early bird runs until 18:30 from Monday - Friday. It's seriously good value with two courses for €27 or three courses for €32, with dishes like fish soup, baja tacos, ceviche, monkfish, and even lobster rolls. With those prices you may as well add on some happy hour oysters. Charlotte Quay, Grand Canal Dock One of our top choices for an early dinner before a show at the Bord Gáis Theatre, Charlotte Quay 's pre-theatre menu runs from 17:00 - 19:00 every day, with two courses for €37 or three for €45. The menu's of the something for everyone variety, with French onion soup; chilli and garlic gambas; chicken Milanese; and braised featherblade steak. Be sure to ask for a table near the window to take in those views. The Saddle Room, St. Stephen's Green For an extra-fancy early bird, head into The Saddle Room in the five-star Shelbourne Hotel , which does two courses for €40 or three courses for €47 from 17:30 - 18:30, Sunday - Thursday. Go for whiskey-cured Castletownbere salmon tartlet with Liscannor crab; followed by charred short rib of Kells beef; with a chocolate & caramel mousse tart for dessert, then retire to The Horseshoe Bar for a nightcap. Piglet, Temple Bar A very early early bird, ending at 17:30, Piglet do two courses for €29.50 or three for €35, with starters like mushroom risotto and octopus carpaccio, and mains like cacio e pepe, and steamed mussels with smokey bacon. End with tiramisu or crème brûlée , and with all the cash you've saved on dinner you can splurge on an extra special bottle to drink with it. Brother Hubbard, Capel Street Middle-Eastern leaning Brother Hubbard on Capel Street do an early bird sharing menu on Thursday and Friday evening, on orders taken before 18:30. You can get the whole hog featuring snacks, sharing starters, a main of your choice and dessert for €32 per person, or skip dessert for €28. Richmond, Portobello Richmond 's early evening menu is one of the more punchily priced, with two courses for €40 and three for €46. You'll find dishes like roast beetroot, ricotta and goat's cheese; grilled bass with squid mariniere; and mango and coconut tart, and there's no supplement if you're more of a cheese fiend. The Dunmore, Rathmines Served until 18:30 Monday - Thursday, The Dunmore  in Rathmines offer two courses for €29 and three for €35. It's a good menu for a gang, with plenty of choice from Duncannon mussels with house sourdough; to a Pat McLoughlin burger, to The Dunmore's seafood pie. You can save a good €10 on the à la carte if you pick right. Kinara Group, Ranelagh, Clontarf & Malahide Kinara Kitchen in Ranelagh and Clontarf, and Kajal in Malahide all serve their early bird from 16:00 - 19:00 on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Two courses will set you back €31.20, but in a frustrating turn of events for some, the set menu dishes mostly aren't on the à la carte, so it's hard to see what kind of value you're getting. Taza, Artane For Pakistani food in Artane, Taza have a similiar offer, with their early bird €29.95 from 16:00 - 20:00 Tuesday - Thursday. It also features dishes that aren't on their à la carte, so don't go expecting their Molly Malone masala. Bresson, Monkstown The early bird catches all the extras on the 17:00 - 18:00 menu at Bresson in Monkstown, served Tuesday - Sunday. Two courses are €39.95, and three €44.95, but you'll get bread, soup and petit fours as well as starters, mains and desserts, We recommend keeping it classic with moules marinieres, steak frites, and chocolate mousse for dessert. It's a good thing you're eating early as you'll need a few hours to digest before bed. Orwell Road At Orwell Road in Rathgar they serve a 'neighbourhood menu' from Tuesday - Thursday, 17:00 - 18:00, with two courses for €37, or three for €47. It's more or less the same as the à la carte which we love to see, and you could save €16/17 on the same starter/main combo if you just eat them earlier in the evening. The extra €10 for dessert doesn't feel like much of a saving, but it's all a balancing act. Yew Tree, Terenure From Wednesday - Sunday, 17:30 - 18:30, two small plates and a side costs just €25 at Yew Tree in Terenure (from the former owners of 57 The Headline). Pick from dishes like pil-pil; calamari; black pudding croquettes; and beef and chorizo meatballs. Woodruff Woodruff serve their set menu until 19:00, or 18:30 Friday and Saturday, with two courses for €35 or three for €42 - which is truly excellent value considering the quality of what's coming out of the kitchen. Pick from dishes like smoked Castledermot lamb with sumac Velvet Cloud; steamed cod with fregola and smoked mussel ragu; and a True Gold cocoa tiramisu for dessert, and make sure you're not driving so you can explore one of the city's most interesting wine lists.

A simple salad that screams of the seasons, a beef tartare that has us in a bind on how soon we can get to town, and a lamb dish that we may or may not have lost our minds over - these are dishes consuming us this week... 1) Crab toast, Charlotte Quay Charlotte Quay's latest starter is hardcore making us miss summer. Oh to be sitting on their terrace, sun warming our arms, with a large glass of white, this light, and fresh crab with pickled apple on brioche toast in front of us. As that's not likely for the foreseeable, we'll settle for an indoor table watching it lash outside. 2) Beef tartare, Bar Pez Bar Pez , the seafood forward sister spot of Fish Shop , is changing gears with the seasons, introducing two carnivorous tapas - crepes filled with the Spanish blood sausage morcilla, and the one we haven't stop thinking about since it cross our feeds - a zingy beef tartare on toast. See you on a stool at the counter. 3) Rainbow beet and goat's cheese salad, Brighton Road Hazelnut season is in full flight and Brighton Road in Foxrock are taking full advantage of the mythological nuts. Paired with rainbow beets and whipped goat's cheese, it's colourful, it's creamy, it's crunchy, and it's a textbook example of letting the produce do the talking. 4) Irish lamb rib, Bootleg Bootleg on Drury Street are a naughty bunch, showcased by these slow-braised Irish lamb ribs. They're finished on the BBQ, topped with dukkah and tatemade (a charred Mexican salsa), and served with a crispy lamb fat skewer and chimichurri, There's nothing more we would like on a skewer this week. 5) Carrot cake, Jean-Georges at The Leinster We all know carrot cake is good year round, but Autumnal spices are very much the it girl right now, and Jean-Georges at The Leinster is taking it to another level with pecan tuile and coconut sorbet. It's totally normal to plan dinner around dessert right?

We've been to the glitzy new Stephen's Green opening Floritz twice now, and twice we've spent days afterwards reliving all of the flavours, the textures, the eye-popping colours and components in every dish. They call it a room to be seen in, we called it a room to eat in, and we want you all to come back with us on Tuesday 15th October at 7pm for an ATF takeover to see why we're so starry eyed. Their extensive menu with sections on yakitori, crudo, sushi, tempura, bowls and chef's specials can be an overwhelming read on first look, so we're taking the decision-making out of it with a menu that's going to let you try a bit of everything. You'll get all three types of tuna nigiri from the leanest to the fattiest; yellowtail tataki; Dublin Bay Prawn yakitori; lamb confit bao; Wagyu steak, those pickled onion rings we loved so much, and you can't leave without trying the rice chips with spicy Dragon sauce. Floritz are also including a Champagne yuzu cocktail on arrival, as well as dessert for €75, and there's a vegetarian option for €65 (the full menus for both are below). Trust us, this is stellar value. To try all of this in your own time would cost substantially more. This is an ATF Insiders-only event - sign up here for €5 a month if you're not already part of the best food club in Dublin. Each Insider can book a table for two, and bring a guest with them. If you're coming with friends who are also signed up and you want to sit together, just make a note on your booking. As this is a group dining event, you may be sitting close to other people, but most tables are for two. Please note that the vegetarian menu needs to be requested in advance, and as some dishes are for sharing, both diners need to have the same menu, Tables for our Floritz takeover on Tuesday 15th October at 7pm go live tonight, Tuesday 25th September at 8pm . Everyone signed up to ATF Insiders will receive the booking link in their inbox. If you're not already signed up you can do so here .

What should we know about Brut Wine Bar? While 2024 will forever be known as the year every café morphed into a wine bar at night, Nelly's in Drumcondra was ahead of its time, opening Brut in 2020.   Things were stop start for a while, selling dinner boxes and retail wine in Covid times, but Brut is now open Friday and Saturday nights, and after several messages from readers telling us to check it out, we booked in via Instagram DM . What's the seating sitch? If it's mild enough to sit outside (there's no heaters or blankets), there's a space out front that's also the pathway for people en route to Shouk . They frequently mistake it for a waiting area, and Brut's staff have immense patience with this incidental annoyance. Seating inside is quirky and mismatched, with low and high tables, and some counter seats looking out. What's on the menu? It's small plates central, with the most expensive dish €12.50. You can keep it simple with bread, excellent olives, charcuterie and cheese, but you don't need us to tell you what Cashel Blue and Gubbeen chorizo taste like.   We were gleeful to see Beechpark Eco Farm 's cauliflower on the menu, coming from 12km away in Clonsilla. It's served with truffle pecorino and olive oil (€6), but ours was the wrong side of al dente, needing more time in the oven - the flavours were good, but we wanted more of them. Sliced roast potatoes (€7) were too easy to eat, but the "homemade aioli" was regular mayo with garlic in it - not the same thing.   Gnocchi was the fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside type you only get when made fresh, with the mushrooms and Parmesan giving a nicely Autumnal feel. A creamy ball of burrata came with poached pear and almonds, which didn't cut through the cheese like acidic tomatoes would have. The light, oil-free focaccia was good for mopping up sauce, but once the burrata was gone it tasted like dessert.   Tuna "rillettes" was tinned tuna, served on toasted sourdough with a lemon cream sauce and capers. It tasted like something you might whip up for a quick, tasty lunch at home, but not what was billed. The killer dish was the last one - slow-cooked pork shoulder with courgettes and parmesan cream, the sticky sweet meat seasoned perfectly, collapsing under a fork, the Parmesan cream welcome excess. What's the wine list like? Decent by the bottle, less interesting by the glass - presumably to minimise waste. We started with Alvear's Oloroso sherry and El Troyano's orange verdejo (we loved both), moving onto a Burgungian aligoté and an Italian Salice Salentino (love these less so). There's more good stuff by the bottle, but it feels pieced together rather than curated, and staff struggled to answer questions about the list.   Why should I go? Brut is a sweet place with warm service, and if you live locally it's perfect for wine and snacks. The food isn't at the level where we'd travel for it, but a few easy tweaks in the kitchen would make all the difference so that may change depending on the night. Brut Wine Bar 40 Drumcondra Road Lower, Dublin 9 instagram.com/brutwinebardrumcondra

We’re almost afraid to say it out loud, but it looks like the elusive Irish summer may have finally arrived. It’s certainly starting to show its face on menus across the capital’s cafes and restaurants, with all the seasonal fruits and vegetables cropping up in creative new dishes across the city. Here’s our pick of the best - consider it your summer eating bucket list... Tuna Crudo, Allta Rooftop We first tasted this tuna crudo with green strawberries, bone marrow and roast chicken garum at Allta Summer House in Slane last year , and almost yelped when we saw it return to their summer tasting menu. Thin slices of tuna are dressed in Sicilian olive oil with green strawberries and McNally Farm basil, and glazed with smoked bone marrow split with house made roast chicken garum. Otherworldly. Lobster Rolls, King Sitric If you're going to do a lobster roll you might as well do it right. At King Sitric in Howth the Lambay lobster is so fresh you might even see them being caught across the bay. Add a brioche bun, mayo and a squeeze of lemon and summer lunches don't get much better. Fried Artichoke, Clanbrassil House We love artichoke season and don't see nearly enough of them around town in all of their forms. So praise be for Clanbrassil House 's new snack of fried violet artichoke with pickled walnut ketchup, poached in an aromatic and sour vegetable stock, then coated in chickpea flour and fried until "GBD - golden brown and delicious". Stuffed Courgette Flowers, Volpe Nera Volpe Nera in Blackrock seems to effortlessly glide through the seasons, making considered additions and adjustments with minor fuss, and the latest newbie on their bites menu are these fried courgette flower stuffed with ricotta and drizzled in truffle honey. Oh so summery. Coke Lane Pizza It’s a left-field choice but we’re here for it. Coke Lane pizza have added a limited summer special to their menu with raspberry chipotle in a starring role. Paired with rocket, gorgonzola, and walnuts, it may be one of the more unusual options on this list, but that’s the kind of seasonal invention we like to see. Scallops with Romesco, Dorian Dorian in Donnybrook are shaking it up since new head chef Rowen Babe took over, and these pan-fried scallops with romesco sauce, and hazelnut and chorizo picada are screaming out for a glass of white Burgundy and a seat on the terrace. Burrata with Heritage Tomatoes and Sourdough Crumb, Spitalfields Nothing says summer quite like a salad spiked with the intense flavour of heritage tomatoes. In this dish from the Liberties’ Michelin-listed gastropub Spitalfields , they’re cooked confit and paired with creamy burrata and Kalamata olives as well as a crunchy sourdough crumb. We can't wait to try it. Insalata Primavera, Osteria Lucio Keeping with the theme of tomatoes and creamy cheese, Osteria Lucio ’s fresh salad of buffalo ricotta with marinated datterini tomatoes seriously looks the part for a refreshing summer bite. Ross Lewis’ Italian restaurant always leans hard into seasonal produce, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on what other new menu items might be cropping up here over the next few weeks. Gnocchi With Littlecress Pesto, Sprezzatura Deceptively light when done right, gnocchi is a great choice for summer eating, and the Sprezzatura team have just rolled out a perfect seasonal adaption. Bathed in a pesto made with the intense concentrated flavour of littlecress and microbasil, these potato-pasta dumplings will pair well with any crisp white wine for an ideal summer evening meal. Tomato Gazpacho with Dressed Crab and Pickles, Loretta’s While crab may be available all year round, few ingredients go down so well under the summer sun. Loretta’s have paired it with pickles and a bright, bold tomato gazpacho on this beautifully presented plate. This one’s a permanent fixture but keep your eyes peeled for their weekly specials - our head was turned last week by plaice in a gooseberry beurre blanc . Smoked Paprika Corn with Feta Yoghurt, Tang Tang have just added a couple of new side dishes added to their Cumberland Place brunch menu. Baby potatoes come in an in house spice rub with tarragon aioli; while sweetcorn is seasoned with smoked paprika and served with feta yogurt, coriander and pickled onions. Both are best served in their peaceful garden outside. Roast Cod with Estate Greens, Potatoes and Heirloom Tomatoes, Overends Kitchen With a firm farm-to-fork focus using fresh produce from the Airfield Estate , it’s no surprise to see Overends Kitchen make this list with a beautifully simple lunch dish. Heirloom tomatoes (yep, them again) join potatoes, roast cod, and freshly harvested greens for a classic summer plate. Plus, there aren’t many better places to be when the sun is shining. Sourdough Croissant Pastry With Gooseberry Jam, Dublin 4 Just try to think of this one without drooling down your top. Never short on OTT treats, Bread 41 has just about outdone itself with this demonic confection of sourdough croissant, gooseberry jam, a floral chocolate cream and syrup-tossed fresh gooseberries and flowers. We swear it’s just the summer heat that’s making us sweat. Strawberry Croissant Tart, Chapter One By Mickael Viljanen We almost fell off our chairs when the strawberry croissant tart trolley (who knew that was a thing) was pushed towards our table during our last visit to Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen . Tis the season, and if you can bag a table this summer you too could be enjoying this wildly indulgent two-part strawberry dessert. Vanilla & Woodruff Panna Cotta, Oliveto Strawberries are everywhere, and we need to make hay while the sun shines. Enjoy these ones on top of a vanilla and woodruff panna cotta at Oliveto in Dun Laoghaire, while watching the sun split the sea outside. Seasonal Cruffins, Bread Naturally We’re only slightly heartbroken that the ingenious Aperol Spritz cruffin was a now-past one-off from the folks at Bread Naturally in Raheny - how incredible does prosecco curd sound? But fret not, they’re rolling out a regular seasonal slew of different flavours across the summer, with snickers, lemon cannoli, and raspberry and white chocolate among other recent specials. Seasonal Brioche Buns, Bread Man Walking Stone fruits are all striding into season right about now, and we’re ready for a lot of sticky-sweet pastry to come. Bread Man Walking has been playing about in the test kitchen and is following up last week’s plum brioche bun with an apricot alternative this week. Get those pre-orders in now. White Chocolate with Peach Sorbet and Loire Valley Cherry, Dax Dax goes all-in on the stone fruits with this peach and cherry combo, adding complementary flavours of bourbon and white chocolate to the mix for a classic dessert combo we’re dying to try. Chef Graham Neville is known for relishing summer ingredients - his lobster-stuffed courgette flower is a well-loved regular fixture not to be missed.

Every new season is special in the bursts of creativity it unleashes, as fresh crops of new fruit and veg are offered up to the city’s chefs and make their way onto menus. None, though, have a comfort factor quite like autumn’s, with its ample apples, berries and nuts joining squash, ceps and celeriac in warming dishes from soups right through to tarts. We’ve staked out some of the early contenders for the best autumn dishes on menus right now... Apple and custard choux bun, Table Wine Pastry is one of Table Wine ’s standout specialties and we’re excited to see them turn that skill in the direction of autumn. The classic apple and custard combination in this choux bun gets an added kick of indulgence from meringue topped with cream cheese and pear. We want it now. Mackerel with turnip and cherry, Frank’s The humble turnip, hardly the most glamorous of veg, tends to get a bad rap on these shores thanks to the bland mashed treatment of many a Sunday roast (and the fact that most people are actually using Swede). In the right hands however it can kick a dish into a higher gear. Frank's head chef David Bradshaw’s are such hands, and his wafer-thin slices draped over charred mackerel make for one of the more creative presentations around town. The last of the summer cherry makes for a nice nod to the changing of the seasons too. Pumpkin risotto, Library Street Sage might well be the low-key MVP of all autumn ingredients, and it gets star treatment in this returning favourite of ours from Library Street . Ginger and chive add extra complexity to their earthy, creamy pumpkin risotto, laden down with flavours and textures. They’re recommending a glass of Godello to go with it - who are we to disagree? Prawn with BBQ ceps, Allta New season mushrooms are starting to crop up across the city’s menus, with ceps chief among them, and we've not wanted any as much as Allta ’s. They’re serving theirs with Sicilian prawns in a seasoned prawn bisque, complete with lacto fermented cep juice for extra-intense flavour. This is hardcore mushroom lover territory, and we want in. Prawn carpaccio with ovoli mushrooms, A Fianco We can only hope another yield of prized ovoli mushrooms arrives at A Fianco in the near future, because this recent daily special is one we’re dying to try. Presented atop a carpaccio of Dublin Bay prawns, this is a fungus not all too often seen on Dublin menus, and one worth rushing for whenever and wherever it is. Ham hock and celeriac, Pigeon House Autumn is all about the arrival of hearty root veg, and the often underutilised celeriac is chief among them. The knobbly character makes a sensational pairing with pork, so no surprise to see the Pigeon House rolling it out alongside ham hock for a classic - the crispy egg on top an extra rich touch for those rapidly-darkening evenings. Bacon chop with cabbage, black pudding and apple, The Winding Stair We know what you’re thinking - yes, that is an entire apple perched on top of The Winding Stair ’s bacon chop dish. This one’s as classical an autumnal flavour pairing as it gets, with a few creative presentational flourishes, the pork and apple combo playing out across two pairs of textures and a bed of mustard-creamed cabbage to wrap things up nicely. Plaice with butternut squash and bacon beurre blanc, King Sitric Pork and apple might be the beating heart of autumn flavours, but bacon and butternut squash stands out as a worthy competitor. King Sitric are serving them together in a glossy beurre blanc and paired with the delicate, tender flesh of pristine plaice. It’s an inspired way to bring out the best of all elements. Duck, squash and cobnut, Delahunt Game season kicks into high gear as autumn arrives and Delahunt are straight out of the traps with West Cork’s very best: Skeaghanore duck, enhanced by the salted flavour of Roaring Water Bay. It’s matched here with cobnut and squash for about as close as you can get to a single season on a plate. Seasonal root salad, Hang Dai Few cuisines make as good use of root vegetables as Chinese does, and, here’s Hang Dai with a lively salad of celeriac, daikon and kohlrabi dressed in kimchi. It’s a lot lighter than most of the autumnal fare cropping up around the city, plus how incredible do these lotus crisps look? Pumpkin dumplings, The Woollen Mills There’s maybe nothing more in vogue this time of year than pumpkin recipes, and we’re always on the lookout for the more inventive plates out there. The Woollen Mills ’ gnocchi-style dumplings certainly meet the brief with wild mushrooms, sage, and parsnip crisps bringing in other in-season flavours for a dish that screams autumn comfort food. Butternut squash soup, Daddy’s Soup’s not strictly the preserve of the colder months, but we always find ourselves indulging all the more once summer is over. That’s partly the weather, of course, but it’s also down to how well autumn’s flavours lend themselves to liquid form. Daddy’s richly-coloured combo of butternut squash and red pepper is so appealing you'll feel warmer just looking at it. Mont blanc pan, Gopan Japanese micro-bakery Gopan turned our heads this week with a pair of chestnut specials on this week’s menu. The chestnut cheesecake sounds deliciously different but it’s these mont blanc pans we’re most excited for, with their coffee-flavoured dough (!) and delicate mounds of chestnut cream. Plum and blackberry brioche, Bread Man Walking No seasonal rundown would be complete without the latest creation from Bread Man Walking - this time a plum and blackberry brioche with lashings of crème patissiere. Sweet dough, smooth custard, tart berries - the end of summer just got easier to bear. Deep-fried apple calzone, Pala Pizza & Trattoria Pala Pizza 's new Trattoria is only open a few days, but they've launched strong, and we're hoping this deep-fried apple and cinnamon calzone with caramel sauce is not just for autumn. Read our review here .

Spring has sprung (ish), it’s finally February, and we’ve all made it through another of those awful Irish winters - praise be. One of our favourite things about spring (apart from the grand stretch) is the bright burst of colour that comes from its first heralds: the brilliant pink of forced rhubarb and the deep crimson of blood orange, both of which have begun to appear on menus and specials boards across the city. Here’s our rundown of the best options on menus right now to usher in the new season... Wild seabass crudo with blood orange, Volpe Nera Volpe Nera are making the most of blood orange’s beautiful, bright colours with this techno-coloured plate. Ripe chunks of fruit straddle slices of juice-dressed wild seabass crudo, finished with radish and rosemary gel. It’s a sight to behold, but even better again, it’s available on their February lunch menu, with three courses for €38. Blood orange donut, Flower & Bean It may not have the Instagrammable appeal of the crème brûlée donut that turned our heads back in October, but the newcomer café on Cork Street is keeping their game up with this seasonal spin. Flower & Bean ’s latest is filled with chocolate cream and topped with a crisp blood orange slice. And if that doesn’t take your fancy their current menu also includes a rhubarb scone Coconut, passionfruit and blood orange, Clanbrassil House Seasonal blood orange has also made it's way onto Clanbrassil House 's new set menu. The part-dessert, part piece of art, is full of zingy flavours with coconut, passionfruit and blood orange, and you'll find it on Friday and Saturday for €75, alongside dishes like scallop with bergamot kosho and salt-baked kohlrabi. Rhubarb Brioche, Bread Man Walking We’re big fans of Bread Man Walking ’s undying enthusiasm for the produce and baking opportunities, that come with each new season. He’s just as much a rhubarb lover as us and hasn’t wasted a minute getting the first sight of the stuff into one of his seasonal brioches. This one’s got a custardy crème pâtissière, rhubarb gel (!) and a sprinkling of pistachio on top. Marinated mackerel with Sicilian blood oranges, A Fianco It’s no surprise to see Stoneybatter’s hottest new spot A Fianco leaning hard into this most Italian of seasonal ingredients. They’ve laid a classic Sicilian salad of blood orange, fennel and almond over hearty chunks of marinated mackerel for a bright and tangy spring plate. It’d be just rude not to wash it down with one of their Sicilian whites. Red mullet, Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen While red mullet shows up at various points of the year, it’s never better than the first two months of the year. It’s been given the two-star treatment by Mickael Viljanen over at Chapter One , with red pepper, a quenelle of caviar and bright red yuzu kosho to boost the colour and balance the flavour. We’re not sure whether to eat it or hang it on the wall. Blood orange Basque cheesecake Danish, Bread 41 There's no half measures at Bread 41 , who’ve gone all-out on a Basque cheesecake Danish to bring out the vibrant flavours of blood orange. The super-flaky croissant pastry is filled with cheesecake mix and a bright blood orange gel, all brought together with poached fruit slices and sprinkling of edible flowers and salt. We've never not impressed with these guys. February's organic porridge, Urbanity February's organic porridge from Urbanity with blood orange, cardamom yoghurt, pomegranate molasses and pistachio brittle are what we want to have for breakfast every morning this February. Extra points for making porridge look this good. Rhubarb galette, Elliot’s One of the best elements of this season’s bounty is its beautiful, bright colours coming after the dark, dull days of winter. Elliot’s galette gets that and then some - the deep pinks and geometric pattern of this rhubarb tart has the potential to put you in a trance if you stare too long. They’re also serving a blood orange galette that’s just as pretty. Blood orange curd bun, Fable Curd is a great way to extend the life of a short-season ingredient like blood orange, so we really hope Fable have made a big batch to keep these on the menu for a while. Dotted on a generous lashing of cardamom cream, and finished with a sprinkling of walnut praline, their blood orange curd gives a gorgeous colour contrast to these flaky buns. Red mullet, The Seafood Café A regular feature of The Seafood Café’ s spring menu, red mullet’s back again this year on this pretty plate. Pan-fried for a beautiful crisp red skin, the fillet’s served over spinach and mushroom - a simple, fresh starter designed to make this special fish stand out. Blood orange, pear and thyme scones, BaaBaa We’ve been really impressed with the variety of ways we’ve seen blood orange used this year, and Baa Baa in Chapelizod have gone another route altogether, baking it into savoury scones together with pear and thyme. We’re all for the unconventional combo, and at this rate it might be warm enough to enjoy one with a coffee on their terrace soon.

Every season has its bounties, and we love them all equally - it’s just that we might love Spring a little more equally than the rest. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it brevity of many of its best ingredients makes this time of year a seasonal sprint of trying to get to as much as possible before its too late, so from the tail end of forced rhubarb to the first sights of wild garlic, here’s the best Spring dishes in Dublin right now. Cod, shiitake and wild garlic, Delahunt Delahunt are leaning hard into wild garlic’s vibrant palette with the head-turning colours on this plate. Thin-sliced shiitake is layered like scales over a loin of cod, all swimming in a sauce of wild garlic and dashi. If that bright, brilliant green doesn’t scream spring, we don’t know what does. Octopus, chickpea and wild fennel, A Fianco Full credit to the folks at A Fianco for bringing the best of seasonal Italian ingredients to Dublin: after spoiling us with ovoli mushrooms in autumn they’re now treating us to a taste of wild fennel, bringing delicate balance to a dish of grilled octopus, mashed chickpeas and a chili breadcrumb topping. We’ve already been round to sample this one, and we think you need do too. Wild garlic grilled cheese, Loose Canon You can practically hear the squeals of excitement going up around Dublin every time a new toastie drops at Loose Canon . This wine bar is expert at pairing the finest fromage with all manner of in-season ingredients for a truly satisfying small plate. Here, wild garlic makes for an ideal bedfellow with the earthy notes of raw cow’s milk cheese Cáis Dubh. Roast white chocolate and rhubarb cheesecake, Volpe Nera Our favourite spring fruit (though it’s technically a vegetable) gets the three-ways treatment in Volpe Nera ’s cheesecake dessert with a gel, ice cream and poached baton of rhubarb amping up the pink prettiness. That makes for a lot of tart flavour, perfect to cut through the sweet caramel complexity of roasted white chocolate - a very smart pairing. Gnudi with morels, broad beans and crispy eggs, Mamó One of the more prized wild mushroom varieties, morels thrive in the warming, wet soil of springtime, popping out of the ground and onto our plates for a blissful few weeks beginning in late March. Mamó have paired them with another classic spring ingredient in asparagus and layered the two among the contrasting textures of gnudi and crispy eggs. We’re all in for all of this. Rhubarb choux, The Morning Bakery As the forced rhubarb season comes to a close for another year, canny cooks will be whipping up all manner of compotes and chutneys, pickles and preserves, to make it last a few more months. Newcomer The Morning Bakery has gone for a jam and piped in into a choux bun along with a lashing of cream. What better way to say goodbye. Dublin Bay prawns with morels, Glover’s Alley It’s Michelin Star morels over at Glover’s Alley , where the wild mushrooms are paired with our very own Dublin Bay prawns, and rounded out with the seasoned succulence of lardo and parsley oil. For those looking to really spoil themselves this spring. Wild garlic and chicken melt, 147 Deli There’s no end to the inventive ways wild garlic can be used to add flavour to a dish, but pesto might just be our favourite. The latest of 147 Deli ’s ever-excellent specials blends the foraged herb with ricotta and walnuts and slathers it over roasted chicken thigh, smoked streaky bacon and melted mozzarella. Move quick on this one – it’s only on for the week. Mushroom and wild garlic slice, Bambino Dublin’s buzziest slice shop Bambino gets in on the seasonal game with a square slab that sings spring’s praises, while acknowledging, eh, it still feels a bit wintry. Mounds of hen of the woods and chestnut mushrooms are topped off with a wild garlic salsa verde (see, we said there’s no end), three cheeses and a garlic crema. Glorious. Lemon posset with rhubarb and hazelnut crumb, Lottie’s The light, sharp sensation of posset might not be unique to spring, but it’s a dessert that always puts us in mind of longer evenings. Lottie's have used the complimentary textures of pink poached rhubarb and a chunky hazelnut crumb to add fruity, nutty notes to the creamy lemon base for a simple but sophisticated seasonal spoonful.

One heat wave later and there’s no denying the summer has finally come, bringing with it a fresh new seasonal bounty of ingredients to shake up menus across Dublin city and surrounds. From the juiciest sour-sweet Wexford strawberries, to podded peas and the first sights of stone fruit, here’s the best of the early summer inventions around town right now. Strawberry baklava, Amy Austin Amy Austin head chef Victor Lara has cooked up a whistle-stop world tour for his summer menu this year, with a range of internationally-inspired dishes from Morocco to Japan making for a whole lot of choice - we’re thinking a group happy to share it all might be a good idea here. The cherry (strawberry) on top has to be this summer baklava with fresh basil - what a beauty. Ricotta gnudi with tarragon and pea puree, The Winding Stair Summer often gets overlooked among the seasons for the simple reason most of its best ingredients are now available year-round, if only awfully unsustainably: the real joy of the season comes in tasting them at their local, fresh best. We would happily take just a plate of The Winding Stair ’s pea puree; as far as we’re concerned, all this added goodness of ricotta gnudi, wild Irish mushrooms and tarragon on top is a bonus. Summer sandwich, Tir Deli We love Tir Deli ‘s idea of soft-launching seasonal items at half-price, as they did with their sandwich over the weekend - what better way to get people excited about summer ingredients? They’ve gone with seasonal greens and grilled veg here, layered with garlic and herb cream cheese, between chunky slices of beautifully-browned focaccia. Strawberry salad, Daddy’s There’s nothing we love more in seasonal menus than familiar ingredients used in unexpected ways. Daddy’s have given Wexford strawberries a break from the dessert menu and tossed them in a salad instead, with Cashel blue, spelt, McNally leaves, tarragon croutons and crackers. This is the kind of summer creativity we're all about. Citrus and Rush raspberry Danish, Noisette New bakery Noisette has been knocking out summer specialties lately like the clock is ticking, and while we’re just as keen to try their apricot and pear treats, it’s the hyper-locality of Rush raspberries that will have us heading straight for this one. A sharp citrus cream inside the crisp Danish completes the effect. Pride tart, Bread Man Walking Ever a mainstay of our seasonal special rundowns, Bread Man Walking has done a double on summer with a colourful Pride tart making the most of these fruit-filled months. We’re especially into the little slivers of candied kumquat sitting among the more typical tart fruits. Strawberry and elderflower Danish, Scéal In a very crowded field for prettiest plate this season, the gong might just have to go to Scéal for this beauty. Elderflower syrup-macerated strawberries sit in a whipped elderflower ganache piped over strawberry jam - if you got through that without feeling weak at the knees, you’re made of sterner stuff than us. The bad news is they’re taking a little break for now, but you can join the queue for this one first thing on June 30th. Apricot tart, BaaBaa Café Apricot and thyme is one of the low-key great combos of summer cooking, so we’re dying to try this frangipane tart by BaaBaa in Chapelizod, with the sweet citrus acidity of orange. We might just as easily have picked out their pretty pink raspberry and orange muffins to feature here; luckily there’s no such Sophie’s choice when choosing which to eat. Blue fin tuna, Mr Fox Fish and shellfish are too often forgotten when it comes to seasonality - as well as lobster, summer brings with it the best and biggest blue fin tuna. Mr Fox are bringing out its best with jalapeno, sugar snap and brown beech, all dressed in a light ponzu sauce. The rest of the June menu has plenty to turn heads too - we’re all over the strawberry and vanilla plate. Dark chocolate tart with strawberries, The Woollen Mills Sometimes it’s best to just step back and let the season’s best ingredients speak for themselves, no frills needed. At The Woollen Mills , they’re serving naked Wicklow strawberries beside a vegan dark chocolate tart, to let the berries’ natural sweetness play off the rich chocolate intensity. Enough said. Raspberry and pistachio sponge, Luna Luna have outdone themselves with this spectacle of a seasonal plate, pairing raspberries and a piped pistachio cream over a Chambord-soaked sponge, and finishing it with two sweet cigars of meringue. We can only imagine the rush of textures and flavours that comes from biting into this. Tagliatelle con zucchini, Aperitivo Aperitivo ’s new specials all look great - we'll never say no to an asparagus risotto - but it’s this creamy courgette pasta that has us most excited. At this stage of the season we’ve not seen all too much courgette crop up around the place, but here’s hoping this marks a starting gun. Strawberry pavlova cruffin, Bread 41 Never to be outdone on the seasonal special front, Bread 41 are straight out the gate with another extravagant confection we can't stop thinking about tearing into. Their famed dough is filled with a whipped mascarpone, strawberry citrus puree and a strawberry-topped meringue, and if that doesn’t bring the summer mood, nothing will...

It’s been a summer of extremes, from the record-setting rain that’s left all of Ireland in a slump, to the wildfire-fuelling heatwaves somehow making us feel lucky by comparison. One of the reasons we love to periodically pick out the best seasonal dishes in the city is to remind ourselves that everything should not be available all of the time. The consumerist drive to get around that with artificial conditions and endless importation is part of what’s led us to such extremes, which ironically now endanger so many harvests of all our favourites. So let’s embrace the fresh and fleeting, the local and limited, the food worth wolfing down while it’s here and waiting another year for afterwards... Courgette flower, Volpe Nera The humble courgette is a great example of a vegetable we’ve gotten used to seeing on shelves year-round, but it’s right in the midst of peak season now. With that comes its beautiful flowers, with paper thin leaves just begging to be stuffed and fried. Volpe Nera have done just that, with a ricotta filling and truffle honey glaze bringing out the best of these fresh summer flavours. Custard and peach cinnamon rolls, BaaBaa There’s no complimentary combo we love as much at this time of year as ripe peaches and thyme, so we went wide-eyed with interest to see Chapelizod’s BaaBaa working the two together in a cinnamon roll. The fluffy dough and thick, thick custard is topped with rose petals, lemon zest and a sprinkling of pistachio - we’ll take a tray, please. Sea bream with ajo blanco & green tomato, Note Tomato is another ingredient we’ve come to expect - even demand - all year round, and as much as a creative chef can bring out these fruits’ flavours out of season with a few tricks up their sleeve, nothing beats the genuine article at the height of summer, simply sliced. Note have paired a green variety with sea bream and ajo blanco for a dish to bring out their very ripe best. August salad, Daddy’s Cast your mind back to childhood days of rolled-up ham slices and spoonfuls of coleslaw - nothing says summer quite like an Irish salad. Daddy’s have a little more refinement to theirs than that weird old fridge platter of yore, with marinated courgette joining cannellini beans, jammy eggs and a fennel seed cream cheese (for realz) for a truly pretty plate. Pear and caramel cruffin, Noisette It’s not even funny how many times a month we catch sight of one of Noisette ’s perfect pastries in the feed and feel motivated to make a beeline straight for Rush. Pears are another fruit we’ve (wrongly) stopped thinking of as seasonal, but these underrated pomes are coming into their own right about now. Baked in a cruffin oozing with caramel is one of the best ways we can think of eating them. Tuna carpaccio, A Fianco Tinning has ensured tuna is thought of as another year-round bounty, but its season kicks in only over the summer, so it’s a great time to get the best of freshly-caught fish. No better place to enjoy it than A Fianco , who’ve leaned into the summer theme with almonds, watermelon and (get this) an aubergine caviar. We won’t say no to that Sicilian bottle of wine either. Nameko mushrooms with summer truffle rice, Hang Dai Chances are you think of truffles as a winter thing, but while some of the most prized specimens show up in the colder months, summer brings its own species, with an intense umami flavour that’s not to be sniffed at. Hang Dai pair them with nameko mushrooms, rice and thinly-sliced spring onions for a fresh, complex dish with all the flavours. Courgette bialy, Bread 41 Bread 41 have been having fun playing around with the Bialy, a Polish bread not unlike a bagel, and they’ve given them a summer makeover with (yes, even more) courgette. It’s spiralled up atop a filling of ajo blanco and finished with the salty goodness of sea purslane, in a creation that gets full marks for originality. Pork and gooseberry, D’Olier Street The tart tang of gooseberries has been disappointingly scarce on the scene so far this year (the great Breadman Walking was one notable exception). They’re an endlessly versatile ingredient not often enough given the chance to shine on a savoury plate. D’Olier Street have paired them in sauce form with pork and a gremolata-topped charred cabbage for a simple presentation that lets these little beauties shine. Bilberry donut, Flower ‘n’ Bean What-berry, we hear some of you say? Flower ‘n’ Bean have done up a duo of sweet treats with this many-named fruit, a bit of a rarity across Dublin dishes. Tart and acidic, they’re at their best offsetting richly sweet flavours, so perfect for the sugar-coated donut and icing-drizzled brioche bun that’s been cooked up here. Courgette, burrata and peach, Pichet The versatility of many summer fruits is one of the things we really love about the season - for all the joy of a sweet peach dessert, it’s savoury dishes that really brings out this one’s complexity. Pichet get it, and their combo of bitter leaves, spiced pistachio and burrata, along with a few healthy shavings of courgette sounds like an alluring combo.

If we were to survey Dublin’s chefs on their favourite time of year, there’s a very good chance it’s right now that would come out on top. Even without much of a summer to transition from this year, there’s a special magic in watching the shortening nights usher in recipes of root veg and gourds, in the satisfying scent of pies packed with tree fruits and ripe berries. Leaves are falling all around, autumn is on our plate, and these are the best seasonal dishes the city has to offer right now... Autumn salad, Margadh RHA Of course it’s not just fruit and veg chefs love this season for - meat is especially good as hunting season comes around, and duck is chief among its favourites. Cooked confit, it’s been paired by Margadh in the RHA with peak-season crisp red cabbage, roast cashews and a palm sugar vinaigrette for a lunchtime feast. Spiced meringue carrot cake, Orani New Blanchardstown arrival Orani has come about as close as you can to capturing a season in a snapshot here. Carrots might rarely be out of season in Ireland, but their sweet earthiness is never more welcome than on windy and wet autumn days, especially in the wholesome spice of a carrot cake. A torched meringue topping and smores hot chocolate to wash it down are the double icing on the cake. Pumpkin and cinnamon bundt cake, Triangle Coffee Co You can’t move for all the pumpkin flavour making its way into hot drinks this time of year in Dublin, but it’s the arrival in cakes we await every September. Donabate’s Triangle Coffee Co are leading the pack so far with these pretty, petite bundt cakes, loaded with thick frosting and dusted with cinnamon for a lightly spiced kick. Squash orecchiette, Brookwood The pitch-perfect pairing of squash and sage is among the very best things about autumn, and Baggott Street’s Brookwood have taken it to a whole new level by pairing it with orecchiette and – get this – a parmesan custard. Look at the sear on that squash, the crispness of that sage, the gloss of that custard. There’s little about town we’re this eager to eat. Rabbit casoncelli, Grano The word “autumn” derives from the Latin “to enrich”, and we think this new pasta plate from Stoneybatter’s Grano is the ideal illustration. They’ve stuffed casoncelli with rabbit and loaded the lot with toasted hazelnuts, taggiache olives and a chard sauce for a seasonal feast that’ll make you feel like you’re whiling away an autumn evening in the heart of Calabria. Connemara oysters, Row Wines It may only be a mercifully short stint through late spring and summer when native oysters are busy breeding and unsuitable to eat, but it always feels like an eternity to us. Row Wines are among the Dublin restaurants bringing them back with a bang, with a green aguachile granita adding a punch to their prized Connemara classics. Autumn brioche bun, Fable Bakery Fast becoming one of the city's go-to spots for seasonal baking is Dawson Street's Fable Bakery , and this beautiful brioche bun looks like one of their most impressive yet. Spiced apple and blackberry jam brings a one-two punch of sour-sweet seasonality, while a pink peppercorn infused mascarpone cream and ginger crumble have us trying to fit this into next week's eating schedule. Seasonal French toast, Milo’s The good folks at Milo’s can always be relied on to capitalise on the season, and their latest seasonal French toast is a fully-fledged Autumnal indulgence, with a cinnamon apple compote and fresh blackberries spicing up their brunch menu. They’ve also got a brilliant-looking spiced plum and pistachio babka on the go, if you fancy seconds. Cube choux, Luna We can see why Luna felt the need to put this one in all caps - their showstopper seasonal dessert’s pastry is pretty enough on its own, and that’s before you get to the goodies piled on top. Fresh apricots, apricot compote, dark cherries, a lemongrass ganache - it's a paean to what the season can be. Poached pear financier, Pichet Pichet have leaned into the classic combination of autumn fruits and almonds for the latest dessert to hit their menu. An icing sugar-dusted warm financier sits beside slices of poached pear and a quenelle of brown butter ice cream, before the lot is anointed with a generous squirt of bay leaf crème anglaise. Just try to say all that without licking your lips. Salt-baked venison, Library Street It’s relatively early days for venison season yet, but that hasn’t held Library Street back from setting the bar high. The leanness of deer meat makes it easy to overcook – much less so in the spiced salt crust it’s been baked in here. Beetroot and pear on the side make this plate all the more autumnal – we're very jealous of anyone who gets to eat this over the next few weeks. Squash tortelli, Clanbrassil House There’s a bit of a dearth of interesting autumn mushrooms so far among the menus we’ve surveyed, so we’re happy to see Clanbrassil House heroing trompettes alongside their Hokkaido squash tortelli and little slivers of Cáis na Tíre. That standout element just about inches this one over the line ahead of their peanut butter semifreddo with poached apricots and miso caramel – but you might as well have both if you're in there. Calamansi tartlet, Chapter One We usually hone in on local seasonal produce in these menu run-downs, but who could deny Chapter One 's stunning calamansi tartlet a place. The Filipino fruit is currently enjoying its short peak season, and true to form Mickael Viljanen has seized the opportunity, leaning on a crisp tart shell and black sesame to bring out its very best.

Few crops better showcase all-in-one the impact of weather conditions than the pumpkin in 2023: the mild summer made for ideal growing, leading to plenty of bigger-than-usual specimens in shops and markets across the country, but aggressive autumn rain left much of this bumper bounty turned to mush before the time to harvest - as nature giveth, so she taketh away. Luckily Dublin’s chefs have had no problem getting their hands on some of these giant gourds, and they're still dominating late autumn menus. Here’s the best plates around the city right now to see out the season with... Pork belly with sweet potato purée, Urbanity Nothing brings out the flavour of pork quite like autumn ingredients, and Urbanity are nailing it with this combo. The earthiness of sweet potato purée is the perfect complement to rich meat and gravy, while the fresh tartness of an apple and chilli slaw is there to cut through the fattiness. Bok choy adds a dash of colour while peanut rayu brings the crunch. Does seasonal lunch come much better? Portobello mushroom toast, Legit Coffee Co You can practically hear the rustling of fallen leaves underfoot just looking at this one. Legit Coffee Co have taken the stalwart autumn flavours of portobello mushroom and butternut squash and kicked them into high gear with broccoli bechamel (!) and a poached egg. This creamy, earthy, crunchy treat is everything we want as the nights close in. Apple pastry, Library Street “Apple pastry” hardly does this one much justice, but sometimes words aren’t good enough. Except maybe “wow”. Library Street are no stranger to knockout seasonal inventions, but this dessert takes the biscuit. Two varietals of autumnal apple have gone into this tarte tatin-style pastry, with calamansi and a sorbet of the ever-delicious Killahora apple ice wine among the other hat-tips to the season. No, you can't look away. Roast crown prince pumpkin, As One You might think we’d have run out of roast pumpkin and sage combos at this stage, but you’d be very, very wrong: we could savour the contrast of crispy leaves and softened flesh every day of autumn. As One have our latest favourite twist with lovely little touches like skin-on crown prince, homemade ricotta, chilli and onion preserve, and miso pumpkin seeds. Roast pumpkin and cavolo nero, Root In the very unlikely event we do ever sour on sage and pumpkin, there are plenty of other green partners to turn to instead. New opening Root in Skerries have gone for one of the best bitter-sweet pairings around with this cavolo nero knock up, adding ricotta and pumpkin seeds for a classic comfort dish that ticks all the autumnal boxes. Pear mille feuille, Lottie’s We are always here for seeing pear get some love and attention at this time of year, lest we forget even this always-present fruit has a peak season. Lottie’s have gone and poached them in a spiced syrup with anise and cinnamon, before sandwiching slices with vanilla cream between layers of mille feuille pastry and drizzling with chocolate cream. Pea and pumpkin fritter, Tir Deli Just look at the deep-fried crisp of that. We can’t get ever how crunchy-delicious these spiced fritters from Tir Deli look, made from mashed pea and organic pumpkin batter, and served over hazelnut-pumpkin paté with a healthy dose of pickled veg. The pink aioli and bright seasonal greens only add to the autumn-appropriate burst of colour. Hen of the woods with roast celeriac, Note We said in our early autumn dish dispatch a few weeks back that we were just a touch disappointed at Dublin’s mushroom game this year. Here comes Note riding to the rescue with the help of hen of the woods, one of the great autumn mushrooms. They’ve sandwiched them between a healthy slab of roast celeriac and a generous serve of house pepper sauce. We want it now. Pumpkin spice cheesecake, Cloud Picker You might rightly say pumpkin spice has been done to death these last few years, but here’s a cake to bring it back from the brink. Cloud Picker are stocking a seasonal special from Coconut and Moo Moo , made from roasted crown prince and a seven spice mix to give burnt Basque cheesecake style an autumnal kick. We’re convinced. Autumn salad, Oliveto It’s squash and sage over at Dun Laoghaire’s Oliveto rather than pumpkin: their seasonal salad amps up the bitterness with a handful of chicory and radicchio leaves to cut through the sweetness of the Delica squash and the creaminess of a burrata ball in the centre. A sprinkle of crunchy seeds finishes off this tempting mish-mash of textures. Squash and mushroom pizza, Bambino It’s not only their sizeable slices that have seen Bambino make a fast-track for the affections of Dublin diners since opening last year, it’s also the host of regular specials that keep people coming back for more. A kuri squash puree base and a mix of wild mushrooms look like a winning combo here, with garlic, rosemary and a duo of cheese rounding it off. Venison chop, Variety Jones If you can make it through this video without putting your coat on and making for the Liberties, you’re made of stronger stuff than us. Variety Jones ’ tilt into game season sees a barbecued venison chop served alongside greens-on turnips, cabbage, gnocchi, and chanterelles with a glorious, glistening finale of pepper sauce. It has us wishing autumn would never end.

Landing us with a sudden flurry of snow on the first day of Spring might be the most Irish thing ever, but for all the lingering winter vibes that weather suggests, the seasons have certainly changed across Dublin’s menus. Our fave forced rhubarb is everywhere we look, the brilliance of blood orange is in no short supply, and we’re starting to see the very first shoots of wild garlic. Here’s where to go to eat the best of Spring in the city... Blood orange sponge, Two Pups Bringing a touch of seasonal love to the Liberties, Two Pups dreamed up this pretty-in-pink beauty as a Valentine special and have kept it going ever since. Blood orange sponge is drizzled with pink icing and topped with delicate blobs of piped cream – we’re in love. Rhubarb brioche bun, Fable Dawson Street’s Fable is a class-act at working with the seasons’ best bounties, and this new rhubarb brioche bun is just the latest example. Pistachio and the pink stuff are a god-given combo with time to shine here alongside a mascarpone cream infused with tarragon. It’s been sold out every time we’ve tried to get one, and is it any wonder. Rhubarb pastry, Bread 41 Constant innovators Bread 41 win the ingenuity award hands-down with the audacity of a rhubarb sherbet to a Danish special. This particular pastry might not be on when you wander in, but never fear, they’ve been sprinkling the stuff on plenty of new creations. Classic bedfellows blood orange, ginger and pistachio are also on hand to bring out the ruby stalks’ best. Blood orange cake, Daddy’s Over in Rialto they’re letting blood orange, too often consigned to a supporting role, speak for itself. This beautifully bright cake from Daddy’s goes dense with a mix of sweet semolina and almond flours, all the better to absorb the bitter boldness of the sliced citrus fruits and added Campari. They’ve only gone and done a rhubarb and geranium jam too. Rhubarb mille feuille, Bread Man Walking We’re loathe to whet your appetite with things you can’t immediately go out and get for yourself, but Gerry Godley (aka Bread Man Walking )’s recent ode to rhubarb is a beautifully-put expression of why, sometimes, that’s the sheer joy of seasonality all in itself. As long as the forced stuff is hanging around – that’s just a few more short weeks now – we’re sure Gerry will be doing the best stuff in the city with it. Rhubarb and custard brioche, Bread Naturally There are plenty of fancy flavours and out-there offerings on this list, but sometimes simplicity is hard to beat. Bread Naturally ’s brioche leans into the pared-back pleasures of rhubarb and custard and we’re 100% on board. The soft lightness of brioche, the mellow sweetness of crème pat, the sharp tang of rhubarb - who needs more? Sea scallop crudo with blood orange, Mamo Look at the colours on this one. Ever quick to usher in the seasons, Mamo have used the citrus acidity of blood orange to centre an Irish sea scallop crudo. There’s pickled chilli for heat and coriander oil to bring it all together – if it tastes half as good as it looks, we might be ordering seconds. Rhubarb and vanilla maritozzi, Elliot’s Over in Phibsborough, Elliot’s are throwing themselves full throttle into the season with a seemingly endless slew of Spring confections. Their mille feuille turned our head too but in a straight shootout it’s got to be the maritozzi. These brioche buns are filled with a rhubarb vanilla compote and topped with a silky crème légère. There’s a blood orange and pistachio one on the go, too. Apple and rhubarb almond bake, Honey Truffle There’s a lot going on in this seasonal traybake from Honey Truffle , and we’re here for every last part of it. Apple, lemon and rhubarb bring all the fruity flavours, while the complimentary pairing of coconut and almond grounds things nicely. It’s almost a shame to slice this one up. Almost. Spring greens slice, Mani Seasonal pizza is something we can always get behind, and newcomers Mani are getting in on the game with this gorgeously green slice, spread with spinach bechamel and loaded with tender stem broccoli and sugar snap peas. Dabs of Cashel blue and drizzles of garlic and thyme honey seal the deal. These slices also reheat great at home - they'll put instructions in your takeaway box - so it's never a bad idea to grab a few for later if you're passing. Custard and rhubarb jelly donut, The Morning We can’t get over the cute little rhubarb jellies anointing these seasonal donuts from The Morning bakery in Portobello, and the campaign to get them sold by the bagful starts here. As they are here, sitting atop a thick custard cap on the sugar-dusted donuts, will do just fine until then though. Stuffed morels with wild garlic and foie gras, Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen It’s usually well into March before you see wild garlic emerging, but trust Chapter One to get out in front with this stunner of a plate. Stuffed morels would be enough in their own right, never mind the sultry spoonful of sherry vinegar sabayon it’s being bathed in here, and the talk of calves tail braising juices. Pure filth.

It might be hard to believe it now, but when we published our early spring update on Dublin’s best seasonal plates, the streets were still sporting snow. So it goes with spring, a season all about leading us gently from the dark depths of winter to the brighter nights and plates of summer. It’s asparagus all round at the moment, with the prized white stuff at the tail end of its short season; the last gasps of wild garlic are blooming, and some early summer arrivals are offering a peek of what’s ahead… Spring Veg Galette, Elliot’s Where better to start than a tart that sums it all up: Elliot’s excels at bringing the best of the season to their pastry plates (they don't actually have plates), and this stunning creation is the latest illustration. Flaky layers of pastry laden with ricotta make a crispy, creamy vessel for peas, asparagus, new potatoes and radishes. Wild garlic pesto dotted on top is a good reminder to get preserving while you can. Lamb croquettes, Row Wines A great pairing of two of spring’s most famous foodstuffs, Row Wines ’ croquettes take a herb-crusted ball of melt-in-the-mouth lamb ragu and top and tail it with a vibrant wild garlic mayo – another idea for the home chefs among you not ready to wave goodbye just yet. Simple idea, superb execution – this is one of the standout snacks around town right now. Asparagus with Parmesan sauce, Osteria Lucio Asparagus lends itself best to unfussy treatments, and for all the wowza colour of the parmesan sauce and precise plating of the wild garlic flowers on Osteria Lucio ’s starter, the simple spears are the stars of the show. We'll take the deep-fried capers flavour bomb though. Irish crab, The Seafood Café The Seafood Café is pairing up with Madrí beer for the month of May to celebrate Irish crab, which is just coming into the start of its lengthy season, and the good game they’re talking on limited supply ticks all the boxes for what we like to see in seasonal cooking. There’s six dishes to try from a classic dressed crab to smashed claws, all with a free beer thrown in for €25. White asparagus with prosciutto and hollandaise, Brighton Road Maybe it’s the super-short season that does it, but there’s nothing we look forward to more as spring rolls around than the arrival of white asparagus. The Italians and Germans go wild for this stuff, and while we’ve noticed it crop up more in Dublin in recent years, it hasn’t yet caught on to quite the same extent. We reckon there’s no better way to sample its earthy appeal than with the classic charred treatment at Brighton Road . Cais na Tire agnolotti with glazed maitake and wild garlic, Orwell Road The verdant green of wild garlic goes to great use in this plate from Orwell Road . Folded leaves and silky sauce both accompany plump servings of Cais na Tire agnolotti, and there’s something about this sheep’s cheese that makes it pop with wild garlic. Glazed maitake bring an earthy umami anchor to tie it all together. Rhubarb and bourbon vanilla panna cotta, Mae We went heavy on rhubarb for our last spring roundup when the forced stuff was out in all its glory, and things have gone a bit quiet on that front, but we have to spare a space for the most high-end twist on rhubarb and custard we’ve seen in a while, courtesy of the ever-inventive folks at Mae . The little bee tuile perched on the honeycomb just kills us. Scallop with nduja butter and wild garlic, Library Street We can never resist a scallop, least of all with a seasonal spin, and Library Street never fail to deliver on that front. For this spring outing, they’ve played wild garlic’s subtle notes off more intense flavours from nduja, bonito and Sichuan peppercorns. It’s just as well these aren’t available all year. White asparagus with egg yolk and foie gras, Glover’s Alley Okay we know we preached simplicity in asparagus just a few blurbs back, but in the hands of a truly great chef a higher-end treatment can reap rewards. Andy McFadden’s are such hands and this is such treatment. There’s a regular ol’ green asparagus plate going too if that’s more your thing – both look the business. Steamed hake with minted pea puree and wild garlic beurre blanc, Old Street There’s no end to the things you can do with wild garlic, and we’re always happy to see some variety around town. Old Street have put it to use in this fish dish with a beurre blanc – should that be beurre vert? – alongside a minted pea puree that straddles the spring-summer divide. How good does a chumichurri crumb sound? Charred asparagus and lovage oil, Volpe Nera It’s a simple asparagus treatment again at Volpe Nera , with the spears charred and served straight-up at the heart of the plate. There’s a bit of irony in the fact that lovage doesn’t get much love in the hierarchy of spring foods, so it’s nice to see it given pride of place here in an oil alongside a hazelnut puree to bring it all together. Black Forest Gateaux, Lottie's Cherries are a little more of a summer than a spring thing, but they’ve burst onto the scene in the last week or so with an energy we can’t ignore. Lottie's have gone right for the black forest gateaux, and looking at the depth of colour off this thing, it’s fair to say so would we. Strawberry and rice pudding Danish, Scéal Yes we know they're in Wicklow now but we're struggling to give up on Scéal as one of our own, and they're still on the Dart line. Nothing better straddles the seasonal divide than the humble strawberry, with the greenhouse-grown crop arriving alongside the recent sunny spell. Summer will be ripe with them, but they may not wind up put to much better use than this jaw-dropping Danish from Scéal . Roast strawberry compote, vanilla rice pudding and pink peppercorn shortbread – need we say more?

We do our best, in our seasonal sum-ups, to share the love and show off as many of Dublin’s chefs and bakers as we can, but some lean in so well to the in-season game that we can’t help feature them time and again. As we survey the spoils of early autumn, we’d be remiss not to note the shock shuttering of Bread Man Walking , the Rialto microbakery that gave this column fodder through every last season until the cruel eye of the planners called time. It’s a great loss to the city, though we’re glad to see the work will go on in other guises – including at this weekend’s Harvest Fair in Inchicore. There, as in here, we’re sure the best of the season will be on show... Apple and whiskey cruller, Coppinger If ever a phrase were guaranteed to put a dish on our radar, it would have to be “it’s not for the faint-hearted”. Irish to its core down to the granny-sourced apples, Coppinger ’s cruller (that’s deep-fried choux to me and you) comes with an offer of a €10 Redbreast 12 shot they recommend you douse the lot in – sure ‘tis the season. Tomatoes and hazelnuts, Little Forest The seasonal segue from late summer to early autumn is guiding things at Little Forest , where the last of the summer tomatoes from the ever-excellent McNally Family Farm  meet in-their-prime hazelnuts (a low-key MVP of this time of year) in a simple torch-passing testament to what we love about September. Fatty, chewy curds and generous helpings of fresh herbs seal the deal. Venison pie, The Legal Eagle Our current, hopefully not too short-lived Indian summer might keep us clear of autumnal richness for another while yet, but once the nights close in and the mercury plummets we can see ourselves making a beeline for The Legal Eagle  and this indulgent venison pie. It’s game on for game season – here’s the early one to beat. Pumpkin, chocolate and hazelnut loaf, Two Boys Brew We’ve banged on before about how the best part of short-term seasonality is the tantalising wait for great ingredients to return, and the wish fulfilment of finally digging in. Two Boys Brew  have played that up by bringing back an old favourite of autumns past with this pumpkin, chocolate and hazelnut loaf. Get gorging yourselves while you can. Espresso and hazelnut Paris-Brest, Elliot’s We’re not sure whether to eat this one or frame it – no stranger to seasonality surprises, Elliot’s  have gone all-out with this autumnal ode. The crisp crunch of choux au craquelin encases toasted hazelnut praline, with a whipped Cloud Picker espresso ganache and toasted hazelnuts rounding it all out. Fig and apricot tart, Daddy’s While we’ve gone wild sticking figs in savoury salads and sourdough pizzas over the last few weeks – is there anything they go better with than Cashel Blue? – this sweet treatment from Daddy’s  had our head turned. End-of-season apricots and the autumnal classic of almond frangipane share their sweet shortcrust pastry case for a simple showcase of this fruit’s juicy best. Turbot and truffle, Chapter One The king of fishes is at its very best around this time of year, and we trust nobody more than the king of dishes to give it its due. Chapter One by Mikael Viljanen ’s turbot treatment is always worthy of an advance booking – cross everything you’ve got for a cancellation otherwise – with end-of-season black truffle and French-style curry sauce playing into this year’s take. Blueberry cruffin, Bread 41 With cruffin cross-sections that would make a Jackson Pollock canvas look neat, Bread 41  always lean into the seasons with a sultry take we can’t turn down. Blueberries are this month’s pick with a dense jam swirled through their flawless crème pat filling. We reckon we’d be all in without the little white chocolate chip blondie studded on top, but who are we to say no? Risotto misto funghi, Gigi’s This is the time of year where mushrooms, although an annual all-rounder, get really abundant, with prime examples like ceps and chanterelles turning up all over the place. Gigi’s  have put a trio of girolle, shiitake and porcini into this risotto misto, and look at all of those earthy, autumnal colours. Harissa lamb with apricot coulis, Old Street For all we might associate lamb with Easter, what winds up on our plates then has been born out of the natural lambing cycle, indoors in the depths of winter – a very human intervention in the natural seasonal cycle. Now is the much better time to dig in, and how better than with Old Street ’s harissa-marinated rump, served alongside an apricot coulis and purple spuds. Blackberry buns, Fable Blackberry bushes are beginning to bulge, and here come Fable to make the most of them. They’ve stewed the berries down with autumn apples into a thick jam, stuffed it all into flaky pastry buns buried beneath lashings of pink peppercorn cream, and topped off with a generous sprinkle of buckwheat crumble. It’s a long way from how we were rared. Autumn menu, Glas We (clearly) believe every new season is worthy of celebration, and the folks over at Glas  are in agreement. Their autumn menu launches tonight with their annual tasting event, but you can get the vibrant veggie inventions a la carte all season long. It all looks great but the pairing of beetroot meringue and black garlic ice cream in a saffron babka is the one we’re most intrigued by.