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A first time visit to The Pepper Pot Café in Powerscourt Townhouse is incomplete without two things - the bacon, pear and Hegarty's cheddar sandwich on crusty white bread, and a doorstop sized slice of what's probably the best Victoria sponge in the county. The atrium seating has airy views over the exclusive boutiques, galleries and jewellers below, and it's a calm, top floor escape from the city's crowds. The Pepperpot Café Website thepepperpot.ie Address Powerscourt Town House, 59 South William Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story A first time visit to The Pepper Pot Café in Powerscourt Townhouse is incomplete without two things - the bacon, pear and Hegarty's cheddar sandwich on crusty white bread, and a doorstop sized slice of what's probably the best Victoria sponge in the county. The atrium seating has airy views over the exclusive boutiques, galleries and jewellers below, and it's a calm, top floor escape from the city's crowds. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Michelin recommended gastropub near Grand Canal Dock. Cosy décor, upmarket dishes and a great Sunday roast. The drinks are taken as seriously as the food with a huge list of cocktails, beer, cider and wine. The Old Spot Website theoldspot.ie Address 14 Bath Avenue, Beggar's Bush, Dublin 4 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Michelin recommended gastropub near Grand Canal Dock. Cosy décor, upmarket dishes and a great Sunday roast. The drinks are taken as seriously as the food with a huge list of cocktails, beer, cider and wine. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Big Fan was one of the most exciting things to happen to Dublin's food scene since the arrival of brunch, with the Hong-Kong inspired small plates generating ripples of excitement outwards from Aungier Street. Despite opening just before the nationwide shutdown in 2020, they powered through with take-away and at home kits, and once things reopened again they took off like a rocket, and haven't stopped soaring. The bao, cheeseburger jiaozi and enoki fan are three outrageously delicious reasons to visit, but you'd have to work hard to find a dud dish. Big Fan Website bigfan.ie Address 16 Aungier Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Big Fan was one of the most exciting things to happen to Dublin's food scene since the arrival of brunch, with the Hong-Kong inspired small plates generating ripples of excitement outwards from Aungier Street. Despite opening just before the nationwide shutdown in 2020, they powered through with take-away and at home kits, and once things reopened again they took off like a rocket, and haven't stopped soaring. The bao, cheeseburger jiaozi and enoki fan are three outrageously delicious reasons to visit, but you'd have to work hard to find a dud dish. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Setting the bar for bar food in Dublin, the guys behind Caribou also own pizza-focused Bonobo in Smithfield and Kodiak in Rathmines. This is their first venture into a more comprehensive menu (only served day time) and they've managed to show up most of the other bars serving food in Dublin. The perfect steak-frites, a supreme Caesar salad, and a Sunday roast that instantly rose to the top of the charts, as well as a top class drinks list - is it any wonder it's drawing the crowds across the board, from friend groups to young families, dating duos to business associates looking for a laid back lunch spot. Caribou Website instagram.com/caribou_dublin Address Caribou, Stephen Street Lower, Dublin 2, Ireland Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Setting the bar for bar food in Dublin, the guys behind Caribou also own pizza-focused Bonobo in Smithfield and Kodiak in Rathmines. This is their first venture into a more comprehensive menu (only served day time) and they've managed to show up most of the other bars serving food in Dublin. The perfect steak-frites, a supreme Caesar salad, and a Sunday roast that instantly rose to the top of the charts, as well as a top class drinks list - is it any wonder it's drawing the crowds across the board, from friend groups to young families, dating duos to business associates looking for a laid back lunch spot. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Overnight access available at Spade Shared Kitchen < Back Overnight access available at Spade Shared Kitchen Spade Enterprise Kitchen Apply Now Location Smithfield, Dublin 7 Employment Night access Date Posted 23 July 2025 Website spade.ie Overnight Access Now Open at Spade Shared Kitchen for Busy Bakers! If you work late or start early and need a professional kitchen to support your operations, this could be the solution you’ve been waiting for. This is your chance to bake, prep, and produce without peak-hour pressure — all in a fully equipped, HSE-approved space. Tailored for seasoned bakers who need dependable night-time space to serve their loyal customer base, several nights per week.  Wholesale baker with early morning orders  Perfect for cafés/restaurants bringing baking in-house  Need overflow or off-peak prep space Your monthly overnight package includes: → Full access to our commercial kitchen (HSE approved) → Utilities covered: gas, electricity, waste removal, pest control → Dry/cold/frozen storage options → Flexible rental — no long-term contracts → Peace of mind: secure, clean, and always ready Contact us today for a tour by contacting: philip.smith@spade.ie emer.mcgrath@spade.ie

Taste of Hong Kong Chinese roast meats are the main attraction at this new quick stop café Posted: 14 May 2024 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What do we need to know about Taste of Hong Kong? Since the demise of CN Duck in Ranelagh (which still hurts, thank you for asking), and then the closure of Duck on Fade Street at the end of 2023 after a damning closure order from the HSE, Dublin has been lacking a Chinese roast meats specialist in a casual, quick eat setting. So when Taste Of Hong Kong opened a few weeks ago in one of The iLac's units on Moore Street, social media feeds started spreading the good word fast. The seven day a week, all day opening looked like it could be the Hong Kong café-style replacement to plug the roast meats gap, so pretty quickly we felt the pull of crispy duck skin and char siu pork to see how it measured up against its predecessors. Information on the background here is scant, with staff telling us they think it's the owner's first restaurant in Dublin but couldn't be sure, and that the chef previously cooked in Duck before it closed. That's all we could pry out of them. Where should we sit? Wherever you can get a seat along on the right-hand side of this narrow room. There are only 16 so you might have to wait if it's busy, but they'll take your name and give you a rough idea of when to come back. You can also stand inside the door but it's tight. What are we ordering? You're here for the roast meats, cooked in a specially imported bullet oven which allows hot air to circulate better than a regular one, but there are a couple of other things you can bulk up your order with. The very depressing thing is that everything comes in plastic containers, with the soup containers extra sturdy and branded, so it doesn't look like this is set to change. Ideal for collection and delivery orders, less so for all those dining in. Please God let them recycle. Duck spring rolls (€6 for two) were obviously made in house, having the sightly uneven feel of being made by hand, not machine. The vegetable, vermicelli and duck filling was pleasant, and the pastry crisp, but we've had better spring rolls in the city. Pork dumplings (€10 for eight) were also clearly made in house, the thick doughy wrappers hiding well-flavoured, steaming pork interiors. We planned on trying one and taking the rest home, but we couldn't stop going back for more - chilli oil drizzled (or drowned) on top is a must. Onto the main reason you're here, and the format is simple. You can either order a rice bowl or noodle soup, topped with one or two choices (two is a "double") from roast duck, char siu pork, crispy roast pork and soya chicken. You can also order extra portions of the meat as "sides". If you do like we did and get a double rice and a double soup you'll be able to try all four. The presentation won't be winning any awards, but that's okay, you're here for the taste. The skin on our roast duck was more slippery than crispy, and we got the leg so there was a lot of bone to work around to find the chunks of juicy meat - you'll need your napkins. The char siu was wrapped in that sweet, smoky flavour punch we love so much, but some of the meat was dried out and chewy. A rice bowl comes with four leaves of just cooked pak choi draped over the top, and small plastic tubs of soy sauce are brought to the table (why not a glass bottle?) so you can dress with that and chilli oil to your tastes. For the noodle bowl we ordered the remaining two meats of soya chicken and crispy roast pork. The chicken had the juicy texture of a bird braised in flavoursome liquid over a few hours, and the pork had thin crisp skin and tender meat, but felt a bit one note after a few pieces. Overcooked, basic wheat-flour noodles came in a rich chicken-flavoured broth, with more pak choi and spring onions on top. It's comforting, waming food, but more bite and less sogg in the noodles would have been appreciated. A soy marinated egg (€1) would have been so much better with a soft, fudgey yolk (this one was practically chalk). What about drinks? Softs and water only. Nothing to report. How was the service? Once you're ready to order you do so at the till, paying at the same time. Our friendly server brought the food when it was ready, and things were pretty nicely spaced for such a casual place - we thought it would all be fired out together. Anything leftover can be packed up in your boxes and taken away - you'll just need to ask for a lid. What was the damage? €47 for enough food for lunch for two, and enough leftovers for the same again for dinner. If you like the food this will be a very easy place to justify returning to again and again. And the verdict? Dublin once again has a quick-stop Chinese roast meats café, and while we're not sure the initial excitement around Taste of Hong Kong bears out in the execution, there are plenty of no frills places like it in Hong Kong, feeding the masses day in and day out. It's more Duck than CN Duck , but if you're missing the former you'll be glad to have found it. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Fish, chips, snacks, wine. Casual, bar counter dining at its best, with lovely service from warm staff. Brilliant wine list full of interesting discoveries that the team will be more than happy to talk you through. There's nowhere better for fish, chips and a bottle of Champagne. Fish Shop Website fish-shop.ie Address 76 Benburb St, Smithfield, Dublin 7 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Fish, chips, snacks, wine. Casual, bar counter dining at its best, with lovely service from warm staff. Brilliant wine list full of interesting discoveries that the team will be more than happy to talk you through. There's nowhere better for fish, chips and a bottle of Champagne. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Craft Neighbourhood dining that's a steal in Harold's Cross Posted: 5 Aug 2020 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Craft opened in February 2016, and was immediately touted as the neighbourhood restaurant Harold's Cross had badly needed. Head chef/owner Philip Yeung had previously been head chef at Town Bar & Grill (remember the boom?) and Bang on Merrion Row, and a string of glowing reviews for his first solo opening followed, with Catherine Cleary in the Irish Times calling the Dublin 6 suburb "a better place to be thanks to the arrival of Craft." The following year they got the news that they'd been awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand for 2018, given to restaurants that Michelin deem good quality and good value - for Ireland it must be €40 or under for three courses - and held onto it for 2019 but lost it for 2020. It was a year of shock deletions, with Etto, Bastible, Forest & Marcy, The Pig's Ear and Delahunt all losing their Bib too, so we didn't pay too much heed and presumed it might be more to do with menu pricing than food quality for most places. Luckily it hasn't seemed to make any dent in their customer base, who mostly seem to be locals, delighted to have something like this on their doorstep, when so many other suburbs don't. Where should we sit? There’s a front and a back room, but we’d probably opt to sit in the front as it feels a bit brighter and airier. We did however spot a couple with a young baby in the back and thought it was perfectly suited to a bit more privacy. There are only five tables in the front post-Covid, all adequately spaced, and the two in the window are ideal if you’re an avid people watcher. What's the food like? We came for the neighbourhood menu (only served on Thursdays), as we figure a lot of people are probably looking for maximum bang for their buck right now, between job losses, pay cuts and many businesses in unknown territory after the past few months. It’s a very good deal at €27 for two courses and €32 for three, but there only a choice of mains so you wouldn't want to be a fussy eater or have too many dietary requirements – they do cater for veggies though and one main will always be meat-free. We started with seedy, treacle brown bread and Glenilen Farm butter, dense and crunchy enough to fill the hungry gap until the food proper started to arrive. The starter was a plate of heirloom tomatoes, burrata, charred peach and smoked almond pesto - ideal summer eating (for a grey, rainy evening in July). There were little dried tomatoes in amongst the mix, which added bursts of flavour in every other forkful, but we thought the whole thing needed more seasoning, which they brought on request. Our main was a meaty piece of expertly cooked Kilkeel hake with a prawn tortellini (whose filling was more mousse-like than fluffy fresh prawn), an intense pea purée, fresh peas, chard and a foaming shellfish sauce. Again it felt perfectly suited to the time of year, and like the kitchen is giving serious consideration to what we might want to eat on any given week. It was also light enough to ensure we were looking forward to (rather than holding our stomachs at the thought of) a chocolate dessert. With the fish came a side of crunchy, fluffy potatoes (they've thought of everything), but just two each, so again not enough to steer you into uncomfortable tummy territory. For a set menu that already felt like good value, the main really pushed it into the "this is a bit of a steal" category. Dessert was "chocolate mousse and raspberry", with various elements of each - an airy mousse, a crispy chocolate cracker, a raspberry sorbet, fresh raspberries, raspberry sauce and what looked and tasted like puffed rice. It was a nice mix of richness and freshness, and the chocolate tasted dark enough so as not to veer into sugar overload territory. What about the drinks? The wine list is very short with few options by the glass – maybe Covid-related – and we thought it was in need of an injection of interest. Perhaps they’re trying to cater for the locals with tried and tested options. We did think the prosecco was unusually good – to the point where we questioned if it might have been something more upmarket like a Crémant, and a Kir Royal was a perfect aperitif. And the service? Staff were all masked and very welcoming and friendly. The food came out at nice intervals, and the open kitchen appeared entirely calm. The verdict? The neighbourhood menu at Craft offers serious bang for your buck, with a three course meal for two and a bottle of wine easily coming in at under €100. We have a feeling it’s not the kitchen’s best work, but it’s more than solid cooking, and even more reason to go back for the Friday and Saturday tasting menu at €52 for four courses (including snacks). If value for money is your top priority right now when it comes to eating out, the neighbourhood menu is a great dive into Craft at a not so great price. We started with seedy, treacle brown bread and Glenilen Farm butter, dense and crunchy enough to fill the hungry gap until the food proper started to arrive. Craft 208 Harold’s Cross Road, Harold's Cross, Dublin 6W. craftrestaurant.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

The basement wine cellar in upmarket grocery Fallon & Byrne has long been a drinking den for those in the know, and since they extended their €1 corkage offer from Sunday - Tuesday, a trip there to start the week off right is even more tempting. The menu of charcuterie and cheese, pastas and pizzas is relaxed and uncomplicated, so you can spend your time deciding which bottle you're going to drink at a bargain price. Fallon and Byrne's Wine Cellar Website fallonandbyrne.com Address 11-17 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story The basement wine cellar in upmarket grocery Fallon & Byrne has long been a drinking den for those in the know, and since they extended their €1 corkage offer from Sunday - Tuesday, a trip there to start the week off right is even more tempting. The menu of charcuterie and cheese, pastas and pizzas is relaxed and uncomplicated, so you can spend your time deciding which bottle you're going to drink at a bargain price. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

One of a new wave of modern Irish restaurants currently reinvigorating the city, Old Street was opened in early 2017 by husband and wife Mark and Adriana, who spent eighteen months (and spared no expense) renovating two cottages on Malahide’s Old Street. Seasonal dishes and locally sourced ingredients come from a talented kitchen team, and the hospitality is taken as seriously as the food. Extensive, interesting wine list. Old Street Website oldstreet.ie Address Old Street, Malahide, Co. Dublin Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story One of a new wave of modern Irish restaurants currently reinvigorating the city, Old Street was opened in early 2017 by husband and wife Mark and Adriana, who spent eighteen months (and spared no expense) renovating two cottages on Malahide’s Old Street. Seasonal dishes and locally sourced ingredients come from a talented kitchen team, and the hospitality is taken as seriously as the food. Extensive, interesting wine list. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

NYC-style pizza slice shop with triangular and square slices, gigantic 20" whole pies, and a small, well-chosen drinks selection. The ricotta is housemade, the sausage comes from Andarl Farm pigs, and greens come from McNally Farm in North Dublin. Bambino Website bmbno.ie Address 37 Stephen Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story NYC-style pizza slice shop with triangular and square slices, gigantic 20" whole pies, and a small, well-chosen drinks selection. The ricotta is housemade, the sausage comes from Andarl Farm pigs, and greens come from McNally Farm in North Dublin. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

September Seaside sharing plates show big ambition at this natural wine café in Blackrock Posted: 9 Jul 2024 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Ronan Doyle What should we know about September? Now finally taking bookings after opening on a walk-in only basis back in April, September quickly slid into the space previously occupied for 14 years by Blackrock institution The Wooden Spoon café. A sit-down spin-off sister venture to Ballsbridge coffee truck Leroy’s – which just this week announced its closure – it’s a café-by-day, natural-wine-bar-by-night space, whose wide-reaching sea views and candlelit distressed interiors caught our eye as much as their impeccably pretty plating. Where should we sit? It's a space to savour. Arrive as the evening breaks over Dublin Bay and the fading light hitting September’s carefully-curated vintage furniture feels more Riviera than ‘rock. A large communal table anchors the room with a smaller trio set against the seafront window. We’re guessing the delay in rolling out a pre-book option was down to figuring out how to divvy up the seating. If you nab a place – you'll need to be quick – you’re almost certainly sharing a table. While the seating works well with the warm decor for casual intimacy from the go, the forced proximity and lack of soft furnishings mean that the space can get pretty loud – expect to be inching your chair forward and turning your ear towards your dinner companion when it's at its buzziest. A few stools along the bar are kept free for walk-ins, while the smaller tables on the little outside terrace are the ideal spot for a summer evening sip. What’s on the menu? There’s fierce competition on the Gilda index these days, and September comes in on par with best-in-class Row Wines and Yves at two for €5, even if the menu confusingly prices them solo at €3.50 a pop. They tick all the boxes with a mouth-puckering pop of pickled pepper, olive and anchovy - an essential intro over a first glass. The fennel salami with sour-sweet cornichons serves the same function - big flavours for appetite-whetting as the bigger plates are prepped. Corndale Farm have won a rake of prizes for this one and you won’t be left wondering why - the sharp seasoning and light, air-dried texture make for a snack you won't tired of, and some of the best Irish-made charcuterie on the market. Whether it’s the contrast with that peak pork produce that made the ham hock arancini pale a little in comparison, or just their oversaturation on the city’s menus we’re not sure - these staple Sicilian snacks are (sadly not literally) a dime a dozen in Dublin these days so it takes a lot to stand out from the increasingly packed crowd. For all the crisp crunch of the fried breadcrumb exterior and flavour kick of the smoked paprika aioli, there’s nothing here to pull ahead of the competition. This kitchen crew is well capable of leaving others in the dust though, and shows it off with a pair of small plates. The burrata and peach belongs on our list of the city’s best summer dishes , a rich symphony of creamy cheese and subdued sweet fruit flavours teased out by well-deployed dollops and drizzles of chilli jam and basil oil. Those same stronger notes tie together mackerel and pickled fennel in a sea of creamy ajo blanco. If those gildas suggest a San Sebastian influence, this dish makes it clear with a superb quality riff on a classic dish at Arzak – those without the budget for a flight to a three-star table will find a Dart ticket a steal in comparison for these bright bursts of flavour. Pasta plates are stauncher stuff, if a little less exciting. There clear craft in the home-rolled tortellini stuffed with ricotta, nestled in squash purée and bathed in sage butter, with plenty of well-balanced flavour, it does feel odd to enjoy such an autumnal combo over the smell of a summer sea breeze. Gnocchi studded through an nduja sauce pass the texture test, adding body and working with fast-dissolving dollops of stracciatella to moderate the sharp spice. Like the tortellini (indeed like almost everything that came before it), this is a showcase in confident cooking, putting quality produce to the fore without pretence or excess. We’ll blame the ease we took things in that we were too late to try any dessert, though a quick word of warning in our ear before the kitchen closed up wouldn’t have gone astray. The tiramisu looked terrific. What are the drinks like? The wine list, big on natural and organic producers has some really excellent choices, though those less thirsty might find the one-of-each-kind BTG options very lacking. Go in with a plan to share by the bottle and you’ll have your pick of producers like Claus Preisinger and Christian Tschida, with very well-invested staff on hand to help you pick. We struck a balance with the Koppitsch Rozsa rosé and found its light, versatile cherry and cranberry notes a great match for a range of flavours. How was the service? The lovely casual vibe of September is all down to the staff, wide smiles and quick check-ins putting everyone at immediate ease. In helping spec out and whittle down the menu options they are superb, offering to tee up the flow of food however you’d like. We weren’t remotely hurried as we neared the end of our allotted two hours, though it was the last seating so don’t bank on the same treatment if you’re in first thing. And the damage? All that and two small bottles of water – why they didn’t have bigger sharing sizes we can’t fathom – came to €150. If you skipped the pasta and stuck to one glass you could have a lovely light supper for a very solid €40. On a blow-out occasion you could pop a fancier bottle and not miss out on dessert for about €120 a head. What’s the verdict on September? There’s a touch of the previous tenant’s community café vibe to September, which does a good daytime business slinging coffee and Leroy’s-style sandwiches to passing commuter trade and locals alike. Its evening incarnation preserves that neighbourhood air while serving a menu worth travelling for. It has the few small hiccups and holdbacks any restaurant still finding its feet generally will, but we saw in that Arzak-esque mackerel dish a small glimpse of the future. There's huge ambition and ability in this little kitchen, and with time and more of the innovation and originality it allows for, we might come to have something very special here. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Allta Winter House Back in the city and soaring above the rest Posted: 23 Nov 2021 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Niall Davidson's Allta opened on South Frederick Street in November 2019 in a rush of excitement. The formerly London-based chef who'd led the kitchen in Nuala , after time spent in Chiltern Firehouse and St. John, had critics and diners almost in a frenzied state with talk of handmade pasta, home-cured charcuterie and a menu with almost everything sourced from Ireland, and it didn't let them down. It felt fresh, different, like it had been picked up in a city far cooler than Dublin and dropped in the centre, and we loved it . They blazed away for a few months, and then in early 2020 the unthinkable happened and they, like everyone else, were shut down. They never reopened the original site, even when lockdowns were lifted, saying they couldn't make enough profit with the social distancing restrictions in place, but instead focused their energies on Allta Box , which was the smash hit, at home kit of the pandemic. Most of us have memories of the brown, Allta-emblazoned box arriving on a Friday afternoon, the sourdough and shiitake miso butter, the pickled veg palate cleanser, the perfectly labelled and colour-coded pots of pasta, sauces and crunchy toppings, the cookie dough, we'll stop... We were (im)patiently awaiting news of the restaurant reopening, but instead, in June 2021, they announced they were popping up in a huge tent in the grounds of Slane Castle on the banks of the river Boyne for the summer. When the book of Irish food post the year 2000 is written, 'Allta Summer House' will probably have a chapter in itself, and we left as thunderstruck as everyone in front of and behind us. It ended in September with diners already trying to book for the following summer, but there was surprise and all round awe when the team announced that their next move would be to the top floor of Trinity Street carpark, for 'Allta Winter House'. Davidson also announced that he had split with his investors, and now he and head chef Hugh Higgins were out on their own. How do we get up there and can we have a drink first? Enter the dingy carpark entrance from Dame Lane and head for the lift - there are no signs anywhere, don't panic. Hit level 5, and when you get out all will be okay. Here you'll give your name, have your vaccination certs and ID checked, use a fancy automatic hand sanitizer, and then be brought to your table. You'll walk through Glovebox, their bar/art gallery which will be serving drinks and small plates and is due to open soon. There's going to be a DJ too - major London/New York rooftop party vibes. Once open you can have a drink here before or after, or head straight up to the main space, which is up a ramp (level 6). Where should we sit? All of the tables are the same long table set up seating four or six people, and are assigned in advance, but you might want to request being close to the kitchen if you like to see the action, or at the other end of the space if you don't want to be surrounded by other tables on all sides. Despite being in a tent it's not cold - every table has a heater above it, and we had full arms out in November. What they've done up here took real vision and we're sure a lot of painstaking toil to get it ready. It's very hard to believe you're in the same city carpark off Dame Street when sitting on a sheepskin rug under a floral installation eating off Fermoyle Pottery. What's the food like? It's a set menu for €95 which is good because you don't have to make any decisions and get to try ALL THE FOOD, but potentially bad because it's a lot of money and you might struggle to get another three or five people to go with you. We've had a lot of messages from annoyed readers wanting to go as a two, but because of the table set up it just wouldn't make sense for them financially, and they can't mix you with strangers at the moment for obvious reasons. We've been busy trying to match up some of our ATF Insiders who wanted to go but didn't have enough spenny pals to go with them, but honestly this is worth calling up old school pals, the couple who used to live upstairs, your rich uncle - anyone who might join you for what could be yours and their meal of the year. The menu is going to change often, so we're not going to spend too much time detailing every single course - also it would be a eulogising, adjective-filled overload - but you can see the menu above for the night we visited, and you can expect some dishes (or variations) to show up again and again. You'll start with a broth - our was a sweet and smoky grilled aubergine, with droplets of oil giving it a silkiness. Next you can expect the softest Cromane oysters from Kerry, which Davidson has been using since he put that mural of the fisherman on the wall at Allta. Ours came with a dressing made with sea buckthorn - a coastal berry that's in season in Ireland right now, and tastes sweet, sour and citrusey. Next came a crunchy buckwheat cracker with the freshest crab meat, tomato and sea urchin foam (leading to many questions around the table of exactly how one makes a sea urchin foam). This was followed by one of the dishes we have vivid taste memories of from Allta Summer House - the fermented flatbread with Bán goat's cheese from the Boyne Valley and black garlic. Chewy, creamy, tangy, sweet - if Carlsberg did flatbreads... And that was just the snacks. For our first larger plate we saw the resurrection of Allta's sweet and juicy scallops with gooseberry beurre blanc and hazelnuts. It was stunning then, and it's stunning now. Particularly with the added ribbon of kolhrabi for extra texture. Then came Jerusalem artichokes with Cais na Tíre (a Tipperary sheep cheese) sauce and artichoke crisps, like something fondue dreams of being when it grows up. Also, why are Jerusalem artichokes not on more menus? We're starting a petition. Also for this to be the new definition of 'comfort food'. You can keep your burgers and ribs - we're choosing cheese covered artichokes every time. Then, just as we were wondering whether we should cover each other with coats to lick the plates, they arrived with that sourdough to mop it all up, and a bowl of the shiitake miso butter. If you haven't seen someone taste it for the first time, sit back and enjoy - the ooohs, aaahs and omgs are quite entertaining. When you're feeling nicely full your sharing mains arrive. First up we tackled a striking side of ocean trout with sea herbs, mussels and goat's milk whey. You should gently peel off the crispy skin before dividing it up, scooping up the sauce and flavour bursts with a suitably large spoon. After a few bites of the fish, the attentive staff told us we shouldn't leave the Tamworth pork sitting around, and you don't have to tell us twice. We had this dish in Allta Summer House, with the pork coming from the Rock Farm pigs in the adjoining field, and we presume this has the same provenance as Tamworth pork is not easy to find here. The sweet, soft meat is topped with sweet, crispy skin, and it was sitting in a pool of tangy fermented pumpkin. If you're of the "eat better meat less" camp, it's hard to imagine it getting better than this. Unexpected sides arrived (maybe they didn't have enough space on the menu) of romanesco and cavolo nero on romesco (we wished we'd saved some sourdough), and lightly dressed potatoes with herbs, and we had to take a few leftovers home in a lunchbox because we were close to being defeated, but also can't abide food waste. A semi palate cleanser arrived as the first dessert, of apple cider jelly made with the good stuff from The Cider Mill in Slane, apple ice and apple ice-cream, before the most scandalous mini doughnuts with brittle crème brûlée toppings, like the outside of a well made toffee apple, filled with a sort of thicker c rème anglaise . We now understand why people used to queue for 90 minutes to get into the Allta Bakery . What about the drinks? The wine list is extremely well curated and has so many of the best wines on the Irish market right now, but prices are high - those high end tents and dried flowers don't pay for themselves. We love Tuffeau's champagne style sparkling wine (€50 on the list here), as well as the Spanish Ubé from Bodegas Cota 45, and the Portugese Prazo de Roriz from P + S (both €60-€65), but there was so much we would have loved to drink - especially if we had deeper pockets. Wine glasses are Riedel too - what else would you expect. And the service? So personable and friendly. Everyone seems to really enjoy being a part of this, and we can't blame them. It feels like a rocket ship on the ascent. And the damage? €168 a head for the set menu, three bottles of wine between four, four after dinner drinks and service charge. Pricey? Yes. Value for money? 100%. The verdict? What the Allta team are creating and delivering, whether in a tent on the roof of a carpark or if they move into a bigger, less edgy space next year, is undoubtedly a defining event in Irish food. Ambitious projects like this set new standards for the industry as a whole, show others up, show diners what they could be experiencing, instead of another lacklustre meal of goat's cheese salad and chicken supreme. A chef from another restaurant joked recently that restaurants and chefs lacking in creativity wouldn't bother copying Allta, because who would put that much work into each dish, and you can taste the weeks and months of curing, fermenting, aging, planning, tasting - flavours like this don't come from packets or bottles or chefs lacking in skill. There are no shortcuts here, no cost cutting measures. Their only goal is to make their ingredients taste as extraordinary as possible, and shake things up while they're doing it. There's a relatively small cohort of restaurants and chefs across the country pushing the industry to new heights, but their importance on the larger scale of defining what it means to cook and serve 'Irish food', or even just 'food cooked in Ireland', can't be underestimated, both at home and abroad. Either can their ability to turn out the next great chefs in the country. Allta Winter House is as impressive a definition of Irish food as you'll find anywhere in Ireland in 2021, served in an atmosphere crackling with talent and drive, in a space that took major vision to bring to life. If you do one nice thing for yourself in the next few months, get a booking here, and experience it for yourself. Allta Summer House Trinity Car Park, Trinity Street, Dublin 2 www.alltawinterhouse.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Chubbys The former taco truck gets very serious in a drop dead gorgeous space Posted: 23 Jul 2025 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Ronan Doyle What should we know about Chubbys? If you were looking to tell the tale of Dublin’s food scene over the last fifteen years, there are few better figures you could do it through than Barry Stephens. His crash-era opener 147 Deli steadily built up a rep on Parnell Street as one of the city’s very best sandwich shops, rotating specials (their best in class Christmas sandwich included) descended upon by ever more hungry hordes of workers as the city bit by bit got back on its feet. But as the pandemic knocked us all right back down again and rampant inflation followed, input costs’ rapid escalation saw Stephens’ pitch of quality and creativity in casual convenience food become a harder and harder sell. That didn’t hold him back from branching out, with taco truck Just Chubbys popping up in Clontarf in summer ’22 to bring the same ethos – and the very same crowds. We impatiently waited after the sad shuttering of the Deli and an extended Christmas break for the truck with a promise of bigger things to come, and come they now have in the fancy form of Chubbys , a radical reworking of the warehouse space the truck once sat in for a big new chapter. Where should we sit? Stephens’ wife Jen, with a long CV of design and branding jobs behind her, is the mastermind behind this gorgeous glow-up popping with pastel pinks – whether or not you’d been in the prior iteration, you’ll stroll in slack-jawed through the giant glass double doors at one of Dublin’s nicest new spaces. Plump down on any of the soft accent chairs and you’ll feel right at home. A duo of long communal tables in the middle of the floor (and a few two-tops between them that can be made into the same thing) are a group dining dream if you have the foresight to book far enough in advance – reservations have gone like lightning. We were landed at the banquette set opposite the kitchen pass, ideal to take in the atmosphere and any what’s-that-they’ve-ordered-there FOMO. As teased on socials for ages by the endearingly excited chef, the kitchen fitout is the stuff of cooking nerd dreams, with a custom smoker and wood-fired grill making the counter seats the ones you want – they’re often held for short stay walk-ins, so if you want to be sure of getting a seat you’ll have to make do with craning your neck to flashes of flame from afar. What’s on the menu? We lost count of the times over the years (more recent ones especially) where people we raved about 147’s sandwiches to sneered over the price. Too often that’s the rub with casual food’s cognitive dissonance, an expectation that we can have the best in quality without bulking up the bill - as though an added two or three euro to know where your food’s come from was that one bridge too far. All that’s to cushion the blow of the beef birria (€8.50) and confit carnitas (€8) tacos – Chubbys was already at the top end of the city’s scale for taco pricing, and these latest tweaks take things further. But that’s true for flavour as well as price point; in the low and slow overnight McLoughlin’s beef cheek, shin and brisket just as much as the copper cauldron-cooked Salters free range pork and bacon belly, there is the kind of quality, time and attention that doesn’t come cheaply. You can taste where your money's going. Creativity costs too, and what a wallop of it in the pork rolls (€12), crisp-skinned snacks landing in the dreamscape space between chimichanga and spring roll – this is a bite that’ll stay with you for weeks, even before you get to the beautifully-balanced smoked lime and jalapeño salsa on the side. Watch on with glee as others order them around you and let out lusty sighs of delight as the deep-fried skins pour out slow roast pork juices. Only the sharing nachos (€13.50) came up short on value. Despite their hand-cut and tajin-seasoned superiority over the usual fare, and a house cheese sauce we’d drink from the dish, the higher price and smaller portion versus the ones we loved on our trip to the truck not too long ago was a let down. A smaller snacks section option with salsa matcha and guac looked more palatable at a full €4 cheaper – it’s rare we get food envy for a smaller plate. Chipotle and lime butter-basted corn ribs (€8.50) made amends, with a cheaper price tag and chunkier portion than our last visit. Subtly sweet, smoky flavour permeates every dripping kernel here - there’s no shame in slurping, everyone else is at it. Sticky-sweet honey and soy chicken (€14.50) is a prime example of the new Chubbys' more varied flavour profile. The Asian influence that often streaked through 147 is on full display, with bangs of garlic, ginger and chilli to the fore in every crisp, spicy bite. Good prep goes a long way but as is ever the case with fried chicken, quality is everything – the tender taste of Rings Farm free-range birds shines. The smoker is the crowning glory of Stephens’ new setup. We arrived intent on ordering the Jamaican jerk lamb ribs, but the sights and scents of a neighbouring table’s beef short rib (€37) caused a quick pivot. McLoughlin’s again brings the goods with dry-aged prime cuts, rubbed and smoked for ten hours to give a blackened exterior barely encasing the tender meat beneath. It slides off the bone into a peanut-textured and makrut lime leaf-scented curry that we’d bathe in given half the chance. Slow-tweaking flavours is a hallmark of Stephens’ style, and with this interplay of smoky sweet meat and softly-spiced sauce he’s hit on a primal harmony that had us enter a bliss state (see also: garlic naan for mopping). Not that we were done yet – sticky toffee spring rolls (€9.50) aren’t something we would pass on. You’d want to be confident to offer only one dessert option - they are, and have every reason to be. There’s more than a hint of baklava in the syrup-soaked, nut-sprinkled notes here, but novelty too. Like everything else at Chubbys, this is casual comfort food shot with a playful streak of energetic invention. What are the drinks like? House cordials and reductions drove us straight to the cocktail list (all €12) – beers via Zingibeer and Whiplash and a tap-heavy wine list will offer enough variety and value to keep most punters happy. The best of the bunch was a picture perfect Cherry Float, ruby red from Regal Rogue vermouth and cherry soda, citrus-spiked from sumac sprinkled on the dense vanilla foam, with the fresh flavour of smoked lapsang. The Shaken Stephens played like a milder Moscow mule, Valencia Island vermouth and IPA reduction in place of vodka – light and lively. There wasn’t the same balance or freshness to be found in the Mango SuperSplit, with alleged salt and chilli flavours all subsumed in tawny port. How was the service? This team’s ample honesty gives eye-opening insights into the challenge the hospitality biz is up against, and they’ve begged clemency more than once for the kind of intro hurdles all new openings face as they get the measure of things and struggle to hire to meet demand. Against that kind of difficulty, we’ll always give a lot of leeway, but when we were told 30 minutes on from our opening time seating that the all-at-once glut meant the kitchen might need another ten minutes to take our order, we wondered why phased seating and/or a slower scaling-up wasn't being utilised. That sense set in all the more as tables around us politely corrected the orders wrongly set down before them. Staff were all very friendly and funny, but it’s clear they were flustered too – demand like this (it’s now nine weeks until the next available table) is hard to plan for, and with the baptism of fire they’re in for they’ll need to tweak things quickly to keep hangry heads happy. Setting expectations more clearly or starting people on snacks upfront would go a long way. Our advice? If you’ve going in soon, check the menu in advance and order ASAP. And the damage? This greedy glut (it’s professional diligence, swear) clocked up a €147 bill before tip – mental maths on most tables around us put the average order in and around €50-60 a head. You’d be well fed for that, and with far better stuff than many other options around town where you'll spend the same. What’s the verdict on Chubbys? Understandable opening jitters aside, Chubbys has all the makings of Dublin’s latest success story – and we’ve got every faith in a team that’s never been short of the ability to learn quick and rise to it. That two month-plus run of full houses ahead of them speaks to the high esteem and expectations they’re held in - once again, here’s proof they’ve earned it. Often more candid than can-do, the refreshingly honest 147 Deli story spoke to the passion needed to weather the mounting challenges of making genuinely good food work in the environment we’re in. To see that passion make the leap to a space like this would fill your heart as well as your stomach. Many great restaurants feel like stepping into someone’s home. Chubbys feels like you're getting a window into Stephens’ life, witnessing something earnestly sincere, and altogether special. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Little Dumpling Website littledumpling.ie Address Drury Hall, 4 Stephen Street Lower, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Natural wine bar Frank's (a sibling to Delahunt down the street) brought back food post-covid, with the one-man kitchen staffed by David Bradshaw (ex-Clanbrassil House and Potager). A single long table runs the length of the room, while diners enjoy seasonal small plates with some cheffy flair, and well-priced wines. They don't take bookings so it's ideal for a last minute rock up. Frank's Website franksdublin.com Address 22 Camden Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Natural wine bar Frank's (a sibling to Delahunt down the street) brought back food post-covid, with the one-man kitchen staffed by David Bradshaw (ex-Clanbrassil House and Potager). A single long table runs the length of the room, while diners enjoy seasonal small plates with some cheffy flair, and well-priced wines. They don't take bookings so it's ideal for a last minute rock up. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Old school, opulent dining with French flair in a refurbished 18th century coach house. Great produce cooked skillfully for over 20 years, with new head chef Zhan Sergejev taking the reins in 2022. They've made no attempt to hide that they're in pursuit of a Michelin star, and many think they should have been given one years ago. Could this be the team that does it for them? One Pico Website onepico.com Address 5/6 Molesworth Place, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Old school, opulent dining with French flair in a refurbished 18th century coach house. Great produce cooked skillfully for over 20 years, with new head chef Zhan Sergejev taking the reins in 2022. They've made no attempt to hide that they're in pursuit of a Michelin star, and many think they should have been given one years ago. Could this be the team that does it for them? Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Lotus Eaters From modern Irish to Japanese grilling - The Pig's Ear team go rogue Posted: 23 Jul 2024 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What should we know about Lotus Eaters? Up until a month ago it was The Pig's Ear , open on Nassau Street since 2008. Nothing and no one stays relevant forever, but it takes a brave restaurateur to upend a working formula for something totally new. In June they announced they were going to "park The Pig's Ear for now", and launch "a more casual but comfortable offering" to fit with "the zeitgeist of the moment" - Lotus Eaters . The main gist is Japanese-inspired dishes with Wagyu burgers cooked over a charcoal grill, and with the two mains topping out at €20 a piece, they're aiming for this to be " a more affordable dining experience ". The name comes from Greek mythology, from those who spent their time in a state of blissful forgetfulness after eating the Lotus plant. It also refers to someone who prefers to indulge in pleasure and luxury rather than dealing with practical concerns - sounds strangely familiar. Where should we sit? The room is still The Pig's Ear, apart from some new art on the walls and rows of sake behind the bar, and it jars a bit with the new concept. It feels like it's passing through before the original makes a return, and makes it hard to settle into as a totally different experience - we kept expecting to see a shepherd's pie or stripy pink bag carrying dessert coming out of the kitchen. The wine glasses still have The Pig's Ear branding on them too, and while we wouldn't be ones to advocate waste, it's another marker that makes you feel they haven't fully committed - and if they're not convinced, it makes you wonder whether you'll be. The best seats in here have always been at the window, overlooking the College Park in Trinity, so request them if you can. There are two more floors above that (sometimes used as private dining rooms) that will also open if demand is there. What's on the menu? They get full marks for pushing the boat out with a menu that's very different for Dublin, although only having two "main" options of omelette or Wagyu hamburger won't appeal to everyone - adventurous eaters assemble. You can order as you go or leave it up to them for €60 a head, and the latter option means getting to try everything if there are two of you (bar the luxury add ons) - the menu says you'll get the hamburger, but they said we could sub in an omelette. Doing it this way means you get everything for €120, whereas if you ordered all of the parts separately it would come to €135.10. The all-in experience starts with soba salad, a pile of buckwheat noodles served with a dashi dipping sauce (more like a broth). Our noodles had been overcooked so were missing bite, and while the broth is pleasant it's very subtle. Fans of big flavours won't find them here. Oysters with nahm jim (a Thai dipping sauce with chillies, lime and fish sauce) and bonito (skipjack tuna flakes) on the other hand have the flavour dial turned to high, while masterfully managing not to overwhelm the delicate oysters underneath. A grilled scallop arrived plump and juicy, sitting on pig's head pudding (made in house) that has the spreadable consistency of Spanish morcilla, as opposed to Clonakilty's finest. It's all swimming in Café de Paris butter, supercharged with herbs, spices and other savoury ingredients, and you'll struggle not to pick up the shell and drain every drop. Scallops and black pudding is an overdone, clichéd dish - this is how to do it for 2024. (If you're sharing the "leave it up to us" menu they'll bring two scallop shells with half in each). We love crudo/sashimi/ceviche, but a plate of raw hamachi (young yellowtail) looked and tasted like it had been beaten with a blunt object, with the flattening treatment making the flesh taste more mealy and bitty than the firm, delicate pieces we were expecting. The tangy yoghurt felt too heavy on top of the subtle fish, and we would have preferred a more polished preparation along the lines of soy/yuzu/sesame/chillies and the rest. The only thing putting us off the all-in menu was the tartare with brioche. We knew it was going to be dirty delicious after our trip to Toast downstairs , but it's a meal in itself, and eating half of a sandwich after everything that had come before, with a main and dessert still to come, will be too much for most stomachs. It's another good main option if you don't want the burger or omelette, expertly flavoured with all the textures, and a burnt leek ash mayo for dipping to push your calorie intake to even greater heights. For the omelette there's a choice of crab (€20) or maitake mushroom (€18), with optional add ons of caviar (€30) and truffle (with truffle oil pesto and fresh truffle - €10). Never have we ever seen an omelette this tight, shiny and satiny smooth - we reckon a video on how to make it would go viral. We cut it on the diagonal as instructed, revealing a mound of expertly dressed white crab meat that looked like more than €20's worth - we may have had special treatment here. The only slight off note is that the exterior and the interior feel like two separate entities - warm omelette, cool filling added before plating, when we expected them to be more enmeshed. Before your mains a tray of condiments and sauces arrives, and this is where the fun really starts. Bowls of pickled ginger, burnt jalapeño salsa, togarashi, crispy onions, and bottles of sriracha and ponzu allow you to mix and match as you like. We tried the sriracha with the omelette, but the rest are better with the burger. And what a burger. Wagyu beef, the Japanese breed known for it super marbled meat, is used here, and while the marbling might be lost to mincing and frying, you can taste the fat content in the juicy patty, glazed with burnt honey and black vinegar. They include a soy egg yolk in the all-in menu and you should too if ordering separately. Mix it up and pour over the rice, along with chopped up bits of the burger, and have fun adding in all the flavours. If you eat anything here, have this. Again there are add-ons - caviar, truffle, bone marrow and duck liver (foie gras), but we didn't feel the need. Both desserts are included if you go for the whole hog, and you'll be struggling for space at this point. A chocolate burnt Basque cheesecake made us rethink our view that you don't mess with a classic, the sour yoghurt and tangy passion fruit seeds slicing through the rich chocolate and forcing us to eat more than we'd planned. At €15 though this must be one of the most expensive desserts in Dublin. Another of yuzu parfait with matcha, white chocolate and raspberries was sweet and pleasant but the flavours weren't jumping out of the bowl. What about drinks? Classic cocktails, beer and "little treats to start" provide plenty to tempt, and the wine list has a good amount of choice with 23 by the glass. It's confusing though as everything is listed out of price order (even within the smaller categories), so if you're going in with a rough price range that you want to spend within, it makes it more of a struggle to see what's in your bracket. The other thing that might give you a jolt is some of the glass prices, which go to up €16.95, with no pour size listed - there's a big difference between 125ml and 175ml. Our server didn't know which it was, but after going into the back confirmed they're 175mls (just under a quarter of a bottle). The majority of newer, fresher restaurants in the city centre have moved down to 125ml or 150ml, which many diners like as they can try more and stop their chilled wines getting too warm - others feel short-changed getting less than a bowlful. Many of you will love that glasses here are on the larger side, but the accompanying sticker shock is real, and margins are high - those wines selling for €16.95 by the glass are available retail for €23 - €26 for a bottle. This is not unusual for the city centre, but with diners still squeezed from every angle, it's sad that restaurant economics have push things to this point, and it's undoubtedly making former restaurant frequenters stay home more often. From a quality perspective we had no complaints, loving a sparkling Blanquette de Limoux from Antech in the south of France made from the Mauzac grape , a white Burgundy from Alain Chavy, and a Langhe Nebbiolo from Virna Borgogno. There are three sakes too, with Hakutsura's 200ml glass cup of chika sake enough for two to have some easy sips. They also brought us a yuzu sake FOC with the bill (we're not sure if this is standard or not) which was a sweet yet zippy way to wake our palates up again after all that food. How was the service? We had the distinct feeling we'd been rumbled as soon as we walked in, getting more attention than seemed necessary, and while the service was very amiable and amenable, we felt eyes on us every time we looked up. It makes it a lot harder to tell you what Joe public can expect, but they're an experienced team in here so we wouldn't be expecting any service-related curveballs. What was the damage? €202 for two people before tip for the works, which is standard for a full feed with drinks in a higher end restaurant around this part of town, but you could have a small plate, one of the mains, and a couple of drinks each for around €65 a head. What's the verdict on Lotus Eaters? You need courage and confidence to take a leap of faith on a new food concept in a 16-year old, very successful restaurant, and there's lots to like at Lotus Eaters , but it's missing a clean break from The Pig's Ear. We can't help feeling they would be off to a stronger start if they'd fully committed, but can also understand the desire to test the water. We're not sure €17 glasses of wine and €15 slices of cheesecake fit with their objective of providing a " more affordable dining experience", but you won't get crab omelettes, tartare toasties or Wagyu hamburger rice bowls like these anywhere else in the city right now, so jump to it if you're in the mood for brand new food. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Couple Sofie Rooney and Gareth Fitzgerald spent two years and several trips to Korea perfecting the recipe for their Korean fried chicken, and when the doors of Chimac finally opened in May 2019 they were overrun with hungry Dubliners eager to see if it tasted as good as it looked in the pre-opening images. It did, and for the next few weeks early closings due to selling out of food was a regular occurrence. Now things have settled down but you might still face a wait at peak times. Chimac Website chimac.ie Address 76 Aungier Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Couple Sofie Rooney and Gareth Fitzgerald spent two years and several trips to Korea perfecting the recipe for their Korean fried chicken, and when the doors of Chimac finally opened in May 2019 they were overrun with hungry Dubliners eager to see if it tasted as good as it looked in the pre-opening images. It did, and for the next few weeks early closings due to selling out of food was a regular occurrence. Now things have settled down but you might still face a wait at peak times. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Taiwanese fried chicken, mille crêpe cakes and bubble tea are three good reasons to visit this modern Asian café on the quays. Look out for specials like Takoyaki octopus balls and Taiwanese popcorn chicken with sriracha mayo. Kakilang Website kakilang.ie Address 5 Bachelors Walk, Dublin 1 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Taiwanese fried chicken, mille crêpe cakes and bubble tea are three good reasons to visit this modern Asian café on the quays. Look out for specials like Takoyaki octopus balls and Taiwanese popcorn chicken with sriracha mayo. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

The newest addition to the Mamó Howth empire is this lovely wine bar hidden behind St Stephen's Green, with possibly the best value evening tasting menu in town. The Cantabrian anchovy toast with preserved lemon aioli became an instant hit, and the olive oil aged in sherry barrels is one of the best things you'll taste there, or anywhere. The wine list is in the upper echelons of delight, and staff are as charming as in every other site from talented partners Jess D'Arcy and Killian Durkin. Lunch is a simpler affair of sandwiches and salads. Margadh RHA Website margadh-rha.ie Address RHA Gallery, 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story The newest addition to the Mamó Howth empire is this lovely wine bar hidden behind St Stephen's Green, with possibly the best value evening tasting menu in town. The Cantabrian anchovy toast with preserved lemon aioli became an instant hit, and the olive oil aged in sherry barrels is one of the best things you'll taste there, or anywhere. The wine list is in the upper echelons of delight, and staff are as charming as in every other site from talented partners Jess D'Arcy and Killian Durkin. Lunch is a simpler affair of sandwiches and salads. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

A neighbourhood café just off Parnell Street, Blas has been serving feel-good breakfast, brunch and lunch since 2014. The large, high-ceilinged space draws a wide range of customers including WFH-ers looking for a change of scene (there’s good WiFi and plugs), parents pushing buggies, and anyone wanting to eat good food from a team who care where it’s from. Chicken and eggs are free range, they use organic and local where possible, and there’s no issue catering for dietary requirements. Prices are democratic in the extreme - another reason people keep coming back. Blas Website blascafe.ie Address 26 King's Inns Street, Rotunda, Dublin 1 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story A neighbourhood café just off Parnell Street, Blas has been serving feel-good breakfast, brunch and lunch since 2014. The large, high-ceilinged space draws a wide range of customers including WFH-ers looking for a change of scene (there’s good WiFi and plugs), parents pushing buggies, and anyone wanting to eat good food from a team who care where it’s from. Chicken and eggs are free range, they use organic and local where possible, and there’s no issue catering for dietary requirements. Prices are democratic in the extreme - another reason people keep coming back. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Chef Dylan McGrath's Fade Street Social remains ever popular amongst visitors and locals, with two separate food options. The main restaurant downstairs serves a bistro type menu of Irish produce that's "uncomplicated", like oysters, steak and Kilkenny's Goatsbridge trout. Outdoor tables at the front and on their rooftop order from a "wood-fired menu" of pizzas, small plates and meats, all cooked using natural wood and embers. Good selection of vegan and vegetarian food too so plenty to satisfy a mixed crowd. Fade Street Social Website fadestreetsocial.com Address 6 Fade Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Chef Dylan McGrath's Fade Street Social remains ever popular amongst visitors and locals, with two separate food options. The main restaurant downstairs serves a bistro type menu of Irish produce that's "uncomplicated", like oysters, steak and Kilkenny's Goatsbridge trout. Outdoor tables at the front and on their rooftop order from a "wood-fired menu" of pizzas, small plates and meats, all cooked using natural wood and embers. Good selection of vegan and vegetarian food too so plenty to satisfy a mixed crowd. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

D'Olier Street A New York-style addition to Dublin's elite dining crew Posted: 24 Jan 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What's the story with D'Olier Street? It's a partnership between Mr Fox owner/chef Anthony Smith, and couple Jane Frye and James Moore, who were based in New York up until a year ago. Smith and Moore are old chef buddies, having cooked together in One Pico 16 years ago, before Moore (who's Australian) moved to NYC. Smith then followed, and the two lived together, meeting Frye (who's American) in the interim. Smith returned home to Dublin to open Mr Fox in 2016. You caught up? When Moore, who was head chef at two Michelin-starred Atera in New York at the time, told Smith he wanted to open his own restaurant, he somehow managed to convinced him to do it in Dublin, and New York's loss is most definitely our gain. Frye and Moore are married, and while Frye's background was in food media and not service, she's spent the last year learning the ropes at Mr Fox, while the couple's first restaurant together took shape. In October they announced a star signing in pastry chef Mina Pizarro , who's worked at some of the best restaurants in New York, including Le Cirque, Per Se and Veritas. If people weren't paying attention before, that made them sit up straight. D'Olier Street opened at the start of December, and we could barely restrain ourselves from running in, but thought we'd let them get over silly season before seeing what they're all about. Where should we sit? This room has been home to mediocre bistros and busily-decorated tourist traps over the years, but it's never been allowed to shine like this. The high ceilings, modern design and muted colours feel more than a little New York, and everything about it feels grand and special occasion worthy, in the most of the moment way. The seats most in demand will be the eight around the chefs counter, but it's actually at table level. This may be a negative as you don't get quite the bird's eye view into the kitchen that you can higher up, or a positive as your legs aren't dangling off a stool for two hours. If you're not bothered about seeing chefs plate dishes, the other tables dotted around the room offer a bit more privacy for romantic redezvous or clandestine chats. What's the menu like? It's billed as a ten course tasting menu for €82, but be aware that each of the snacks is considered a single course, as is the bread, a teeny bite of pre-desert and the petit fours to finish. We think the optics would have been better to describe it as a five-course menu with added extras - under-promise and over-deliver. Those first two snacks were a plump Connemara oyster with bracing yuzu and herbacous thyme, and a perfectly crisp nori tartlet with bluefin tuna, ginger, roe and sesame oil. Two for two - a great start. After that came silky foie gras custard with a thin layer of quince jelly, a quenelle of quince chutney, toasted walnuts, and the most perfect, golden, mini English muffins. Light as air inside, crispy and rubbly from the cornmeal they were fried on top of outside, this is a killer dish that's already the talk of town. Next came hamachi (also called yellowtail or amberjack) crudo, with apple aguachile, basil oil and unbilled Jalapeño and toasted almonds. We love dishes like this, the kind that act like an electric jolt to your palate, all acid and heat, curing and then cutting through the hamachi's oily texture. Next came salmon with miso buttermilk, trout roe and baby leek, and confession: we haven't eaten farmed salmon since watching Seaspiracy and getting a major ick about it. The creamy, umami-laded sauce is lick the plate clean material, little balls of roe popping as you slurp, and the baby leek was just cooked to retain the slightest bite. Salmon feels like an odd (maybe safe) choice, and while it's cooked beautifully in a sous vide before being blowtorched to finish, we'd much prefer to see a local and/or wild fish here instead. Then the bread course, which to be fair, deserves its own course. It deserves its own restaurant. The seeded pretzel restaurant. 10 courses of this pretzel in slightly varying forms. Where do we queue. This particular one with cultured buttermilk had us ooohing and aaahing, smelling and chewing, grabbing staff to tell us what magic lay within. Savour every bite. Ask for a second if you're brave. The last of the savoury courses, and the main proper, is billed as "Ribeye. Carrot. Pistachio." We don't usually grumble about a bit of steak when eating out ( except when served on a wooden chopping board that's been set alight ), but this felt flat, and like another safe choice. The meat (from superstar butcher Peter Hannan ) was very tender (we presume the sous vide had been used again) but lacked flavour, and the pistactio crumbed, meltingly tender carrots and the jus were perfectly nice, but it was missing the magic. With the steak they serve slices from the fat cap (which was predominantly fat), and perfect rectangles of confit potato, a crispy shell encasing a butter soft interior. Before dessert comes a tiny bite of coconut and passionfruit mochi as a palate cleanser - unrelated to the freezer mochi on Asian restaurant dessert menus across the city. Then the dish of the night, the one that we'll still be thinking about years from now, the one that might be our dessert of the year and we're only one month into 2023. A perfect, firm circle of riz au lait (French rice pudding), comes topped with elegantly pipped pastry cream, crystalised mango and mango sorbet, before a cardamom caramel is poured into the centre. The ooohs and aaahs returned, and we found ourselves gazing into the kitchen at Pizarro, wondering how we could make her fall in love with Dublin and never leave. Petit fours to finish of black sesame shortbread and chocolate fudge brownie were pleasant but unmemorable - that mango rice pudding is a hard act to follow though. What about drinks? You're in very safe hands when it comes to wine. Scott White (formerly in Aimsir, Mr Fox and Patrick Guilbaud) is the sommelier, and the list is full of interesting bottles you'll want to drink and pour over on the list, all with an indie producer lean. We started with a glass of grower Champagne from Antoine Bouvet (€22), and if you like high end fizz you should too - it's the best possible start to your dining experience, here or anywhere else. The wine pairing is €65 for five glasses and we thought it really delivered. It started with cava with the snacks, two whites, a red, and an incredible Jurançon from South West France with that mango rice pudding - and we thought it couldn't possibly get better. A (lovely) Albariño with the hamachi crudo was the only match that didn't gel as well as the others, but it's a hard dish to pair with its acid and heat, so we're not sure what would have worked better. We did one pairing and tried a couple of different glasses from the list, including an Austrian Pinot Blanc and a Mallorcan red blend, and wasn't one that let things down. We finished with a glass of Taylor's 10 year old tawny port, which is never a bad way to end an evening. How was the service? Frye is a warm and welcoming host, looking genuinely happy to be there greeting and looking after her guests, without anything being forced. Everyone we encountered was smiling and lovely and it felt like there was a ripple of excitement at being involved in a new opening like this. The kitchen was one of the calmest we've ever seen, with barely a conversation to be heard, everyone gently going about their work, looking completely confident in the role they were playing. They haven't changed the menu since opening and we think this is a smart move to let the staff bed in and get into a well-oiled rhythm. What was the damage? You're looking at €147 a head with the wine pairing (and our single glasses added up to around the same), so don't expect to come out with much change under €300 for two if you're doing it properly. It's a big spend and comparable to prices being charged at the best restaurants in the city (including Michelin stars). You could just get a bottle of wine to share between two, but you'll still be looking at circa €250 with a tip, so it won't be a meal to enter into lightly for a lot of people. We also flinched at their tip guide at the bottom showing what 15%, 18% and 20% tip amounts to. These are astronomical tips for most Irish people, especially at this spend, and it's likely to cause embarrassment when someone asks to put "just" 10 or 12% on the bill. The verdict? We're dizzy with delight for Dublin that D'Olier Street has joined the limited crew of restaurants operating at this level, in the most modern of dining rooms, with this kind of skill in the kitchen. An experience that might have been ten a penny in New York is standout here, and while we think some parts of the menu need adjusting and pushing outside of tried and tested formulas, we'd be surprised if they don't take the feedback they've had so far and keep driving forward. We would wager the next few months are going to bring more settling in, more ideas down, more dishes rising up, and with a Michelin visit undoubtedly in their near future, we're marking this as one to watch for a future star. D'Olier Street D'Olier Chambers, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 dolierstreetrestaurant.com New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Casual, California-inspired healthy eating, with extensive vegan and vegetarian options. Tacos, warm bowls, salads and stews are all laden down with nutrition, vivid colours and plenty of flavour, and Irish produce takes centre stage. They serve an all day menu from mid-morning till late, making it an ideal stop when you need an out of hours meal. Nutbutter Smithfield Website nutbutter.ie Address Nutbutter Smithfield, Smithfield, Dublin 7, Ireland Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Casual, California-inspired healthy eating, with extensive vegan and vegetarian options. Tacos, warm bowls, salads and stews are all laden down with nutrition, vivid colours and plenty of flavour, and Irish produce takes centre stage. They serve an all day menu from mid-morning till late, making it an ideal stop when you need an out of hours meal. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Allta Niall Davidson's wild wine bar comes to Setanta Place Posted: 10 Dec 2019 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Oh we do love when a chef who's been a hit elsewhere prodigiously returns home, bringing bits of other cities in their armour and implanting them in our own. One thing is guaranteed, it's not going to be boring, and it's most likely going to be something brand new for the city - especially if they're coming home from London, scene of some of the most exciting cooking in the world right now, where unexciting/average/samey just doesn't cut it. So colour us fit to burst when the news broke last summer that ex- Nuala chef/owner Niall Davidson was coming back to Ireland to open a restaurant in the capital. Nuala was pegged as a 'modern Irish' restaurant using the best produce from the British Isles, and Allta (Irish for 'wild') was pitched much the same (with Irish substituted for British), but from early on they referred to it as a wine bar, and much of the talk was about small plates and handmade pasta (both of which we like a lot). Davidson brought ex-Luna head chef Hugh Higgins in as head chef and partner, along with Christine Walsh (ex-Loam) as sous chef, and the trio spent months leading up to the opening travelling around the country meeting producers, and testing recipes in a Terenure test kitchen. When they finally opened last month our readers got first access to the soft launch , and they had so much interest their system crashed. When reservations were released until the end of the year they had over 1,000 bookings in 24 hours. Safe to say people were excited about this one. Where should we go for a drink first? You're definitely not short of options around here. 9 Below (pictured), Peruke & Periwig and The Sidecar (our fav) are all a few minutes walk away if you're after a pre-dinner Martini/Mezcal Smash/Manhattan. For a proper pub head for Kehoe's or Davy Byrne's, and for a good glass of wine head for Isabelle's on South Anne Street, basement wine bar La Cave or La Ruelle. Where should we sit? The long table down the centre of the room is half kept for walk ins, with the other half used for groups. On the side nearest the kitchen the tables are all for two with extremely Instagram-friendly lights above, but there's one light-free 'date table' in the corner if you like things a little dimmer. The tables nearest the window are all for four, so plenty of options. There's also a private dining room downstairs (due to open any day) so if you did want to have your birthday/anniversary/leaving meal there it's a possibility. What's good to eat? The menu is a food sharer's dream, starting with snacks and moving onto a variety of plates, most of which include pasta. They've also just introduced a chef's menu for €48 per person where you get practically everything, but you will have to choose between the spider crab bigoli and the BBQ lamb pappardelle - a choice no one should ever have to make. Cromane oysters come with rhubarb vinegar and are of the dissolve in your mouth variety, with added zip from the vinegar, and the subject of the mural on the wall is the oyster fisherman in Kerry that they buy them from. Anyone who grew up in Dublin was probably raised on ray (or skate as all the cool kids are calling it now), and they've done a very clever take on it with their crispy skate wing and seaweed cream. The bone is used to pick it up (a fish first for us) and it was perfectly crisp, tender and seasoned. A small plate of grilled broccoli, pickled green tomato and goat's curd had immense flavour, and had us kicking ourselves for stripping the leaves off broccoli all of these years. Here they topped the dish like smoky crisps, with the broccoli stems beautifully chargrilled and tender, the goat's curd creamy like the inside of a ball of burrata, and the pickled green tomatoes the perfect foil to lift it all up. Then come the pastas. If you've heard about anything it's probably been the chicken scarpinocc, a stuffed pasta filled with chicken liver mousse in a foamed sauce topped with crispy shallots. It's rich, it's luscious, it's perfect. You will groan - unless you really don't like chicken liver pate, or butter (in which case we can't be friends). The spider crab bigoli is the dish with theatre attached, and another must order. The bigoli pasta is topped with spider crab and an egg yolk when it comes out, before a chef holding a spider crab shell filled with bisque pours it over the top. It's every bit as good as it sounds, with the flavour of the crab coming through on so many levels. The pasta here is faultless, with the perfect amount of chew, and everything combined makes this a very special dish. Speaking of special dishes, say hello to the BBQ lamb with seaweed pappardelle, Cáis na Tíre cheese and wild marjoram. Mayo lamb is salted, confit then smoked over birch and glazed with their own Irish BBQ sauce, black apple purée, brown butter and salted cherry blossom vinegar. If you need to take a minute to process that go right ahead. You'll need another one after you've eaten it. Sticky, smoky, crunchy lamb, wafer thin strips of pasta, that cheese sauce... Swoon... They also sent out an extra dish that's not on the menu yet but will be soon, and form an orderly queue. Hand-dived scallops are flash fried on the pan, then put back in their shells, topped with gooseberry beurre blanc and hazelnuts and placed on top of some smoking juniper wood to finish cooking at the table. Will any scallop ever taste this good again? How did we not know that scallops and hazelnuts were meant to be together? Where has gooseberry beurre blanc been all our lives? So many questions. For dessert they're keeping it simple, with ice-cream or cheese, but obviously not just any ice-cream, 'nitro' (nitrogen) ice-cream, with smoked honey, sea buckthorn and white chocolate chunks. As you do. It's a pleasingly nostalgic end to a stellar meal, and one that won't have you leaving thinking you overdid it. Cheeses when we visited were Coolea or Young Buck, but they had run out of bread due to an issue with their flour supplier, so maybe check beforehand if you feel cheese without bread is like a weekend without wine. What about the drinks? The wine list is full of interesting bottles to drink but the prices are very punchy, so there's not much in the way of value. If that doesn't bother you or someone else is paying you'll have fun exploring it. We found the glass list offered more bang for your buck and lots of interesting wines are open so we'd stick to that. There's also a selection of wines on tap that are slightly more pocket friendly. The by the glass list is not separated into sparkling, white and red, but instead by genre, which those who don't have much wine knowledge might be uncomfortable with (especially considering there's a lot of unusual grapes), but just ask sommelier Ian Fitzpatrick or any of the other staff to point you in the right direction. The chardonnay based sparkling Tuffeau is a great meal opener at €8.50, and we also loved the Czech Krasna Hora rosé (€10.50) with the crab bigoli. And the service? Manager Gráinne Bates is well known in the industry having managed Etto, Forest & Marcy and Piglet amongst others, and her hospitable, bubbly nature is infectious, with other staff equally lovely. The chefs bring the dishes to the tables themselves and explain what's in them, and everyone seemed very chilled and on top of things, making for a very relaxing experience. The verdict? Despite only being open a couple of weeks, Allta is already one of the best restaurants in the city, and we look forward to seeing what the team get up to next, both with the menu and with the second more upscale site that's in the plans down the line. With what feels like a weekly increasing awareness of the importance of eating what's around us, and the sheer amount of world-class produce coming from our small island, places pushing as hard as Allta are going to be instrumental in taking Irish food and restaurants to the next level, and finally shaking off the global image that there's nothing to eat here but potatoes. Allta Setanta Place, Dublin 2 allta.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Pakistani/Eastern food that's adored by locals and should be booked well in advance. Small plates include the 'Molly Malone Masala' with cockles and mussels, and mains lean heavily into their Tandoor grill. Meat is Irish with free-range chicken and locally-caught fish, and they like to include modern twists on dishes that diners might be familiar with. Taza Website taza.ie Address 2 Ardcollum Avenue, Beaumont, Dublin 5 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Pakistani/Eastern food that's adored by locals and should be booked well in advance. Small plates include the 'Molly Malone Masala' with cockles and mussels, and mains lean heavily into their Tandoor grill. Meat is Irish with free-range chicken and locally-caught fish, and they like to include modern twists on dishes that diners might be familiar with. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

A steak house for the Tiktok generation, with an industrial fit out and casual dining prices. Neon slogans invite diners to "gather the herd" for sharing steaks, double smash burgers, and sides like truffle and parmesan fries, onion strings and mac n'cheese. Bovinity Website bovinity.ie Address 123 Capel Street, Dublin 1 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story A steak house for the Tiktok generation, with an industrial fit out and casual dining prices. Neon slogans invite diners to "gather the herd" for sharing steaks, double smash burgers, and sides like truffle and parmesan fries, onion strings and mac n'cheese. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Just past St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre on Chatham Street sits a flight of stairs that takes you straight to Sicily. Amuri, owned and run by brothers Luca and Andrea, is as charming as a backstreet Osteria in Palermo, and the food deserves to be shouted about. The caponata, pasta alle sarde and arancino could bring a tear to a Sicilian food lover's eye, and the atmosphere is so jovial and welcoming that you'll feel like part of the famigghia by the time you leave. Amuri Website amuri.ie Address Amuri, 4 Chatham Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Just past St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre on Chatham Street sits a flight of stairs that takes you straight to Sicily. Amuri, owned and run by brothers Luca and Andrea, is as charming as a backstreet Osteria in Palermo, and the food deserves to be shouted about. The caponata, pasta alle sarde and arancino could bring a tear to a Sicilian food lover's eye, and the atmosphere is so jovial and welcoming that you'll feel like part of the famigghia by the time you leave. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery

Lip-tingling, totally legitimate Thai food, without compromises for Irish palates. Don't miss the Laab Moo (spicy pork salad), Pad Kra Pao (spicy Thai basil stiry fry) and the whole deep-fried fish. Spice levels can be high but staff will advise based on your threshold for heat. Full Moon Website fullmoon.ie Address 8 Parliament Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Lip-tingling, totally legitimate Thai food, without compromises for Irish palates. Don't miss the Laab Moo (spicy pork salad), Pad Kra Pao (spicy Thai basil stiry fry) and the whole deep-fried fish. Spice levels can be high but staff will advise based on your threshold for heat. Where It's At Nearby Locales Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet Daruma Malahide Lena The Pig's Ear Notions @ Two Pups The Rooftop @ Anantara The Marker Sofra Little Geno's Mama Shee Nutbutter Smithfield Shaku Maku Mad Yolks Rathmines Una Choux Bakery Parnell Street Bakery