Six new openings in Dublin and three coming soon

We’ve always seen the new openings beat as a useful coalmine canary of the general state of things on the Dublin restaurant scene. Not long ago we’d have ample arrivals every month to fill a column, but last year we barely had enough volume to shout about once a season. Going by the fact this is our first of 2025, things are very slow indeed… It’s an exciting assembly at last though, with the return of three highly regarded chefs mingling with more questionable casual fare, and some very exciting early signs on the horizon...

Comet, Joshua Lane

It feels like an eternity we’ve been waiting for more solid news on Kevin O’Donnell and Laura Chabal’s Comet. The Irish chef, who cut his teeth in Bastible before gaining some New Nordic pedigree at Kadeau, announced a supper club concept with wife Laura this time last year as he set out to find a more permanent home. The softest of soft launches landed last week, with bookings now open for next Wednesday onward in Comet’s new Joshua Lane home – just off the Stephen’s Green end of Dawson Street, where La Ruelle used to be. As you’d expect of a chef with O’Donnell’s training, seasonal ingredients are front and centre with early sight of pea and broad bean plates setting our summery hearts aflutter. The roast quail on toast already looks likely to become one of the year’s most talked-about dishes.

Chubby's Kitchen, Clontarf

We’ve been drool-dreaming about this one for a while. Barry Stephens’ taco truck Just Chubby’s did regular sell out business to a growing horde of fans since first parking up in Clontarf back in summer 2022. After shuttering his Parnell Street baby 147 Deli, and extending Chubby’s Christmas break a few months longer than planned, Stephens’ has been excitedly teasing something big for the brand. First looks at Chubby’s Kitchen emerged over the weekend via a family and friends launch, and it’s fair to say this looks like the glow-up of the year with a proper kitchen fitout and nigh-on fifty seats – a major step up. Bookings are expected to open any day now.

Parmezza, Liffey Street

No two words turn our heads quite like cheese wheel, so we practically got whiplash at first sight of Parmezza – especially after being badly burned at Un’Altra a few months ago. This new pasta bar has smartly plumped a whole parmesan forma down inside its Liffey Street window, the better for its sights and smells to lure in the tourist hordes passing over the Ha’penny Bridge and down the newly-pedestrianised street, where plenty of seating is set out. Between that and pasta made fresh in-house, we couldn’t get in soon enough. Alas, we couldn’t get out soon enough either – read our two minute review to find out why.

Wagamama, Liffey Valley

Caught up in the crossfire as Press Up imploded last year, Wagamama’s franchise agreement with the hospitality empire (now insistently trying to rebrand as Eclective) couldn’t be salvaged by the group’s receivers, leading to all three branches pulling down the shutters late last year. The South King Street site has since been given over to Kaldero with no movement in Blanch, but Dundrum is due to open back up in August alongside a sizeable new Liffey Valley operation that celebrated the brand’s return with 1,000 free meals given out over the last week. In line with its approach elsewhere around the world, the London-based chain has taken matters into its own hands and will run the new outlets directly.

Strawberry & Co, William Street South

We’re not entirely sure what the difference between “directly inspired by” and “copied from” is, but Strawberry & Co are professing the former when it comes to their relationship to the Turnips TikTok trend out of London’s Borough Market – despite RTÉ wrongly reporting it was the same business, and them being only too happy to share that without correction on Instagram. As you do. You’d be needing a bit of viral energy to sell that (starting at) €9.50 price point. The summer popup operating out of Powerscourt Townhouse (owned by the same people as Little Pyg and Pygmalion) coats Wexford strawberries in Swiss chocolate (versus the original’s Belgian) with various twists and toppings available to top up your strawberries – and your bill.

La Strada, Aungier Street

Rathmines’ neighbourhood Italian Manifesto was among the more high-profile casualties of the cost-of-living crisis when it closed its doors after two decades in early 2024. Owner Lucio Paduano hasn’t stayed down long though – new venture La Strada opened on Aungier Street last month with a cobbled terrazza fitout tucked behind its café counter window. Seasonality and slow food are themes here, with a rotating selection of small-scale artisan producers gracing the 9” lunch and 12” dinner pizza options – Sicilian black bee acacia honey and Cetara anchovies are two that got our eyes wide. Lunch pricing is particularly keen, with €7.50 to €13 looking like excellent value for the quality of ingredients on offer. There’s also an entire saltimbocca section at lunch that we’re very curious to work our way through.

Coming Soon...

Google's pub

Hot on the heels of opening its new Factory arts space in Boland Mills, Google has landed planning permission to add a pub to its campus. Animal Collective, the owner-operators of Bonobo, Kodiak and Caribou as well as Cork city’s Impala, have signed on to run the new space – no word yet on whether or what food they’ll be serving, but here’s hoping it takes some of the Grand Canal Dock demand off Caribou’s weekend roasts.

Allta Seafood Bar

Our eyebrows arched to see Allta owner Niall Davidson teasing an impending seafood bar of late, with staffing calls one sign it might not be much of a wait. We’re wondering whether the Allta Bar concept, for all its value, hasn’t quite delivered to expectations and this new venture might be taking over the space.

Priory Market

After months of tantalising teases, Priory Market finally revealed tomorrow 25th June as the day it opens its doors in Tallaght. With an on-site brewery and theatre space joining the spacious seven-day street food hall, the social enterprise which will reinvest all profits in community initiatives is exactly the kind of thing Dublin has been demanding for years. See the inaugural stalls here.