These restaurants are divided into five categories: Gourmet, Business, Trendy, Budget and Personal Recommendations. The categories serve as guidelines rather than absolute definitions of the establishments.
The restaurants below have been grouped in four different price categories:
$$$$ (over €80)
$$$ (€50 to €80)
$$ (€35 to €50)
$ (under €35)
These prices are for a three-course meal for one with half a bottle of wine or equivalent, including VAT.
VAT is generally included in the price of a meal, and a service charge of 12.5% is also usually
added to restaurant bills, although many diners add a discretionary tip of around 5 to 10% of the bill. If service is not included, a tip of between 12.5% and 15% is usual. Credit cards are accepted in most restaurants.
GourmetLes Frères Jacques Located in the city center, opposite Dublin Castle, Dublin’s top French restaurant is celebrated for its classic, seasonal cuisine and its superb seafood, with west coast oysters and grilled lobster especially popular choices. The intimate, traditional décor, combined with crisp white linens, an exemplary wine list and impeccable, formal service, make it an especially popular choice for business lunches.
74 Dame Street
Tel: (01) 679 4555.
Website:
www.lesfreresjacques.comPrice: $$$
Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud The exceptional, modern classic cuisine of chef Patrick Guilbaud, using the best in-season Irish ingredients, makes this one of Dublin’s finest restaurants. It is fully deserving of its two Michelin stars, with prices to match. The elegant ground-floor restaurant, decorated with 20th-century Irish art, opens onto a terrace and landscaped garden, offering alfresco dining in fine weather. The dishes too are works of art, dramatically served from beneath shining silver cloches.
Merrion Hotel, 21 Upper Merrion Street
Tel: (01) 676 4192.
Website:
www.restaurantpatrickguilbaud.iePrice: $$$$
The Tea Room This modish restaurant in U2’s celebrated hotel, The
Clarence, has handsome light oak furnishings, understated blue lighting, pristine white linens and designer accoutrements. The Tea Room offers a light, sophisticated menu of modern Irish cuisine - baked wild sea bass with fennel puree and Carlingford mussels, followed by roast leg of rabbit with Clonakilty black pudding and truffle mash count among the favorite dishes. Save room for the scrumptious desserts. The martinis served at the neighboring Octagon Bar are reputedly the best in town.
The Clarence, 6-8 Wellington Quay
Tel: (01) 407 0813.
Website:
www.theclarence.iePrice: $$$$
Thornton’sKevin Thornton is widely considered to be Ireland’s top chef. His imaginative Michelin-starred cooking (a combination of traditional Irish and southern French cuisine, cooked with refreshing simplicity) can be tasted at surprisingly affordable prices in a plush, formal dining room on the first floor of The Fitzwilliam Hotel, overlooking St Stephen’s Green. Signature dishes include sautéed foie gras with scallops and cep sauce, and roast suckling pig with poitin sauce. The set lunch menu is especially popular with business clients.
The Fitzwilliam Hotel, St Stephen’s Green
Tel: (01) 478 7008.
Website:
www.fitzwilliamhotel.comPrice: $$$-$$$$
TrendyCafé MaoExotic curries, spicy satays and other innovative Asian dishes are the order of the day in this small, trendy cafe-restaurant located near Grafton Street. The interior is stylishly decorated in brilliant blues, reds and yellows. There is frequently a queue, but it is well worth the wait.
2-3 Chatham Row
Tel: (01) 670 4899.
Website:
www.cafemao.comPrice: $$
Eden The outdoor terrace of this airy, minimalist restaurant on Meeting House Square makes an ideal venue for an alfresco lunch of modern, market-fresh cuisine. It is also an ideal venue for a relaxed dinner when classic movies are screened in the square on summer evenings. The menu changes frequently and includes such seasonal dishes as baked woodland mushrooms, roast wild Irish mallard and rhubarb creme brûlée.
Meeting House Square, Temple Bar
Tel: (01) 670 5372.
Website:
www.edenrestaurant.iePrice: $$$
HaloOn the north quay of the River Liffey, the trendiest dining room in town (designed by John Rocha) boasts an imaginative menu of Asian-influenced fusion food in an atrium setting, enhanced by smart minimalist furnishings, dramatic velvet throws and subtle spot-lighting. Equally stylish dishes match the setting perfectly. The Valrhona dark chocolate fondant for dessert is a must for those with a sweet tooth.
Morrison Hotel, Ormond Quay Lower
Tel: (01) 887 2421.
Website:
www.morrisonhotel.iePrice: $$$
Jacob’s Ladder This is a chic, minimalist restaurant occupying two floors of a Georgian house overlooking the playing fields of Trinity College. Chef Adrian Roche specializes in imaginative, modern Irish cuisine, using seasonal ingredients to create such delicacies as scallops with beetroot and shellfish
coddle (a modern version of the traditional Dublin dish) accompanied by an impressive wine list.
4 Nassau Street
Tel: (01) 670 3865.
Website:
www.jacobsladder.ie Price: $$$
WagamamaThere is often a long queue in this basement branch of the slick Japanese chain of noodle bars, located just off Grafton Street and St Stephen’s Green. The cheap, tasty rice and noodle dishes served at long wooden benches are, however, well worth the wait. A gigantic bowl of ramen (noodle soup) is a meal in itself.
King Street South
Tel: (01) 478 2152.
Website:
www.wagamama.iePrice: $
BudgetAvoca CaféThis stylish cafe, on the top floor of the well-known Avoca Handweavers craft store, serves hearty soups, delicious home-baked breads, imaginative quiches and salads, freshly squeezed juices, tea, coffee and gorgeous cream cakes to weary shoppers.
11-13 Suffolk Street
Tel: (01) 672 6019.
Website:
www.avoca.iePrice: $
Elephant and Castle This cheerful cafe-restaurant, with simple décor and large wooden tables, is located at the heart of Temple Bar. It is renowned for its baskets of spicy chicken wings, its homemade burgers and its gigantic bowls of salad, served all day. It is also a popular venue for American-style Sunday brunch.
18 Temple Bar
Tel: (01) 679 3121.
Website:
www.elephantandcastle.iePrice: $
Ely This lively wine bar, occupying the ground floor and basement of a splendid Georgian townhouse near St Stephen’s Green, serves tasty Irish fare (including Irish stew and genuine Dublin
coddle, which consists of bacon, bangers and potatoes) and around 80 different wines by the glass.
22 Ely Place
Tel: (01) 676 8986.
Website:
www.elywinebar.iePrice: $
Gallagher’s Boxty House This popular, traditional Irish restaurant, in upbeat Temple Bar, has a simple, homely décor of pine dressers and bookcases. It specializes in
boxties (griddled potato cakes containing savoury fillings, such as beef and Beamish stout, smoked fish or bacon and cabbage) and other tasty Irish fare.
20-21 Temple Bar
Tel: (01) 677 2762.
Website:
www.boxtyhouse.iePrice: $
Leo Burdock’sBe prepared to queue awhile at the oldest and best fish ’n’ chip shop in town, for delicious fresh fish and huge portions of crispy chips made with the finest Irish potatoes.
2 Werburgh Street
Tel: (01) 454 0306.
Price: $
Personal RecommendationsIl Baccaro Hidden in a dark, intimate 17th-century cellar at the heart of Temple Bar, this busy Italian taverna serves tasty regional dishes including Florentine-style steaks, spaghetti bolognese and all the usual favorites, as well as delicious antipasti, platters of cold cuts and cheeses. House wine is poured straight from the barrel to a young and lively crowd.
Diceman’s Corner, Meeting House Square
Tel: (01) 671 4597.
Price: $
NudeJoin budget-conscious students and weary shoppers at this hugely popular, trendy ’healthy fast food’ eatery, co-owned by the brother of U2’s lead singer, Bono, and located near Trinity College and Grafton Street. As the name suggests, Nude is a simple, no-frills, canteen-style cafe serving nourishing home-made soups, hot and cold snacks, wraps, smoothies, coffees and juices.
21 Suffolk Street
Tel: (01) 677 4808.
Website:
www.nude.iePrice: $
The Mermaid Café The Mermaid Café is a small, popular bistro near Dublin Castle, serving homemade American-inspired dishes. Food is served in a relaxed, uncluttered dining room of simple wooden furniture with nautical touches. The specialty giant Atlantic seafood casserole is particularly delicious.
69-70 Dame Street
Tel: (01) 670 8236.
Website:
www.mermaid.iePrice: $$
Oliver St John Gogarty This is a lively pub in Temple Bar offering above-average pub food, including Irish stew, Galway prawns and other regional favorites, accompanied by daily live, traditional Irish music.
58-59 Fleet Street
Tel: (01) 671 1822.
Website:
www.gogartys.iePrice: $ (bar), $$ (restaurant)
Roly’s BistroThis large, lively bistro serving French, Irish and international classics is rated among the top venues in town. The Kerry lamb pie, the Clonakilty black pudding encased in brioche, or the Dublin Bay prawns served with mushrooms, leeks and a brandy and tarragon cream butter, are all recommended.
7 Ballsbridge Terrace
Tel: (01) 668 2611.
Website:
www.rolysbistro.iePrice: $$$
Nightlife:The nightlife scene in Dublin has changed beyond all recognition in the last few years. Alongside the traditional Irish pubs sit stylish bars and buzzing pre-club haunts. The trendy Temple Bar area is the district most associated with the city’s best nightlife hotspots and vibe. Pubs are generally open Monday to Saturday 1100 to 2330 and Sunday 1200/1600 to 2300, although some serve until 0200. In some parts of the city, the 2330 weekday and 2400 weekend closing times are enforced by patrolling
Gardai (police). Bars close between 2330 and 0100, while clubs stay open until the early hours. The minimum drinking age is 18 years. Smoking is banned in all bars, pubs and restaurants. There is no dress code as such for pubs in Dublin - it depends on the particular establishment in question. Some venues encourage neat dress while casual dress is commonplace in others.
The Event Guide (website:
www.eventguide.ie), the free events guide available in cafes and bars throughout the city, and
In Dublin (website:
www.indublin.ie), the free weekly magazine, are both useful guides featuring bar, restaurant and club reviews.
Bars: Dublin’s watering holes fall into two camps - the traditional drinking haunts and the designer bars for bright young things. Hip bars include
Pravda, 2-3 Liffey Street Lower,
Zanzibar, 34-35 Ormond Quay Lower,
Samsara, Dawson Street, and the minimalist
4 Dame Lane, 4 Dame Lane. For a more traditional pub crawl, head to Temple Bar, where the
Palace Bar, 21 Fleet Street,
The Temple Bar, 48 South Temple Lane, and
Oliver St John Gogarty, 58-59 Fleet Street, are all to be found. On Merrion Row and Baggot Street, there are pubs like
Toner’s, 139 Baggot Street Lower,
O’Donoghue’s, 15 Merrion Row, and
Doheny & Nesbitt, 5 Baggot Street Lower, where literary ghosts have taken up permanent residence. The
Dawson Lounge, 25 Dawson Street, is the smallest pub in Dublin, with room for about six people in the basement.
The George, 89 South Great George’s Street, is one of Dublin’s most popular gay bars.
Clubs: Once a clubbing wasteland, Dublin’s reputation for top-rack nightclubs is growing year on year.
PoD (Place of Dance), Harcourt Street (website:
www.pod.ie), retains its popularity and has won awards for its outlandish décor, while the
Spirit nightclub, 57 Abbey Street Middle (website:
www.spiritdublin.com), provides competition north of the Liffey. The exclusive
Lillie’s Bordello, Adam Court, Grafton Street (website:
www.lilliesbordello.ie), is where all visiting pop stars, actors and celebrities hang out for after-show parties.
Ri Ra, Dame Court (website:
www.rira.ie), combines a chilled bar with a hip club.
Dtwo (formerly known as
Velvet), 60 Harcourt Street (website:
www.dtwonightclub.com), is another lively option. In addition to Dublin’s clubs, most live music venues (see below) host club nights after gigs.
Comedy: Dubliners are celebrated for their easy humor. Top comedy venues for local and international stand-up talent include pubs such as the
International Bar, 23 Wicklow Street, from Tuesday to Sunday nights, and the
Ha’penny Bridge Inn, 42 Wellington Quay (website:
www.battleoftheaxe.com), on Tuesday nights, which has hosted such noted acts as the late Dermot Morgan of
Father Ted fame.
Live Music: Eclectic is the key word for Dublin’s music scene, with most venues playing something of everything, from jazz, blues and soul to rock and pop, English folk and Irish traditional (known as ’trad’). Trad is played in countless pubs, often in free impromptu ’sessions’.
The
Temple Bar Music Center, Curved Street, Temple Bar (website:
www.tbmc.ie), is a great venue for spotting new talent.
Vicar Street, 58-59 Thomas Street (website:
www.vicarstreet.com), also hosts a variety of trendy local rock acts and has a small, intimate feel to it. The largest concerts (rock and pop) take place at
The Point, East Link Bridge, where Oasis, Take That, U2, Westlife, Manic Street Preachers and Fatboy Slim are some of the big names that have performed there over the last few years. It is currently undergoing an €80million renovation until late 2008. The
RDS (Royal Dublin Society)
Concert Hall, Merrion Road, Ballsbridge (website:
www.rds.ie), also caters for both large pop/rock events.
Olympia Theater, 72 Dame Street, is one of the best venues for broad-ranging styles in a large and lovely three-floor venue. On a smaller scale, the 18th-century pub
Whelan’s, 25 Wexford Street (website:
www.whelanslive.com), is a hugely popular and innovative live venue, providing a platform for up-and-coming bands. Jazz can be heard regularly at the
Viperoom, 5 Aston Quay, while long-established
Slattery’s, 129 Capel Street, offers a wide assortment of music from rock and jazz to traditional Irish. Other popular traditional venues include pubs
O’Shea’s Merchant, 12 Bridge Street Lower, and
O’Donoghue’s, 15 Merrion Row (website:
www.odonoghues.ie).
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