|
|
| Home > City Guide - Dublin - Restaurants | ||
|
||
|
Restaurants We have selected 25 restaurants, which we have divided into five categories: Gastronomic, Business, Trendy, Budget and Personal Recommendations. The restaurants are listed alphabetically within these different categories, which serve as guidelines rather than absolute definitions of the establishments. A service charge of 12.5% is generally added to restaurant bills and many diners add a discretionary tip of around 5-10% 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. The prices quoted below are for a three-course meal and for a bottle of house wine or equivalent. Prices include VAT, which currently stands at 21%. Gastronomic Les Frères Jacques Located in the city centre 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 favourites. The intimate, traditional decor, 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, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 679 4555. Fax: (01) 679 4725. E-mail: info@lesfreresjacques.com Website: www.lesfreresjacques.com Price: Ir£50/EUR63. Wine: Ir£13/EUR17. Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud The exceptional, contemporary French cuisine of chef Patrick Guilbaud, using the finest 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 – including poached Connemara lobster with apple and lemon jus or cornfed pigeon with Bunratty mead and almond sauce – dramatically served from beneath shining silver cloches. Merrion Hotel, 21 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 676 4192. Fax: (01) 661 0052. Website: www.merrionhotel.com/guilbaud.htm Price: Ir£75/EUR95. Wine: Ir£22/EUR28. Restaurant Peacock Alley Conrad Gallagher, among Ireland’s most acclaimed chefs, received his first Michelin star at just 26. His imaginative, modern Irish cuisine can be tasted at surprisingly affordable prices in this ultra-chic, minimalist restaurant, situated on the first floor in the Fitzwilliam Hotel, overlooking St Stephen’s Green. Signature dishes include pan-fried monkfish with confit of leek and creamed cabbage, followed by bitter chocolate tart with cappuccino ice cream. The set lunch menus (Ir£18.95/EUR24 for two courses; Ir£24/EUR30 for three) are especially popular with business clients. Fitzwilliam Hotel, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 478 7015. Fax: (01) 478 7043. E-mail: info@restaurantpeacockalley.com Website: www.restaurantpeacockalley.com Price: Ir£80/EUR102. Wine: Ir£22/EUR28. The Tea Rooms This modish restaurant in U2’s celebrated hotel The Clarence has handsome light oak furnishings, pristine white linens and designer cutlery and glasses, as well as understated, but flattering, blue lighting. The Tea Rooms offers a light, sophisticated menu of modern Irish cuisine – carpaccio of wild salmon with a warm potato salad and fried quail eggs or sirloin of beef with foie gras crôute and anchovy and black pepper dressing count among favourite dishes, with caramelised peach and rice pudding tart or a platter of scrumptious farmhouse cheeses for afters. The martinis served at the neighbouring Octagon Bar are, reputedly, the best in town. The Clarence, 6-8 Wellington Quay, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 407 0813. Fax: (01) 407 0818. E-mail: pa@theclarence.ie Website: www.theclarence.ie Price: Ir£40/EUR51. Wine: Ir£22/EUR28. Thornton’s Kevin Thornton is widely considered to be Ireland’s top chef. His recipe for success is simple – a combination of traditional Irish and southern French cuisine, cooked with refreshing simplicity and served in a small, understated canal-side restaurant. Typical dishes include confit of rabbit with a ginger and soy vinaigrette, sautéed foie gras with scallops and cep sauce or roast suckling pig with apple galettes. Main courses can be followed by mouthwatering desserts, such as a mille feuille of fresh figs with fig ice cream or the speciality of the house – iced nougat passion fruit pyramid. The restaurant is extremely popular and it is advisable to booking a table in advance. 1 Portobello Road, Dublin 8 Tel: (01) 454 9067. Fax: (01) 453 2947. Price: Ir£60/EUR76. Wine: Ir£18/EUR23. Business Brownes Brasserie This grand Georgian townhouse, overlooking St Stephen’s Green, is a popular venue for business entertaining, due to its extensive wine list and sophisticated Mediterranean cuisine. Specialities include shallot tarte tatin and pan-seared scallops served with ratatouille or shellfish salsa. 22 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 638 3939. Fax: (01) 638 3939. E-mail: info@brownesdublin.com Website: www.brownesdublin.com Price: Ir£37.50/EUR48. Wine: Ir£14.95/EUR19. The Commons The Commons is located in the basement of a grandiose Georgian house on St Stephen’s Green. This top-notch restaurant serves classical haute cuisine with a modern twist. Seasonal specialities include such delights as steamed foie gras with rhubarb mousse or roast loin of rabbit with morel risotto and pea purée. The tables on the shaded terrace are particularly popular in summer. Newman House, St Stephen’s Green South, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 478 0530. Fax: (01) 478 0551. E-mail: sales@thecommonsrestaurant.ie Website: www.thecommonsrestaurant.ie Price: Ir£55/EUR70. Wine: Ir£17/EUR22. Diep Le Shaker Airy and sophisticated, this two-storey restaurant, near Fitzwilliam Square, also has a stylish cocktail bar. Cheerful yellow decor, crisp white linen and excellent service attract a chic and glamorous crowd. It is especially popular for business entertaining. The menu offers equally stylish Asian cuisine, with such aromatic dishes as scallops steamed in their shells with ginger and garlic, or stir-fried beef with chilli and Thai herbs. 55 Pembroke Lane, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 661 1829. Fax: (01) 661 5905. E-mail: info@diep.net Website: www.diep.net Price: Ir£35/EUR44. Wine: Ir£14.50/EUR18. Dobbin’s Wine Bistro With its dark, cavernous interior, its jolly red-and-white gingham tablecloths and sawdust-strewn floor, this sociable bistro is a veritable Dublin institution for ‘doing lunch’, frequented by a loyal following of businessmen, politicians and locals. Popular dishes include a trio of salmon (smoked, marinated and poached), baked fillet of red mullet with lobster and bacon potatoes or prime fillet of beef served with deep-fried hash browns and lashings of brandy and black pepper sauce. 15 Stephen’s Lane, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 676 4670. Fax: (01) 661 3331. E-mail: dobbinswinebistro@eircom.net Price: Ir£40/EUR51. Wine: Ir£14.50/EUR18. L’Ecrivain Portraits of Irish writers adorn the walls of ‘The Writer’, a sophisticated restaurant specialising in new Irish cuisine. Their signature dish – baked rock oysters with bacon, cabbage and Guinness sabayon – is sensational. 109a Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 661 1919. Fax: (01) 661 0617. E-mail: enquiries@lecrivain.com Website: www.lecrivain.com Price: Ir£45/EUR57. Wine: Ir£18/EUR23. Trendy Café Mao Exotic curries, spicy satays and other innovative Asian dishes are the order of the day in this small, trendy café-restaurant, located near Grafton Street. The interior is stylishly decorated in brilliant blues, reds and yellows. No reservations are accepted and there is frequently a queue, but it is well worth the wait. 2-3 Chatham Row, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 670 4899. Fax: (01) 670 4999. E-mail: info@cafemao.com Website: www.cafemao.com Price: Ir£30/EUR38. Wine: Ir£12.95/EUR16. Cooke’s Café This chic café-bistro, just a stone’s throw from Grafton Street, is a popular venue for spotting local celebrities, such as U2. Its daily-changing Mediterranean-style menu, served in stylish, laid-back surroundings, includes such dishes as seared blue-fin tuna with a mango salsa and chilli oil or magret of duck with marsala sauce, mission figs and fondant potatoes. The heated pavement terrace has a more informal menu of salads, pastas and chargrilled meats and is particularly conducive to long, lingering summer lunches. 14 South William Street, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 679 0536. Fax: (01) 679 0546. E-mail: cookes1@iol.ie Website: www.cookescafe.com Price: Ir£45/EUR57. Wine: Ir£16/EUR20. 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 seafood terrine served with Guinness bread, the chargrilled quail with calvados cream and champ or the rhubarb crème brûlée are especially recommended. Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 670 5373. Fax: (01) 670 3330. Price: Ir£40/EUR51. Wine: Ir£16/EUR20. Halo On the north quay of the 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 – tartare of yellow-fin tuna with dill and wasabi crème fraîche, baked goat’s cheese wrapped in Parma ham with a piquant pepper vinaigrette – match the setting perfectly, while the Valrhona dark chocolate mousse with amaretto and griotine sauce is a must for chocoholics. Morrison Hotel, Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1 Tel: (01) 878 3421. Fax: (01) 679 4725. E-mail: info@morrisonhotel.ie Website: www.morrisonhotel.ie Price: Ir£60/EUR76. Wine: Ir£15/EUR19. Wagamama There is often a long queue in this basement branch of the slick, stylish 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. The gigantic bowls of ramen noodles – the house speciality – are a meal in themselves. King Street South, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 478 2152. Fax: (01) 478 2154. E-mail: wagamamadublin@ireland.com Website: www.wagamama.com Price: Ir£12/EUR15 (two courses). Wine: Ir£11.25/EUR14. Budget Avoca Café This stylish café, on the top floor of the well-known Avoca Handweavers craft store, serves hearty soups, home-baked breads, imaginative salads, freshly squeezed juices, tea, coffee and gorgeous cream cakes to weary shoppers. Suffolk Street, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 672 6019. Fax: (01) 672 6021. E-mail: info@avoca.ie Website: www.avoca.ie Price: Ir£16/EUR20. Wine: Ir£12.50/EUR16. Chief O’Neill’s Bar This modern bar, north of the Liffey, combines wholesome favourites, such as Irish stew or beef and Guinness pie, with more refined new Irish cuisine, such as roast salmon steak in a garlic and chive sauce with spring onion mash or Bailey’s cheesecake. It also features occasional live traditional music. Smithfield Village, Dublin 7 Tel: (01) 817 3800. Fax: (01) 817 3839. Website: www.chiefoneills.com Price: Ir£20/EUR25. Wine: Ir£13/EUR17. Elephant and Castle This cheerful café-restaurant, with simple decor 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, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 679 3121. Fax: (01) 679 1399. E-mail: info@elephantandcastle.com Website: www.elephantandcastle.com Price: Ir£25/EUR32. Wine: Ir£14.50/EUR18. 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 (bacon, bangers and spuds) – and 60 different wines by the glass. There is live jazz during Saturday lunchtime and Sunday brunch. 22 Ely Place, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 676 8986. Fax: (01) 661 7288. Price: Ir£20/EUR25. Wine: Ir£14/EUR18. Gallagher’s Boxty House This popular, traditional Irish restaurant, in upbeat Temple Bar, has a simple, homely decor of pine dressers and bookcases. It specialises 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 Temple Bar, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 677 2762. Fax: (01) 677 2762. E-mail: info@boxtyhouse.ie Website: www.boxtyhouse.ie Price: Ir£25/EUR32. Wine: Ir£10.95/EUR14. Personal Recommendations Il 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 favourites, 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, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 671 4597. Fax: (01) 671 4597. Price: Ir£20/EUR25. Wine: Ir£15/EUR19. Kelly & Ping East meets West with Kelly & Ping’s unique blend of Asian cuisine, served in modern Irish surroundings at the centre of Smithfield, north of the Liffey. The Japanese-style tiger prawns with ginger and lime mayo are particularly tasty, as is the wok-fried chicken with galangal, garlic and mixed Thai herbs. Portions are generous, yet artistically presented, and the menus are helpfully colour-coded for spiciness. Duck Lane, Smithfield, Dublin 7 Tel: (01) 817 3840. Fax: (01) 817 3841. E-mail: info@kellyandping.com Website: www.kellyandping.com Price: Ir£30/EUR38. Wine: Ir£13/EUR17. The Mermaid Café 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 speciality Atlantic seafood casserole is particularly delicious. 69-70 Dame Street, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 670 8236. Fax: (01) 670 8205. E-mail: info@mermaid.ie Website: www.mermaid.ie Price: Ir£30/EUR38. Wine: Ir£13.45/EUR17. Oliver St John Gogarty A lively pub in Temple Bar offering above-average pub food, including Irish stew, Galway prawns and other Irish favourites, accompanied by daily live, traditional Irish music. 58-59 Fleet Street, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 671 1822. Fax: (01) 671 7637. E-mail: info@olivergogartys.com Website: www.olivergogartys.com Price: Ir£26/EUR33. Wine: Ir£12/EUR15. Roly’s Bistro This large, lively bistro serving French, Irish and international classics is rated among the top eating places in town. The Kerry lamb pie, the Clonakilty black pudding encased in Brioche, or the Dublin Bay Prawns served with garlic, chilli and lemon, are all recommended. 7 Ballsbridge Terrace, Dublin 4 Tel: (01) 668 2611. Fax: (01) 660 8535. Price: Ir£30/EUR38. Wine: Ir£12.95/EUR16. |
||
