It’s an exciting time to be a food-loving visitor to Dublin. In a perfect storm of culinary magic, talented young chefs who have honed their talents in hotspots such as Denmark, New York, and London are now firing up the kitchens in the city’s most exciting restaurants. A new European-style bistro that could have been plucked from Copenhagen or Paris proves how much the bar has been raised in recent years. There’s a neighborhood café innovatively championing sustainability and smash-hit second and third acts from local favorites. Flavors from around the world reflect Dublin’s ever-growing multicultural mix, while a sweep of fabulous new hotels means there’s a room suited to every type of traveler once they’ve eaten their way around the city. Of course, most evenings here will either be topped or tailed by a visit to a Dublin pub, but for everything in between, these are our favorite Dublin restaurants across the city right now to grab an indulgent bite to eat.
Read our complete Dublin travel guide here, which includes:
Comet
Tucked down a lane off super-central Dawson Street, on the site of a former wine bar, new arrival Comet is a European-style bistro that’s got foodies in the Irish capital all aflutter. The pedigree of the team who run it is impressive: chef Kevin O’Donnell cut his teeth at Dublin favorite Bastible before working in starry kitchens in Denmark and returning home to roll out popular supper clubs. Along the way he met his wife, Laura Chabal, who now brilliantly runs the front of house at Comet, which they set up with O’Donnell’s old Bastible bosses. Anyone feeling daring can roll the dice on the four-course carte blanche for $90. Otherwise, there’s liver parfait with fermented blood oranges, a Wagyu featherblade skewer with anchovy, and a quail roasted on toast with vin jaune sauce that some critics have named their dish of the year. The brilliant low-intervention wine list is a worthy pairing for the sublime cooking.
Hawksmoor
It makes infinite sense that Hawksmoor, a choosey source of the highest quality beef, would settle on Ireland for one of its outposts. Thirty-five day, dry-aged beef aside, the setting is reason enough for a booking where you can dine beneath the soaring 40-foot-wide dome of the former banking hall of the 19th-century National Bank on College Green. The magnificently restored city landmark sets the tone, while the menu is infused with just enough Irishness to give it a proper sense of place. Start with some Flaggy Shore oysters from County Clare and move on to the extensive steak menu, which runs the gamut of cuts sourced from small producers the length and breadth of Ireland including rare breed meat from The Burren. Then, round it off with an Irish coffee tiramisu. The $32 Sunday roast lunch is particularly keen value.
