Welcome to our guide to the best places to eat in Ireland. We list restaurant critic Tom Doorley's favourite spots, from top-flight restaurants to cut-above-the-rest coffee shops.
This is not a list of 100 great restaurants. It's a selection of 100 places where I would be happy to eat. In some cases I would be very happy; in a few, borderline euphoric. What makes this list different and, I hope, useful is not just that it is very personal and based almost exclusively on direct experience; I have also managed to find at least one decent establishment in each of the 32 counties of Ireland.
Some counties were easy, some were more difficult and a couple almost engendered despair. There may not be a whole lot of great food in Ireland, but there's a lot more than there used to be. And not all of it is to be found in what you might call fancy restaurants. Cafes are often the best places to eat for miles around, bringing good, relatively inexpensive food within reach of virtually everyone.
The best places to eat, at whatever level, have certain things in common. They source ingredients with care and don't mess them up with silly cooking. And that's just as true of, say, Panem, in Dublin, as it is of the Tannery, in Dungarvan, one a tiny coffee shop, the other one of the great restaurants of these islands.
With few exceptions, the most useful and pleasurable wine lists are short, chosen carefully by someone who knows their Arsac from their Elbe, and supplied largely by the burgeoning number of small wine merchants who deal with small producers.
The Restaurants Association of Ireland tells us that the profit margin on food is tiny. This may well be so, but many of our most successful chefs drive pretty expensive cars and don't seem to be eager to swap cooking for careers in financial services. Running a restaurant is a tough business, though, and no restaurant or cafe will ever drag itself out of the mass of ordinariness without passion. And the good news for restaurateurs who have that passion is that more and more customers recognise the difference.
Not all of the restaurants listed here have that passion as the driving force, but most of them do. And, it should be remembered, restaurants are human institutions that are subject to constant change. If I have missed something important, or simply got it wrong, I think I can depend on ever-vigilant readers to put me right.
No restaurant critic expects or deserves sympathy, but I should probably mention that, in pursuit of this top 100 list, I ate in a lot of restaurants that failed to make the final cut, most of them by a spectacular margin. One of the most common bad signs is a menu that flirts outrageously with what are often called Asian influences. And if you are offered baked or French-fried potatoes with your noodles, it's time to get out and find a good chipper.
How the price guide works
The prices that appear in this guide, towards the end of each entry, are a shorthand for what you can expect to pay. Where possible, we have given the price range of the evening main courses, from the a la carte menu, on the basis that you could go to almost any of these restaurants, eat a main course only, with water, and emerge satisfied. The aperitifs, desserts and other extras that make restaurant visits enjoyable often vary greatly, however. Nor have we included the price of set menus unless there is no a la carte. Also, some places have small menus - perhaps platters and panini only. This is stated in such cases and should be borne in mind if you are comparing prices.
DUBLIN CITY
101 TALBOT
101 Talbot Street, Dublin 1, 01-8745011
Open for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday
The early menu here is so popular and offers such value for money that it's not the kind of option you can go for on the spur of the moment. It requires planning. Several years ago Pascal Bradley and Margaret Duffy told me that they were going to sell 101 Talbot. I prepared to mark the end of an era, much in the same way that I had mourned the passing of Le Coq Hardi. They are still there, however, and the food is the same as ever: robust, generous, full of flavour and very sound on vegetables. I love the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences, the short but clever wine list, the brisk but friendly service, the somewhat peculiar room and even the rather eclectic clientele. There's nothing grand or stylish about 101 Talbot. It's a supremely honest restaurant that delivers good, welcoming food.
Good points: There's nowhere else quite like it
Bad points: We miss the lunch
How much? Main courses €12.50-€18.95
What tastes best? Celeriac rosti
DUBLIN CITY
ANDERSONS FOOD HALL & CAFÉ
3 The Rise, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, 01-8378394, www.andersons.ie
Open daily (Monday to Wednesday 9am-7.30pm,
Thursday to Saturday 9am-9pm, Sunday 10am-7.30pm)
Andersons is a gem, a wine bar in a characterful 1930s building (which used to be a butcher's), with a deli selling great cheese and charcuterie out front. It bases great platters on this food - and produces some of the best wraps, sandwiches and panini in the city. But the real point of Andersons seems to be wine; there's a short but very smartly assembled list with prices starting at €15.95 (or €4.95 a glass). The cafe serves a hot dish from Thursday to Saturday. It also holds jazz sessions and wine tastings. Glasnevin is very lucky to have such a brilliant place. Oh yes, there's excellent coffee, too, and outside tables front and rear.
Good points: The best thing to happen to Dublin 9 in ages
Bad points: No evening meals early in the week
How much? Main courses €4.50-€14.95
What tastes best? The Iberian plate
DUBLIN CITY
BANG CAFÉ
11 Merrion Row, Dublin 2, 01-6760898, www.bangrestaurant.com
Open for lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday
Bang is not nearly as good as it likes to think, and I have agonised about whether to include it here. It just makes the cut, because the food is unusual for Dublin in being modern, inventive and occasionally quite interesting. The menu lists suppliers, and the wine list is one of the better shorter ones around town. So why the agonising? Because it's too expensive and the tables are ludicrously small. It wouldn't take much to turn Bang into a very good restaurant.
Good points: Original and interesting wine list
Bad points The tables are too small
How much? Main courses €10.95-€26.50
What tastes best? Confit pork belly
DUBLIN CITY
CAFÉ BAR DELI
12 South Great George's Street (01-6771646), Dublin 2, 62 Ranelagh Village (01-4961886), Dublin 6, Cork and Sligo, www.cafebardeli.ie
Open daily for lunch and dinner; no bookings
Jay Bourke and Eoin Foyle hit on a winning formula with Café Bar Deli: keep it simple, keep costs down and give people colourful, tasty food for relatively little money. It works a treat, and they serve some of the best pasta and pizza in Dublin. For a carbohydrate blowout you could do worse than have a starter of pizzette - crisp pizza base with herbs, garlic and oil - followed by penne with Gorgonzola, cream and bacon. A hearty appetite is required, however. They do great salads, too, and have a keenly priced wine list. The wines are not as dependable as they once were, however, especially the slightly watery Chileans. Stick to French for safety.
Good points: The cheapest places for a good meal in the capital
Bad points: Unsuitable for a quiet romantic dinner
How much? Main courses €6.50-€13
What tastes best? Pasta with Gorgonzola and smoked bacon
DUBLIN CITY
CHAPTER ONE
18-19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, 01-8732266, www.chapteronerestaurant.com
Open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Saturday
Chapter One is the big Dublin success story of the past few years, but it's curious how so many people still have a kind of allergy to the northside. Ross Lewis's outstanding cooking is the key, but he has been joined by Garret Byrne in the past year, which means there are two major talents in the kitchen. Chapter One is a formal restaurant with a gloriously relaxed feel, and the food is modern without being self-conscious. A lot of emphasis is placed on provenance - the brilliant selection of charcuterie, for example, is one of the best (and simplest) starters in the country. Chapter One's pretheatre menu, which allows you eat dessert after the show, is possibly Ireland's best value in serious food. The Michelin inspectors should wake up to the fact that Chapter One is a major force in Irish food.
Good points: Pre-theatre menu is the best value in town
Bad points: Parking on Parnell Square
How much? Main courses €27.50-€36.50
What tastes best? Duck
DUBLIN CITY
EDEN
Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, 01-6705372, www.edenrestaurant.ie
Open daily for lunch and dinner
There's no doubt that Eden has had its ups and downs, as was almost surely going to be the case with Dublin's first consciously cool restaurant. It started on a bit of a high and then, in more recent years, slumped a bit. It has been firing on all cylinders of late, however. Michael Durkan's cooking involves lots of gutsy flavours and a deceptively simple modern style; there are plenty of old Eden favourites, too, such as smokies - smoked haddock topped with breadcrumbs and baked with cream, tomato and scallion - and organic steak. The wine list could still be so much better. That's Dublin for you. A restaurant like this in London or New York would have a wine list with a bit of wow. But, all in all, Eden is a good place to eat, and the service is great.
Good points: The organic steak
Bad points: If only the wine list were as cool as the customers
How much? Main courses €19.50-€28
What tastes best? Smokies
DUBLIN CITY
ELY WINE BAR
22 Ely Place, Dublin 2, 01-6768986
Open for lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday
The whole point of Ely is its stupendous wine list, club-like atmosphere, welcoming service and basic but pleasant food, which acts as a kind of attractive blotting paper for alcohol. It's too easy to dismiss the grub as nothing more than that, however. Ely's organic pork sausages are excellent, and its salads are good, too. The cheese is always in excellent condition, and now that the smoking ban is in place you can taste everything. The wine list, like the place itself, has recently been extended, making it one of the biggest and best in the country. There are several pretenders to the Ely crown, but this is actually one of only three places (the others being the French Paradox and Enoteca delle Langhe; see following entries) where wine takes centre stage and everything else is secondary.
Good points: Best wine list
Bad points: Too many wine bores
How much? Main courses €13.95-€28
What tastes best? Organic sausages
DUBLIN CITY
ENOTECA DELLE LANGHE
Bloom's Lane, Dublin 1, 01-8880834
Open from Monday to Saturday
This is not a restaurant. It's a place to share a bottle of good Italian wine at very little more than retail price and soak it up with some prosciutto and salami or a platter of cheese. It gets very busy and very noisy (thanks to a large following in the Italian community - always a good sign), but it is great value. If the French Paradox offered this kind of value I would be a more regular visitor. Mick Wallace, builder and Italophile, is the brains behind this simple but rather brilliant little enterprise.
Good points: v
Bad points: Can get very full
How much? Main courses €3.50-€13.50
What tastes best? Salami plate
DUBLIN CITY
FRANK'S
The Malting Tower, Grand Canal Quay, Dublin 2, 01-6625870
Open for lunch and dinner daily
Frank's is a good idea brought to us by the people who gave Dublin Elephant & Castle so many years ago. Actually, I think it's a better idea than Elephant & Castle and much more appropriate to the times. This restaurant under a railway arch does the kind of food one imagines the better class of US diner would offer. It has keenly priced rock oysters and even more keenly priced flutes of Prosecco, so it's a winner with me from the word go. Good hamburgers, lovely potted shrimps, very impressive salads and nice sticky things to finish. It's informal, rather dark, fun, full of well-heeled people having nights off from more expensive places, and the service is okay. The Frank's team know they are good - and in some instances, I'm afraid, it tends to show.
Good points: Prosecco and oysters
Bad points: Don't go if you're afraid of the dark
How much? Main courses €10.50-€25
What tastes best?
DUBLIN CITY
FRENCH PARADOX
53 Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, 01-6604068
Open for lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday
I love the French Paradox but wish it weren't so expensive. It doesn't even have a full kitchen to support, yet the bill reaches restaurant levels. There are redeeming features: everybody is charming, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The charcuterie, cheese and occasional hot dish are excellent, and the wine list is brilliant. It's rarely I go there without discovering something new, but I would go more often if I could get out for less. I should explain how it works: people tend to share a platter of cured meats and a bottle of wine; they may then have cheese and more wine or, if they are sensible, some dessert and first-class coffee. It's designed to be in tune with how we eat. The wine list includes a white Beaujolais that is remarkable value if you like white burgundy.
Good points: Terrific wine list and charming service
Bad points: It's too easy to run up a big bill
How much? Main courses €11.50-€39
What tastes best? Spanish meats
DUBLIN CITY
HÔ SEN
6 Cope Street, Dublin 2, 01-6718181, www.hosen.ie
Open for lunch and dinner daily
I'm no expert on Vietnamese cooking - and I'm very impressed that Anthony Bourdain is living in Vietnam in an effort to learn more about it (and make a TV series at the same time). What I have tasted of Vietnamese food I love, however: those clean flavours, those contrasting textures, the simple excitement of it all. At Hô Sen I get all this in abundance, at very fair prices, and a really warm welcome, too. There's a dish of stir-fried quail with black pepper and another of squid, both of which stand out in my memories of Dublin eating. I wish I lived a bit closer to it. One point that strikes me about Hô Sen is that when you look around you get a strong impression that the diners are all rather serious about food.
Good points: Punchy flavours, small bills
Bad points: It's no longer one of Dublin's culinary secrets
How much? Main courses €8-€17
What tastes best? Stir-fried quail with black pepper
DUBLIN CITY
THE LORD EDWARD SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
23 Christchurch Place, Dublin 8, 01-4542420
Open for lunch from Monday to Friday and for dinner from Monday to Saturday
The Lord Edward is a very comforting place, but I sometimes wonder about the other customers. They seem to be the kind of people you never see anywhere else; perhaps they exist, like the restaurant, in a kind of parallel universe where it's always 1971 and where the joys of a really good prawn cocktail, made with plump Dublin Bay prawns, are cherished as they should be. I adore this place and the buttery, creamy way it has with seafood. Admittedly, I think it tends to overcook the black sole by a few seconds, but at least it is consistent about it. In season it does great oysters, and prices are generally quite keen. My only fear is that one of these days some eejit will give the place a makeover.
Good points: Excellent time-warp seafood
Bad points: It's a long way to the loo
How much? Main courses €16.50-€48
What tastes best? Prawn cocktail
DUBLIN CITY
MINT
47 Ranelagh Village, Dublin 6, 01-4978655, www.mintrestaurant.ie
Open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Sunday
With Oliver Dunne in the kitchen and a terrific team at the front of the house, Mint is one of the most enjoyable restaurants in Dublin if you want really good food served elegantly and simply with a minimum of fuss. In many ways it feels like a London restaurant, reflecting Dunne's years in that neck of the woods. The one it most resembles, for me, is Chez Bruce, in Wandsworth, and anyone who knows that destination restaurant will realise that this is praise indeed. The mainly French wine list shows real effort to source good stuff from small merchants and small producers: it's a tough one to choose from. Mint is also well priced by the horrendous standards prevailing in Ireland, especially for lunch and early dinner.
Good points: Great cooking, pleasant space
Bad points: Foodie talk at neighbouring tables
How much? Main courses €18-€28
What tastes best? Braised lamb
DUBLIN CITY
LA MAISON DES GOURMETS
15 Castle Market, Dublin 2, 01-6727258
Open for lunch from Monday to Saturday
La Maison des Gourmets is now a Dublin institution with the fashionable, the well-heeled and, more importantly, people who know their grub. As cafes go it's not cheap, but then again it's not just a cafe. It's one of the best bakeries in the country, producing superb croissants, breads, fruit tarts and cakes. Many of those who complain about the prices are happy to buy supermarket rubbish that is crammed with hydrogenated fat. Give me the pure, hand-crafted baking of Penny Plunkett and her team any day. Simple lunches are available - tartines, salads and the like - with a limited but very adequate selection of wines. There is something elegant and rather grown-up about La Maison des Gourmets, and it tends to strike a chord with people who have a nose for really good food.
Good points: This is Dublin's best boulangerie
Bad points: Too many people know it is
How much? Main courses €5-€13.50
What tastes best Open sandwiches
DUBLIN CITY
MACKEREL
Bewley's, 78 Grafton Street, Dublin 2, 01-6727719, www.mackerel.ie
Open daily for lunch and dinner
This fish restaurant above the new, and biggest, Café Bar Deli is the brainchild of Eleanor Walsh, the chef who, with Eoin Foyle and Jay Bourke, runs Eden, Odessa and other establishments. A Dingle woman with an instinctive appreciation of good seafood, she has created a value-for-money place where you can enjoy the fruits of the sea without having them messed about. There's a cracker of a wine list, the freshest of fish, daily specials and a menu that blurs the distinction between starters and mains. Since it opened, a few weeks ago, Mackerel has been embraced with great enthusiasm by people who want excellent food at down-to-earth prices.
Good points: Proper food at decent prices
Bad points: A lingering sense of Bewley's
How much? Main courses €9-€32
What tastes best? Pollock with chorizo and rocket
DUBLIN CITY
PANEM
21 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1, 01-8728510
Open from Monday to Saturday
I keep coming back to this tiny cafe on the quays. And when I say tiny, I mean tiny. There's seating for perhaps 10 people - 12 if they know each other quite well. I keep coming back because Ann Murphy and Raffaele Cavallo are such delightful people and because the croissants are the best in Dublin. At lunchtime there's great focaccia and hearty soups. In the afternoon I go for the superb biscuits or those wonderful bite-sized combinations of almond and orange. Everything is prepared with care and with first-class ingredients. The coffee is superb, too. No wonder it's such a hit with local lawyers.
Good points: Best croissants in Dublin
Bad points: Only big enough for one barrister's ego at a time
How much?
What tastes best? Focaccia
DUBLIN CITY
PEPLOES
16 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, 01-6763144
Open daily for lunch and dinner
I generally don't like fashionable restaurants, but Peploes - vying with Town Bar & Grill as the place to go in Dublin - is an exception in that it provides good grub with exceptional service, it's very central and it can occasionally be entertaining to people-watch here. "Ooh, just look at that Fianna Fáil hair," exclaimed my companion one evening. And I know what she meant. It was rather highly sculpted and went with slightly over-the-top gold jewellery. Although billed as a wine bistro, it's more of a restaurant, and the wine list, while good, is not, I think, the work of people who have an inside-track interest. Peploes is, however, a place where you can eat and drink very well for a bill that is rather smaller than those from similarly fashionable establishments. And the food is really very good.
Good points: Good food, great buzz, great meeting place
Bad points: Liam Lawlor eats here
How much? Main courses €24-€28
What tastes best? Beef carpaccio
DUBLIN CITY
RESTAURANT L'ECRIVAIN
109a Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2, 01-6611919
Open for lunch from Monday to Friday and for dinner from Monday to Saturday
I must declare an interest: last year I cowrote Derry and Sallyanne Clarke's L'Ecrivain cookbook. Why? Because the best food I've eaten in this country, without exception, has been at L'Ecrivain. And it's not just the food - which, were there any justice in the world, would have two Michelin stars, not just one.
It's also the sense of being in a restaurant that works like a perfectly oiled machine but where you feel you can put your elbows on the table. Derry's inspired food, Sallyanne's unerring business sense and L'Ecrivain's impeccable wine list all add up to what I consider to be Ireland's most enjoyable serious restaurant.
Good points: Possibly the best cooking in the country
Bad points: There's a piano in the bar
How much? Main courses €42-€48
What tastes best? Prawns in kataifi pastry
DUBLIN CITY
L'GUEULETON
1 Fade Street, Dublin 2, 01-6753708
Open for lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday (no bookings)
I gave this well-priced bistro a rave review when it opened - and I have not had to eat my words in the meantime, despite a lot of people saying that they can't see what all the fuss is about. Let me tell them. This is good, solid French food, dished up with a minimum of ceremony and accompanied by a wine list that offers some of the best value in town. Had we more good places to eat in Dublin, the arrival of
L'Gueuleton might not have been heralded with quite the same fanfare. But there aren't. I have some minor quibbles. Why not take bookings? And some staff have a little too much attitude for comfort. But I hugely
enjoy this place, and I don't mind queuing for good food. We queue at the bank, after all. And what do we get for that?
Good points: Flawless bistro cooking
Bad points: Having to queue
How much? Main courses €9-€28
What tastes best? Snail and Roquefort pithivier
DUBLIN CITY
RESTAURANT PATRICK GUILBAUD
21 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2, 01-6764192, www.restaurantpatrickguilbaud.ie
Open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Saturday
This is Dublin's grandest and greatest restaurant, whatever the begrudgers may say. Guillaume Lebrun's modern French cooking with many Irish twists is always good and occasionally sublime; Patrick Guilbaud and Stephane Robin conduct the dining room with consummate charm and humour; and service is impeccable without being clinical. Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud is a place every Dubliner should visit at least once. Don't listen to people who moan about the portions: they're Neanderthals who would prefer a curry and chips. That's all very well in its place, but not in Ireland's premier French restaurant. Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud is about taste: if you don't have any, you won't enjoy it.
Good points: Polished performance in every respect
Bad points: Most customers are not here for the food
How much? Main courses €45-€110
What tastes best? The €45 three-course set lunch menu
DUBLIN CITY
TOWN BAR & GRILL
21 Kildare Street, Dublin 2, 01-6624724, www.townbarandgrill.com
Open for lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday
Chef Temple Garner and maitre d' Ronan Ryan worked for many years at the Mermaid Cafe, on Dame Street in Dublin, before opening this ultrafashionable modern Italian restaurant in a Kildare Street basement. Still settling down after barely six months in business, Town Bar & Grill rarely misses a beat. When London-Irish chef Richard Corrigan ate there recently he told the boys not to change a thing. Chargrilled T-bone and veal chop depend on the quality of raw materials and deft cooking. Garner's more elaborate dishes, meanwhile, never lose the run of themselves. The wine list offers keen value for money, and the place is hopping night after night. Attention to detail is what it's all about. For once the fashionable crowd have it right.
Good points: Italian food beyond red sauce
Bad points: Too close to the Dáil for comfort
How much? Main courses €19-€32
What tastes best?
CO DUBLIN
CAVISTONS SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
59 Glasthule Road, Sandycove, Co Dublin, 01-2809120, www.cavistons.com
Open for lunch from Tuesday to Saturday
There are people who don't like Cavistons, but you don't often meet them. They tend to object to the simplicity of the food, the rather intimate seating and, presumably, the general sense of bonhomie exuded by Peter Caviston, one of the great characters of Irish food. I adore it for all of those reasons, and now that it has improved its wine list it is even more desirable. It is right not to open for dinner: if it did it would become a chore, the staff would have no social life and everybody would suffer. Cavistons is a very happy place, and I'd like to see it stay that way.
Good points: Best seafood in Dublin
Bad points: Lunch only; no bookings
How much? Main courses €14.25-€26
What tastes best? Grilled prawns
CO DUBLIN
CHINA-SICHUAN
4 Lower Kilmacud Road, Stillorgan, Co Dublin, 01-2884817
Open daily for lunch and dinner
China-Sichuan is my favourite Chinese restaurant in Ireland - and the only authentic Sichuanese one. Not only is the team utterly delightful, welcoming, charming and informative, but many of the people in the kitchen are working as part of an exchange system with China. Once I sit down, with a Tsingtao beer to hand and a little dish of pickled bean sprouts and vegetables in front of me, I'm in heaven. Sichuanese beef is amazing: profoundly flavoured and scorching with chilli (although it has been toned down a little for the likes of us). Duck smoked over tea and camphor wood, served with sharp plum sauce, is fabulous. I have eaten here dozens of times, and it has never been less than perfect.
Good points: Authentic Sichuanese food; great staff
Bad points: Too many customers stick with sweet and sour
How much? Main courses €9-€28
What tastes best? Sichuanese beef
CO CARLOW
THE LORD BAGENAL INN
Main Street, Leighlinbridge, 059-9721668, www.lordbagenal.com
Open daily for lunch and dinner
The Lord Bagenal is many things - a favourite wedding venue, a hotel, a watering hole for the local hunt, a great place for a carvery lunch, a fairly posh restaurant - but what makes it really special is James Kehoe's fascination with wine. So great is this that Kehoe is the only Irish restaurateur I've casually bumped into at Vinexpo, in Bordeaux, and he has won numerous awards for his list, notably from the international Decanter magazine. Although the grub has not always been up to snuff, the current situation is good. The formal diningroom is offering food that is well up to the wines. James and Mary Kehoe are great hosts - and very modest, self-effacing people into the bargain. What they do at the Lord Bagenal is quite remarkable.
Good points: Brilliant wine list; great value
Bad points: Lots of weddings
How much? Main courses €8-€20
What tastes best? Lamb stew
CO CAVAN
THE OLDE POST INN
Cloverhill, 047-55555, www.theoldepostinn.com
Open for dinner from Tuesday to Sunday and for lunch on Sunday
News has travelled about this destination restaurant (with B&B accommodation). It has been run for the past three years by Tara McCann and Gearoid Lynch, who is drawing on his years working under some of the country's top chefs. Stuffed chicken breast is very
Le Coq Hardi, and the prawns in kataifi pastry are pure L'Ecrivain. But there is a sense of adventure, too: the bacon-and-cabbage terrine is the stuff of dreams. Lucky old Cavan.
Good points: You can stay overnight
Bad points: That "Olde" sounds misleadingly twee
How much? Main courses €22-€26
What tastes best? Le Coq Hardi-style stuffed chicken breast
CO CAVAN
McNEAN BISTRO
Main Street, Blacklion, 071-9853404
Open for dinner from Thursday to Sunday (plus some Wednesdays in summer); open for lunch on Sunday
Neven Maguire is very young to be an institution. His television appearances, his books and his charm mean that he has a large and very keen fan base. It does seem odd, in a world of plate-throwing superchefs with tempers as big as their egos, that someone like Maguire gets to produce superb food. He has outstanding balance in his cooking - an innate sense of flavours and how they work - and he insists on the best raw materials, ideally local and artisan-produced. The formerly chintzy diningroom has come right up to date, and discriminating eaters are making regular pilgrimages. (They can stay here, too, as this is a "restaurant with rooms".) Several readers say Maguire is Ulster's best chef - and that he offers its best-value fine food.
Good points: Great food from a modest chef
Bad points: Might seem a long way to go
How much? Main courses €21-€25
What tastes best? Any dessert
CORK CITY
BOQUERIA
O'Donovans Bar, Bridge Street, Cork (021-4559049)
Open daily; tapas from noon; specials from 6pm
My experience of tapas bars in Ireland has not been one of unalloyed joy, largely because most of them seem to have no notion of what tapas are about. It's very refreshing, then, to come across Boqueria, on gloomy old Bridge Street, just north of the Lee, which offers a cracking selection of the real thing, plus what you might call Irish tapas. No, don't make a face. They are really very good: black pudding, Frank Hederman's smoked salmon and lots of local produce, with great bread, keenly priced wine and a buzzing atmosphere. Tout le beau Cork eat here, like.
Good points: Even the Irish tapas are great
Bad points: Lots of property developers
How much? Main courses €7.50-€8.50; tapas €2-€10
What tastes best? Frank Hederman's Belvelly smoked salmon
CORK CITY
CAFE PARADISO
16 Lancaster Quay, Western Road, 021-4277939, www.cafeparadiso.ie
Open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Saturday
Denis Cotter, the author of two superbly written and beautifully designed cookbooks, makes by far the best, most imaginative and purest vegetarian food in these islands. It is not always flawless: if something sounds as if it's going to be heavy, it often is. But when Cotter is on top form, few restaurants, omnivorous or otherwise, can match the experience. The service is superb and very friendly, the clientele is splendidly eclectic and the soups, often overlooked, are the business.
Good points: Brilliant vegetarian food
Bad points: Occasional outbreaks of blandness
How much? Main courses €21-€22
What tastes best? Tomato soup
CORK CITY
CRAWFORD GALLERY CAFE
Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Emmet Place, Cork, 021-4274415, www.ballymaloe.ie
Open for lunch from Monday to Saturday
Put on the map by Fern Allen and now run by her nephew Isaac (husband of Rachel Allen), this lovely room within the glorious Victoriana of the Crawford gallery is an oasis of calm. It's great for breakfast (French toast with smoked bacon and maple syrup or Clonakilty black pudding on toast) or for coffee and melting shortbread. At lunch there is always excellent fish and other simply cooked but imaginative dishes. It's also a great meeting place for people from all over the county who are in town for the day.
Good points: Great meeting place
Bad points: Cork mothers of seven
How much? Main courses €12.50-€14
What tastes best? Shortbread biscuits
CORK CITY
THE FARMGATE
The English Market, 021-4278134
Open for lunch from Monday to Saturday and for dinner on Friday and Saturday
The Farmgate restaurant, as distinct from the attached self-service cafe, is a remarkable for having no pretensions, the shortest of wine lists and an ad-hoc look yet being a place of pilgrimage for food lovers. They come because they can, for example, order a dozen oysters and see them arrive straight from the fishmonger downstairs. They can also have all the old Cork delicacies, such as tripe, drisheen, skirts, bodices and what have you. But they also get lots of simple but wonderfully wholesome food packed with flavour. The Farmgate is about the essence of good food and the essence of Cork hospitality. If you want to experience what the city is about, a visit here is essential.
Good points: Great uncheffy food
Bad points: Gets very busy
How much? Main courses €8.50-€14
What tastes best? Oysters
CORK CITY
ISAAC'S
48 MacCurtain Street, Cork, 021-4503805
Open for lunch from Monday to Saturday; open daily for dinner
Isaac's has been operating its great formula - good food, decent prices, a big, bright space with quite a buzz - for yonks. After a bit of a wobble, a few years ago, it is as good as ever. Its informality, robust and eclectic food, short but clever wine list and sheer energy make it unique in Cork. Canice Sharkey and Michael Ryan run the place with a very clear notion of what people want, and as a result it's a landmark restaurant. It's also miles better than many more expensive places in the city.
Good points: The buzz
Bad points: The buzz can become a bit much
How much? Main courses €16-€25
What tastes best? Ardsallagh crostini
CORK CITY
JACQUES
Phoenix Street, 021-4270634
Open for lunch from Monday to Saturday and for dinner daily
Tucked away behind the GPO, on Oliver Plunkett Street - it's quite hard to find if you're going for the first time - this is one of Cork's oldest restaurants, having opened in 1982. Jacques takes food very seriously but does so with a light touch. And it promotes good wine by generous pricing, wines of the week and even special offers of, say, a half-bottle of manzanilla with your starters (I'm in heaven already). I've eaten here many times and can't recall an occasion when the food, or indeed the wine, was less than perfect. Great cooking, lots of local raw materials and superb desserts. Why is this restaurant not more celebrated by the people of Cork? It's among the best the city has to offer.
Good points: Cork's best-kept secret
Bad points: Having to resist the manzanilla if you're driving
How much? Main courses €19.19-€24.90
What tastes best? Scallops and cauliflower puree
CORK CITY
LES GOURMANDISES
17 Cook Street, 021-4251959, www.lesgourmandises.ie
Open for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday; open for lunch on Friday
Cook Street is too gloomy to let much daylight in, so perhaps it's just as well that Les Gourmandises opens only for dinner, except on Fridays and during the days before Christmas. I had no idea how popular this very traditional French restaurant is with the people of Cork until I unwittingly left it out of a selection of restaurants in the real capital a few months back. A flood of e-mails put me right. I'm not sure that there is anywhere else in the country so thoroughly French, and Les Gourmandises is a reminder of how good cuisine bourgeois can be. Many a deal has been done between the city's merchant princes over dinner here, and if you know your Cork who's-who, a glance around the diningroom can be good spectator sport.
Good points: Unpretentious French food
Bad points: All the customers seem to be from Rochestown
How much? Main courses €23.50-€28.75
What tastes best? Boeuf Bourguignonne
CO CORK
BALLYMALOE HOUSE
Cloyne, Midleton, 021-4652531, www.ballymaloe.ie
Ballymaloe is an icon. People come from all over the world to enjoy the east Co Cork countryside, the country-house hotel created by Myrtle Allen, the generous, simple, wholesome food of Rory O'Connell and the X-factor that you can't quite put your finger on. Although very high standards apply, this is still a homely, friendly place without the kind of heel-clicking service that tends to go with Michelin stars. Prices are high, but you can't do what Ballymaloe does on the cheap. My only gripe is that the wine list should be as good as the food.
Good points: Only great Irish restaurant that offers seconds
Bad points: The wine list needs a lift
How much? Set dinner menu €60
What tastes best? Warm salad of smoked Gubbeen bacon and
poached egg
CO CORK
CASINO HOUSE
Coolmain Bay, Kilbrittain, 023-49944
Open for dinner from Thursday to Tuesday and for lunch on Sunday
People travel for miles to eat Michael Relja's lobster risotto in this charming French restaurant between Bandon and Kinsale; in good weather, its alfresco Sunday lunch is a west Co Cork institution. Seafood is particularly good, but Ballydehob duck breast, quite rare and juicy, exemplifies the straightforward but highly skilled nature of the kitchen. Vegetarians are particularly well catered for.
Good points: Eating alfresco
Bad points: Sounds like a gambling den
How much? Main courses €17.90-€26
What tastes best? Ballydehob duck
CO CORK
GRAPEFRUIT MOON
Main Street, Ballycotton, 021-4646646
Open for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday
I bet Ivan Whelan is browned off with being reminded that he is Myrtle Allen's grandson, but I mention it only because he seems to have inherited his grandmother's confidence in simple food of impeccable provenance. This small, elegant and unpretentious restaurant is one of my favourite places to eat, because Whelan is a young chef wise way beyond his years. Seafood (straight off the boat at Ballycotton Pier) is allowed to express its freshness and quality without being cheffed around. And yet, in some dishes, he incorporates Japanese influences with supreme subtlety and confidence. Grapefruit Moon is worth a very big detour if you happen to like food that is cooked without stoveside vanity. The wine list is short and avoids most of the usual suspects.
Good points: Some of the best cooking in Munster
Bad points: High incidence of tribunal lawyers
How much? Main courses €18-€26
What tastes best? Black sole
CO CORK
THE CUSTOMS HOUSE
Baltimore, 028-20200
Open for dinner from Thursday to Sunday (or all week in July and August). Closed October to Easter
I remember eating in the original Customs House, when Susan Holland and Iain Parr first opened, in what seemed to be someone's front room. Portions were huge, and I was defeated by a lemon chicken dish. "So, you didn't like your chicken," said Parr, with a mixture of pity and admonition, as he cleared away. Since then this uncluttered, very focused restaurant has become not just the best in west Co Cork but also one of the best in the country. I think it's very significant that Parr and Holland use the winter to travel and to cook in different parts of the world. If more chefs did the same, Ireland would be a happier place, but few chefs here have Holland's dexterity and purity of style. Parr's wine list is pleasantly offbeat.
Good points: Seafood does not get better than this
Bad points: You can't go in the winter
How much? Set dinner menus €28 and €38
What tastes best? Fish
CO CORK
O'DONOVAN'S
58 Main Street, Midleton, 021-4631255
Open for lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday
O'Donovan's is deceptive. It looks like a pub from the outside, and when you go in you might think it was just a restaurant, notwithstanding the comfortable chairs and crisp napery. When you see Ian Cronin's menu, however, you realise you are somewhere special - east Co Cork's best-kept secret. My perennial favourite at lunch is grilled Ardsallagh goats' cheese with salad, which sounds whole lot simpler than it really is. Fish with amazingly sharp courgette chutney is another stunner, and warm salad of lambs' kidneys is always great. Prices are steep by local standards, but this kind of food never comes cheap. I've paid more for a lot less fun.
Good points: Deft, precise, imaginative food
Bad points: Looks like a pub from outside
How much? Main courses €18.95-€29.95
What tastes best? Monkfish with courgette chutney
CO GALWAY
ARD BIA
2 Quay Street, Galway, 091-539897
Open for lunch from Monday to Saturday and for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday
This is the establishment that Galwegians constantly talk about, and it's easy to see why. Functioning as a cafe by day (with a great lunch menu) and as a rather more structured restaurant by night, Ard Bia does funky, chunky food. And there are not that many places in the country where you can get braised ox cheeks, Lebanese coffee or Moroccan mint tea, for that matter. The fact that it's above Tigh Neachtain, the famous and splendidly old fashioned pub, is a bonus.
Good points: Above Galway's best pub
Bad points: Very busy at weekends
How much? Main courses €16-€24
What tastes best? Braised beef cheeks
CO GALWAY
DA TANG NOODLE HOUSE
2 Middle Street, Galway, 091-561443
Open for lunch from Monday to Friday; open daily for dinner
The northern Chinese food at Da Tang is, as far as I can gather, unique in Ireland. This is a very informal, reasonably priced and slightly rubbed-at-the-edges restaurant. In fact it is like no Chinese restaurant I've ever visited in these islands. There are wonderful dumplings and various other dishes, but the noodles in various broths, based on really intense chicken stock and pungently flavoured, are what bring me back time and again.
Good points: There's nowhere quite like it in Ireland
Bad points: Napkins should be deployed at chest level
How much? Main courses €10.50-19
What tastes best? Dumplings, then noodles
CO GALWAY
DELPHI LODGE
Leenane, 095-42222, www.delphilodge.ie
Open daily for dinner (residents only)
The atmosphere at Delphi is like a country-house party, a sense enhanced by the fact that everyone sits around one dinner table, the head occupied (in the salmon season) by the person who has caught the largest fish of the day. Peter Mantle, who presides over this pleasantly patrician establishment, has created one of the great cellars of Ireland. Trading up is encouraged by a more or less fixed mark-up, so you can find yourself drinking superb wines at little more than what they would cost in a shop. But the food is excellent, too: country house in essence but executed with real flair and occasional twists (oriental, Italian, always full of surprises). There are only 12 rooms, so book well in advance.
Good points: Country house with exceptional food and wine
Bad points: Communal dining table
How much? Set menu €49
What tastes best? Salmon or game sausage
CO KERRY
PACKIE'S
Henry Street, Kenmare, 064-41508
Open for dinner from Monday to Saturday (except January and February)
Packie's is a gloriously informal restaurant that has been providing exceptional food for well over a decade. A perennial favourite is the Irish stew - so often borderline disgusting in lesser places and less skilful hands - which is said to outsell everything else. But not everything here is traditional Irish food: there are lots of Mediterranean influences, too. Kenmare may have grander, more formal and even more idiosyncratic places to eat, but Packie's combines great local raw materials, funky cooking and a great sense of hospitality. As a result it is a Kenmare legend among those who know their food.
Good points: Generous portions of proper food
Bad points: Indecisive tourists
How much? Main courses €12.90-€32.50
What tastes best? Crubeens
CO KERRY
OUT OF THE BLUE
Waterside, Dingle, Co Kerry, 066-9150811
Open for lunch and dinner from Thursday to Tuesday
This eminently sensible seafood restaurant, with an ace deli out front, is small but brilliant. It uses superb local produce to great effect by not doing a whole lot to it. From extreme to extreme: lobster is fabulous and keenly priced, and pollock actually tastes good. A great little wine list is largely sourced from Ben Mason of Wicklow Wine Company, who happens to be the brother of the restaurant's owner, Tim Mason (above). A gem.
Good points: Waterside setting
Bad points: Ordering fungi could be misinterpreted
How much? Main courses €17-€30
What tastes best? Pollock
CO KERRY
QC'S SEAFOOD BAR AND RESTAURANT
3 Main Street, Cahirciveen, 066-9472244, www.qcbar.com
Open daily for lunch; open for dinner from Monday to Saturday
I stumbled across QC's on a wet summer evening when Cahirciveen was looking like even more of a streak of misery than unusual. I ate the freshest seafood cooked with real panache, some superb wild smoked salmon from the owners' family smokery and a glass of Barbadillo manzanilla, imported directly from Spain. The diningroom is a bit poky and the decor a little dark, but the overall experience is great. I would drive a very long way to eat here.
Good points: Barbadillo manzanilla by the glass
Bad points: A bit dark
How much? €18.95-€24.50
What tastes best? Grilled squid
CO KILDARE
THE BALLYMORE INN
Ballymore Eustace, 045-864585
Open daily for lunch; open for dinner from Tuesday to Sunday
This gastropub is a great place to eat, whether for whopping sandwiches in the bar or more refined stuff in the restaurant. It's always good to see a kitchen taking pride in the area's produce: local bacon with local organic cabbage was the special on my last visit. In fact, one of the great things about the Ballymore Inn is that it doesn't do much cheffing. The quality of the raw materials is given full rein thanks to simple preparation: organic burger, steak with onion rings, glazed loin of bacon, chicken wings. Have a glass of the Bouvet Saphir sparkling wine from the Loire (€6.50) and browse the menu. Even the Kildare sandwich (chunky ciabatta, thick slices of proper ham, cheddar and delicious apricot chutney, all served with salad) is worth a detour.
Good points: A true gastropub
Bad points: All the customers seem to drive 4x4s
How much? Main courses €15.90-€21.50
What tastes best? Anything organic
CO KILDARE
FFRENCH'S RESTAURANT
Main Street, Castledermot, 059-9144099, www.theschoolhouse.ie
Open for dinner from Thursday to Saturday and for lunch on Sunday
One of the luminaries of the international fine-wine trade, and now a regular customer of this place, told me about the "new" schoolhouse restaurant (that's what the building once was), re-created by chef-patron Michael ffrench-Davis, but she is not alone in her enthusiasm for the place. "Good cooking without being self-conscious or fashionable" is how another correspondent puts it. "Great nostalgic puddings," says another. "Comfortable and comforting," says a fourth, "but service can be a bit patchy." Bed and breakfast means you can lay down your weary head after dinner.
Good points: Desserts
Bad points: Trying to resist them
How much? Main courses €16.50-€24.95
What tastes best? Apricot crumble
CO KILKENNY
ZUNI RESTAURANT AND TOWNHOUSE
26 Patrick Street, Kilkenny, 056-7723999, www.zuni.ie
Open for lunch from Tuesday to Sunday; open for dinner daily
I like the food, the service and the room at Zuni. I'm not so keen on the bog-standard wine list, although it's possible to select something moderately pleasant from it. I'm just mildly puzzled that Zuni doesn't have much in the way of competition in terms of funky food. That's surely what Kilkenny needs, funky city that it is. The food is punchy, maybe rather unsubtle, but always well executed and fun. Expect lots of chilli jam, oriental influences and good seafood. There's talent in the kitchen, and this is, by general consent, the place to eat in the city.
Good points: Great fish and chips
Bad points: Boring wine list
How much? Main courses €18.95-€28.95
What tastes best? Fish and chips with pea puree