Dublin Restaurants

The upswing in Dublin's economy has brought with it a new breed of trendy restaurants and it now has a restaurant scene comparable with most European cities. A wide range of cuisines are catered for including French, Thai, Lebanese, Chinese and Italian. There are several restaurants offering traditional Irish food, but these are becoming harder to find as Dubliners' tastes become more refined. The café scene has also become very popular over the last few years, providing a good option for all-day eating and drinking.

Unfortunately, eating out is expensive and prices are often higher than you'd pay in most other countries, due to the high taxes. The city's many pubs are ideal for lunch and represent the best value for money. They usually serve traditional Irish food along with sandwiches and soups. If you are on very tight budget, you will find the normal fast-food outlets as well as Chinese take-aways and kebab shops.

Where to eat

Nearly all of the good restaurants are to be found south of the Liffey. There are many that are reasonably priced around the Temple Bar area, between Dame street and the river. Here, you will also find several places that offer exciting new Irish cuisine, where young chefs experiment with traditional Irish ingredients.

The more established and expensive restaurants are mostly located in the Georgian area to the south of the city centre. There are a limited number of places to eat at north of the river and these tend to be good value.

Local cuisine

You will be disappointed if you are looking for restaurants serving traditional Irish food, as Dublin has become trendy and sophisticated, meaning authentic cuisine can be hard to come by. Some of the modern places in Temple Bar offer a new and modern Irish cuisine, but if you're looking for Irish stew and shepherd's pie then you need to stick to the pubs.

Dublin is famous, however, for a number of good drinks such as whiskies including Old Bushmills, Jamesons and Tullamore Dew. Baileys and Irish Mist are two liqueurs that are also worth trying.