Top 100 restaurants in Ireland ranked, showcasing best food, chefs and dining experiences
The 100 Best Places to Eat, 2026
Best of lists don’t happen overnight. They take months of planning, research, collaboration and, of course, eating out.
Over the last 12 months, the food team at the Irish Examiner has been busily working on our inaugural 100 Best Places to Eat list. Created in the fashion of Ireland’s 100 Best Places to Stay, which we launched in November, we have reviewed and eaten in every place that we recommend. With 100 entries, we’ve only ranked our Top 20, just as we did with our hotels.
Unusual for a national media organisation, the Examiner has two restaurant critics, one based in Cork and one in Dublin. With a rotating column every two weeks, we manage to cover more of the country than any other newspaper. Despite our geographical spread, this list is our personal selection and does not represent every single restaurant in the country, despite our best efforts to visit them all.
But it marks the start of an exciting new tradition, an annual celebration of Ireland’s exceptional places to dine.
Each restaurant has been carefully selected, and while many differ in style and offering, each inclusion meets the highest standards and shares a few things in common: great food, enjoyable service and a vibrancy that makes us want to return.
Dublin-based Leslie Williams, who is also the Irish Examiner’s wine columnist, argues that the toughest part about creating this list was having to omit some great restaurants.
“It really is a privilege to be writing about restaurants right now. Never in the history of Ireland have we had so many great places to eat, so many exciting chefs, and such choice. There are so many talented chefs working at all levels of the industry, from coffee shops to gastro pubs, wine bars, neighbourhood and casual dining spots, right up to fine dining.”
Our Cork-based critic, Joe McNamee, agrees that the ask was challenging. “I prefer to think of this list as 100 ‘great’ Irish restaurants rather than ‘best’ restaurants, because ‘best’ could very easily have been a top 120, 130, or even more. What this list most definitely is, however, is a snapshot in time of a vibrant, creative, thrilling, and world-class Irish restaurant and hospitality sector and food offering.”
We hope you will enjoy reading it and use it to try new places, visit forgotten ones, and to support the very best of dining in Ireland in 2026.
Dede is the cafe-deli that, almost accidentally, instead wound up as a Michelin two-starred restaurant. Yet service, never less than highly efficient, is delivered with the same casual offhand charm that might be more expected in a cafe-deli and diners love it. The room itself is tricky, long and narrow, but it still works and, in the right kind of weather, the outdoor courtyard to the rear offers the best seats in the house.
The best Irish restaurants build on premium Irish produce; few do it better than chef Ahmet Dede, co-owner with Maria Archer of this Baltimore restaurant that has taken Irish cuisine in entirely new directions.
Key has been his increasingly deep immersion in the flavours of his Turkish childhood, allied to stunning West Cork produce.
Turkish street food is often reimagined as genuinely original Irish fine dining fare: Sogan Dolma (onion stuffed with Turkish rice, dried apricots, mint and spices) or a deeply addictive grilled lobster kebab.
Dede venerates local fish and seafood and Cape Clear lamb is an ever present: Adana kebab, served on flatbread with red pepper puree and wild garlic yogurt. Jacques Beauregard superbly curates the room and a sublime wine and cocktail list.
- €€€€€, customshousebaltimore.com
A truly great restaurant is not just one thing, it is about every ingredient, every sauce, every plating decision, every member of staff, whether front or back of house, all working in finessed harmony. Chapter One does this better than most restaurants on the planet. Chef Mickael Viljanen’s cooking is as creative as it is flawless but can also include whimsy and fun. On one hand he revives lièvre à la royale (royal hare), perhaps the most baroque dish of the French classical tradition, while, on the other, he adds jalapeños to the sauce with your scallops. Yes, the cooking in Chapter One is outstanding but so too is the welcome. It’s a Finnish-helmed fine French restaurant that somehow feels utterly Irish.
- €€€€€, chapteronerestaurant.com
Chef Stephen Toman and sommelier Alain Kerloc’h opened Ox in 2013 and within weeks the whole of Ireland was aware that something thrilling was happening in Belfast. Michelin also noticed and they were awarded a star within two years.
Housed in a former tile shop, the room has a dramatically high ceiling and a large picture window looking onto the River Lagan but somehow manages to feel intimate and welcoming. Toman’s cooking is poised, elegant and exciting, his teasing of strictly seasonal ingredients into explosions of flavour can leave you breathless.
Every plate looks like a painting and every ingredient on that plate will shine in its own way while contributing to the harmony of the dish. Ox wine bar next door is a favourite little sister too.
- €€€€€, oxbelfast.com
There are times when you’d wish St Francis Provisions could find a larger space, the better to share the magic but, equally, this tiny room has the effect of concentrating owner Barbara Nealon’s hospitality into a near-tangible glow of maternal energy. Chef Rebeca Recarey Sanchez, meanwhile, can’t stop improving, embellishing superbly sourced local Irish produce and judicious imports with pronounced Iberian influences, in what is evolving into a genuine and singular Hiberno-Iberian cuisine.
Signature dishes include skewers of tender, sweet grilled ox tongue, brightened with sumac, labneh and blood orange; while grilled octopus, potato escabeche, aioli will transport you to Spain in a single swallow; and cheeseboard always includes stunning Lost Valley Dairy cheeses. A short, smart and simpatico natural wine list completes a never less than perfect evening.
There is no sign, just a cartoon drawing on a door, the room is an unconventional rectangle crossed with a triangle, an open fire is the main cooking source and everything is served family-style. I could be describing a 19th century tavern but this is, in fact, a Michelin starred restaurant serving generous portions of pristinely cooked Irish ingredients in a way that feels profound while also unpretentious. Some dishes are recreations of childhood memory, others could grace the table of any fine dining restaurant in the world, such as the duck parfait chef Keelan Higgins has had on the menu since they opened in 2018. Front of house, run by Keelan’s brother Aaron, is warm and welcoming and wine is treated as seriously as the food.
- €€€, varietyjones.ie
Assassination Custard serves food with heart, and sometimes they serve actual heart from Broughgammon Goat Farm and it is utterly delicious. Ken Doherty and Gwen McGrath’s tiny 8-seater restaurant is open for lunch Wednesday to Friday only, the strictly seasonal menu is handwritten (on a brown paper bag) and largely based on Jenny McNally’s organic vegetable delivery, plus carefully chosen fish and meat, usually off-cuts; you can stay vegan or indulge in perfectly cooked offal. Self-described as “sort of Italian” you might find homemade Pugliese tarralli with cannonata or a bitter leaf salad with guanciale or simple slices of blood orange sprinkled with dried oregano. The joyful cooking and tiny space combine to create an unforgettable experience, one you will want to enjoy often.
Australian by birth, Hibernicised by marriage, Damien Grey’s intimate little Dublin restaurant is a phenomenal dining experience. Deeply wedded to premium Irish produce, from land and sea, and steered by the evolving seasons, Grey deploys superb technical ability with commendable restraint, yielding exquisite flavours and textures that occasionally present with almost theatrical flair, stunningly beautiful creations on the plate. It is modern cuisine but buttressed with timeless techniques such as fermentation and preservation, each dish representing a deep dive into the ingredients and landscape from which it derives, with the taste of the terroir remaining key. Grey has surprised at every step of his career but the word is now well and truly out about this world class Irish restaurant — adding a third Michelin star would shock pretty much no one at all.
- €€€€€, liathrestaurant.com
The effort to get to rural-based Lignum is worth it for the impressive space alone, an imminently stylish Scandi-esque cathedral of warm woods, bare stone and glass walls peering out to produce gardens supplying much of the kitchen’s larder.
That same spare sensibility is evident on the plate, an almost ethereal engagement where wonderful flavours from superb produce, present as utterly enthralling, each bite, entirely captivating the senses. For all that the kitchen is based around live fire cooking over wood, smoky elements are a whisper rather than a scream and chef/proprietor Danny Africano is judicious in employing sublime imported additions that reflect his Italian heritage, while partner Molly Keane drives the Rolls Royce that is their front of house.
- €€€€, lignum.ie
The counter is the best seat in Goldie, the better to marvel at the fluid choreography as four chefs deliver to such a high standard in an impossibly narrow galley kitchen, with laser-focused head chef/co-proprietor Aishling Moore as principal dancer.
She is also fast becoming Ireland’s leading culinary ambassador for sustainable fish and seafood, primary evidence on her stunning wild fish-only menus. Snacks of old bay and langoustine potato crisps or Taiwanese fish nuggets are now permanent fixtures, but the daily catch-driven menu always incorporates lesser-hymned species. For example, deep-fried ling, battered in buttermilk and fermented hot sauce, served with bread and butter pickles and lime mayonnaise; or pan-roasted ray, swimming in pil-pil butter sauce with charred Singing Frog courgette.
- €€, goldie.ie
Having traded for several years in Killorglin, Damien Ring has found a much more public-facing forum for his superlative cooking in Dingle town, the tourism Mecca of South-West Kerry. The room is spare yet stylish but the food is where the real action is to be found, concise menus, just three courses, three dishes offered on each, but each and every one a triumph, strong on local seafood and backed up with beef and lamb, profound depth to flavours sometimes crafted over days rather than hours. A cracking little wine list backs up the magic on the plates.
- €€€, 505.ie
First there was the intimate space on Setanta Place (now home to Library Street), then there was the roof of a car park in central Dublin, then a field in Slane and finally a permanent home in Dublin Docklands and most recently Allta Farraige cocktail and seafood bar beside the main restaurant. Everywhere Niall Davidson has brought Allta he has also brought joy and brilliant cooking with intense flavours and creative dishes crafted from the season’s offerings.
Davidson looks to old techniques (fire, foraging, fermentation) but with a modern eye to punchy flavours and fine saucing. Pasta will be homemade, there might be wild sea buckthorn berries with your oysters, truffles with your cabbage or yuzu mixed with dulse to liven up your shrimp. Always surprising, always innovative and always delicious.
- €€€, allta.ie
The last 12 months have seen chef Brian Murray’s city centre restaurant fully realise the potential that has been there from the off. Murray and his cracking squad now cook with confidence and authority, especially over live fire.
An always local shopping list is delivered on the plate as quite delicious fare. One note-perfect meal last summer featured stunning focaccia, soft, savoury crumb, craggy, crisp crust, tomato confit and house ricotta; crudo of red mullet, immaculately partnered with Bushby’s strawberries and sea spaghetti, and a pork cooking masterclass, featuring local Glenbrook Farm free-range pork. The front-of-house experience has soared since manager Wesley Triggs returned to his native Cork, following a prolonged spell as manager of London’s esteemed Brawn restaurant, also reflected in his excellent curation of the wine list.
- €€€, theglasscurtain.ie
Not only has Paradiso survived the passing of the baton from founder chef/proprietor Denis Cotter to new owner Dave O’Mahony, but the restaurant is operating at a level to match any of its stellar heights over the years. It helps that O’Mahony “grew up” there, working in Paradiso since his early teens, going on to become general manager and one of the best sommeliers in the country. Ally that to the superb cooking by head chef Miguel Frutos and it is possibly the best ever iteration of an iconic restaurant that just happens to be vegetarian. The seasonal growing partnership with Gort na Nean farm remains, source of the superb produce which Frutos delivers on the plate with both technical precision and refinement, all the while retaining a vibrancy and freshness of approach.
- €€€, paradiso.restaurant
Vanessa Murphy and Ana Cabrera came to fame for their fun, lively tapas restaurant Tapas de Lola, but then came La Gordita and things got properly serious. If Lola is the mischievous younger sister then Gordita is the more serious older one but she too has a wild streak and knows how to party.This is grown up fine Spanish dining but it is also fun and a bit of a thrill ride eating here. Your gilda pintxo will have the finest Cantabrian Santoña anchovy skewered with the spikiest guindilla pepper and the juiciest olive; boquerones will likely be the best you’ve ever tasted, so too the Morcilla de Burgos, and that romesco sauce with the octopus would please any Catalan fisherman.
- €€€, lagordita.ie
There is always a certain point during peak evening service in Beverley Mathews’ L‘Atitude 51when it is worth taking a moment to marvel at the raucous energy of a packed room, like Christmas at the Copacabana as delighted diners are crammed into every available corner, with more room to roam in the handsome high-windowed room upstairs.
On a sunny day, that expands out to the riverside canopy-covered terrace, all in all, a remarkable state of affairs for a wine bar, albeit one with a world class natural wine list, the best in Ireland. But this is so much more than a wine bar thanks to the culinary conjurings of Simone Kelly and Natalia Leane, forever questing to find new, innovative, and delicious ways to deliver some of the finest produce in Cork.
- €€, latitude51.ie
Culinary styles, trends, flavours, and techniques may have evolved radically since Myrtle Allen first birthed modern Irish hospitality in this old country house back in 1964 but her locavore philosophy of celebrating finest Irish produce is still at the core of Ireland’s best restaurants.
The return as head chef of Dervilla O’Flynn who adds discreet, innovative, and contemporary touches to superlative produce, helps enormously in re-framing Ballymaloe House’s status as one of Ireland’s most important restaurants for this and coming generations. It might present as judicious Moroccan spicing or even an ingredient that simply wasn’t available in Myrtle’s days, but you know that Myrtle would still appreciate every single bite. And if you needed any further persuading, then head pastry chef JR Ryall’s curation of the legendary Ballymaloe dessert trolley is another masterclass in the timelessness of delicious food.
- €€€, ballymaloe.ie
The Crescenzi-McCarthy restaurant team have been on a roll in the past year or two. Achara brought intelligent tasty Thai food to Dublin’s quays, Juno/Hera revived the traditional pub and more importantly pub food, Crudo in Sandymount ticks away nicely, but with Borgo they blew us away with its brilliance. An osteria locale, aimed at local, it’s likely to be just as much a delight to any passing Italian gourmets.
Pasta is made on-site (with a bronze die machine, naturally) sauces are beautifully composed, flavours are piled on but don’t overwhelm, the staff are warm and welcoming and the room is a gorgeous old bank building: so many things to love.
- €€, borgodublin.ie
Takashi Miyazaki may have said goodbye to the tweezer-flourishing finesse and gold leaf glory days of the Michelin-starred iteration of Ichigo Ichie, but the precision with which he constructs exquisitely balanced flavours and textures remains, in this more casual, approachable, and affordable version of his Cork restaurant.
Hand-making his own delicious and nutty soba noodles each day is only the first step in marking Ichigo Ichie out as not just another ramen bar; rather, he brings his culinary precision and remarkable palate to bear on superbly sourced Irish produce, delivering an entirely original Hiberno-Japanese cuisine, with something to satisfy all taste buds, from skint student to silk-stocking sybarite. Fish, unsurprisingly, stars, as does a concise yet perfectly simpatico natural wine list.
- €€, ichigoichie.ie
Thyme epitomises the idea of a local restaurant, virtually every ingredient is sourced in Co Westmeath or a neighbouring county and then crafted using mainly classical French techniques into beautiful dishes that allow these local ingredients to shine. There is usually a flaky light puff pastry pithivier, often a ballotine and always expect immaculate saucing; perhaps a dillisk beurre blanc with your John Dory or a truffle jus with your beef.
Expect the meats, vegetables, and fruits on offer to be seasonal, game if it is in season, and assume that the menu will offer surprises like a Polish walnut kluski dumpling with your Sika deer or a medjoul date chutney with your Young Buck cheese. Chef proprietor John Coffey is a national treasure.
Eustace St, Dublin 2
Monty’s of Kathmandu will celebrate 29 years in business later this year, no mean achievement. Shiva Gautam and his wife Lina (who consults on every dish) have created and maintained one of Ireland’s true culinary gems, Nepalese, it is such an established part of Dublin’s dining scene you could overlook it, don’t.
The naan breads from the charcoal fired tandoor are the fluffiest and finest we’ve tasted, the sizzling “poleko squid” take just 40 seconds in the same tandoor and squeak with freshness, the momos dumplings explode in the mouth and the curries warm heart as much as the bones.
Then there is the enormous wine list, arguably the best in the country if judged on price, range, and quality. A faultless restaurant.
- €€, montys.ie
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It may present like a tourist honeytrap by way of a John Hinde postcard, and the menu may appear conventional at first glance, but that just illustrates the true extent of chef/proprietor Wade Murphy’s highly skilled cooking, to render complex technique as very delicious and highly approachable fare. One example, superbly cooked short rib of beef melts from the bone with flavours to melt the coldest heart. Meanwhile, his partner, Elaine Murphy runs a heartwarming room with charm and efficiency.
- €€€, 1826adare.ie
Too often Indian restaurants in Ireland focus on Northern Indian dishes, but not Chef Shantosh and his wife Milli who present the very best of Tamil Nadu and the Malabar coast. Go for weekday lunch and have a thali (tasting tray) and order extra Malabar paratha, their incredible fluffy, flaky pulled bread. Or go at the weekend and order everything on the menu from the nilgiri prawns in mint coriander and coconut to vada pav potato dumpling sliders, to the fish curry and the slow cooked lamb shanks in a rich spicy tomato sauce. Wholesome flavourful and always delicious.
- €, 3leaves.ie
At first glance, Dunmore House is a wedding venue hotel, albeit immaculately presented and with a gorgeous terrace location overlooking Clonakilty Bay.
Adrift, its in-house restaurant, however, marks it out as something quite different, an always delightful menu of excellent local produce, including superb salads and vegetables from their own organic gardens, and seafood and meat from their hinterland. Cooking style is Irish bistro with occasional French influences in the sauces. Dishes are cooked with commendable precision, care, and attention, premium fish such as turbot, brill and John Dory always to the fore, complemented by a thoughtfully curated wine list.
- €€€, dunmorehousehotel.ie
Rathangan, Co Kildare
Three days a week (Thursday-Saturday) eight guests sit in Philip and Kathy Mahon’s kitchen around a sculpted large ironwood table to be nourished and minded. It’s full on, there might be 14 intricate courses prepared in front of you over 4 hours, each morsel more exquisite than the last. Spontaneous applause and standing ovations are not uncommon, dining at Alumni Kitchen Table really is an immersive culinary experience.
Sourcing is local of course ,with lamb from the Curragh and duck from Feighcullen farm a mile away, cooking is precise and fine, saucing is sophisticated and complex. Original and intimate.
If Asheesh and Rupa Dewan lived in the UK they would have been knighted by now but we think they are quite happy with Ireland’s praise and thanks. Ananda is the showcase restaurant but Jaipur and Chakra also need a mention.
At Ananda the best Irish ingredients are teased into finely crafted Indian dishes reflective of the whole subcontinent and India’s incredibly rich culinary tradition. From Kerala tawa scallops with polenta chips and pickled shrimp, to monkfish tail in coconut and mustard broth to 36-hour dal makhini doused with Kerrygold, Ananda offers elegant, delicious and intelligent Indian cuisine, never compromising.
Aniar is an iconic Irish restaurant that has cleaved to a singular locavore philosophy of Irish food with admirable and never wavering determination. It is reflected everywhere in Aniar, in decor, furniture, fixtures, fittings, and even playlists.
Naturally, it is foremost on the plate where JP McMahon’s spirit of invention is always to the fore, delivering precise and delicious interpretations of the hyper-local Irish larder, over the course of a very generous tasting menu. Staff are friendly and efficient and a good wine list and house-created beverages complete the experience.
- €€€€, aniarrestaurant.ie
Part of the original quartet of chefs that earned a Michelin star for Paul Rankin’s seminal Roscoff, in Belfast, chef/proprietor Frankie Mallon has pared back the fine dining tropes to deliver a more elemental approach to some superbly sourced produce.
A long narrow manages to serve as a sublimely warm and welcoming hospitality space and the homely fare is superbly cooked and generously served, tender and deeply flavoursome free range pork chops a highlight of a most recent visit.
Sourcing is key to the offering, with fine seafood from Connemara and Clew Bay and the local cheeseboard is always a triumph.
- €€€, anportmor.com
Chef Phelim O’Hagan’s creative cooking showcases the best ingredients he can find in Ireland (north and south), while his partner Serina Macari ensures everything moves smoothly at front of house.
Seasonality is everything so expect game in the winter, rhubarb in spring, wild mushrooms in the autumn and brill or maybe scallops from the North Atlantic whenever the weather is not too stormy. Finely judged saucing balances out the dishes, a beef fat or maybe an onion brioche will disappear quickly so order two, and make sure to have dessert — perhaps the banana soufflé with dulce de leche.
Like a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner pitching up at the local point-to-point, the Dede team’s more casual Baba’De often sails close to Michelin star cooking but never Michelin star pricing, making it exceptional value for some truly magnificent food. An all day option of breakfast, brunch/lunch, and dinner, the Dede formula prevails, local Irish produce with Turkish inflections: Lahmacun kebab of beef and lamb; Baba’de style fried chicken; and Ali’s hummus, the finest in the country. Great wines and lovely cocktails complete an offering every bit as wonderful and welcoming as the original Dede mothership around the corner.
- €, babade.ie
Bastible describes itself as a neighbourhood restaurant but in truth this fine restaurant would work on any street in any town anywhere, it’s that good. Bastible caught all our attention when it was opened by Barry Fitzgerald ten years ago and it continues to captivate.
Currently under chef Killian Walsh, who has added extra colour and vibrancy, you will find the finest ingredients treated with sympathy and finesse like razor clams with samphire, shiso and gooseberry, lush and silky steamed Coolatin custard, or classic takes like sika deer with a Madeira jus. A joy.
- €€€, bastible.ie
Bastion is buried in the heart of Kinsale’s higgledy piggledy thoroughfares. Inside, it is an understated yet serene space, wine bar to the fore, dining room to the rear.
Never to the fore in trumpeting their wares, Paul McDonald and Helen Noonan’s homely restaurant does all its talking at the table. McDonald is a technically gifted chef and fine cook, delivering a flavoursome French classical take on great Irish produce — playing dairy’s lactic acidity off gently cooked fish is a regular trope.
Noonan’s professionalism out front, including knowledgeable curation of an extensive wine list, is deceptively casual, always warm, and welcoming.
- €€€€, bastionkinsale.com
Ballyfin, Co Laois
Picard-Edward’s arrival at Ballyfin Demesne in 2023 proved the missing piece of the puzzle for this stellar hotel. While the food had been good, the soft-spoken Yorkshireman brought a new cohesion, working closely with the gardening team to reap the benefits of the estate’s vast walled kitchen gardens.
A spectacular dining room deserves opulence, and while a knock-out starter of artichoke cream with chicken jelly and pickled artichoke, might come with Kristal caviar, there is never style over substance.
Considered, elegant dishes are matched by exquisite desserts and charming service, with after-dinner drinks in The Library the icing on the cake of an immersive and indulgent dining experience.
- €€€€, ballyfin.com
Big Fan’s mission statement hits the nail on the head: “Designed to ignite the senses, to offer an escape … with bold, flavour-driven dishes and a fun, dynamic experience.”
Irish ingredients from local producers are aligned with Chinese culinary craft and the result is a mix of the best flavours from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China with the odd nod to Korea and elsewhere in Asia thrown in. Awarded a well-deserved Michelin Bib recently, this restaurant is enormous fun with fine, bright flavours in every dish, cocktails are also a feature, not an afterthought.
- €€, bigfan.ie
Chef Sam Moody and his wife Emily run this properly local neighbourhood restaurant on the main street in Abbeyleix, just across the road from Morrisseys, Laois’s most famous pub. At lunchtime expect duck confit salad with leaves grown by the chef, maybe a wholesome seafood pie or a Caesar salad with a crisp breaded schnitzel. In the evening things move up a notch to honey glazed quail with gochujang and black garlic or wild venison loin with a stuffed saddle. The cooking is straightforward but elegant, with fine saucing. Expect a warm welcome from the young front of house team.
Veteran chef Temple Garner describes himself and his team as Hibernian Francophiles; “France is not retro for us, it never went out of style”, he declares. Proper French bistro food is not as easy to find as it should be in Dublin, so thank goodness for Bresson. Here you will find the airiest duck and foie gras parfait served with toasted brioche, scallops gratin in their shell, life-affirming ham hock and butterbean soup, steak and kidney pie with flaky pastry, ballotine of free-range chicken with Bayonne ham, old-school chocolate mousse, you know the drill.
- €€, bresson.ie
Garret Byrne opened Campagne in 2008 and was awarded a Michelin Star in 2013; he has maintained that star and more importantly his place in the hearts of Irish restaurant goers steadfastly ever since. One of the best value fine dining restaurants in Ireland with a fine Sunday lunch offering, this is old-school French cooking with modern twists. Pithivier, en croute, and soufflé might be mentioned but are applied to Irish produce properly sourced and in season. From grilled octopus with chickpeas, pumpkin and chestnut galette to smoked haddock lasagne with lobster bisque, so many dishes to love.
- €€, campagne.ie
We used to think comets heralded impending disaster, but we now know they are cosmic time capsules with clues to the history of the universe. Chef Kevin O’Donnell pays attention to the culinary past but his restaurant also offers spectacle and big flavours that will keep your attention.
Signature dishes like the pommes-boulangère rosette or the quail on toast with vin jaune sauce match the mood of the space, dishes that are far more complex than they sound and created with skill and passion. Comet is not yet open a year but it is blazing a brilliant trail.
In these days of celebrity chefs, owner/restaurateurs with their names above the door are something of a rarity but, then again, Mirco Fondrini, of Da Mirco, made his name as a front of house maestro during his 14 years at The Farmgate.
A consummate host, Fondrini’s welcome is all encompassing as he oversees a menu of homely Italian trattoria classics from his Valtellina birthplace, such as Lasagna da Mirco with cep mushrooms and Italian sausage, or patate e baccalá with potato and salted cod mousse, all enhanced by a killer old school wine list of Italian classics.
- €€, damirco.ie
Zsolt and Edel Lukács opened Daróg in July 2023 on Dominick St Lwr in the heart of Galway’s West End, and it quickly became a contender for best wine bar in Ireland. The comprehensive eclectic wine list has a focus on sustainability as much as quality and is matched by a creative flavour-driven menu created by Connemara born chef Stófán Feeney. A glass of Dorli Muhr Blaufränkish with your Dexter beef tartare with caper emulsion and fresh crisps, perhaps? Or maybe some
Fabien Trosset Arbin Mondeuse from the Savoie with your confit duck croquette and fennel chutney? Fun and fresh vibes all round.
- €€, darogwinebar.com
An Irish-French restaurant created in 2004 by French restaurateur Olivier Meisonnave and named for his home town in France, with hugely experienced Irish chef Graham Neville in the kitchen. All that we love about the best of French cooking is here; the finest ingredients (sourced locally) cooked as they should be and paired with the correct sauce; saucing in Dax is one of its many highlights. Desserts are as carefully crafted as starters and mains and the mainly French wine list is thoughtful and fairly priced while the basement location is a perfect hideaway from the world.
- €€€, dax.ie
Housed in a beautiful Victorian building with lots of dark wood, marble tabletops, booths and a private dining space. Named for a previous occupant and “purveyors of fine provisions” it’s namechecked in Ulysses by James Joyce. Head chef Dermot Staunton has been here from the start and almost everything is prepared in-house from smoked fish to the fine breads. Precision cooking, quality ingredients, a well-chosen modern wine list, and skilled welcoming front of house staff all knit together impeccably. Don’t miss the gorgeous cocktail bar upstairs.
- €€, delahunt.ie
In many ways, the epitome of modern Michelin-starred dining, with a 13-course surprise tasting menu, executive chef and co-patron James Moore’s highly complex dishes are designed to thrill. Confections like black sole in delicately spiced lobster bisque will linger long in my memory, as will the series of dessert courses, while the vegetarian tasting menu is one of the best around.
Hailing from Melbourne, via London, Vancouver, and New York, there’s international sass to the ambitious cooking here.
Oliver Plunkett St, Cork City
Elbow Lane was always a decent spot for good grub in a fine and funky venue but in recent years, since the Sharpe brothers took over the reins, Harrison in the kitchen and Ronan out front, Elbow Lane has gone from decent to very damned good, one of the top spots in Ireland for live fire cooking.
The usual live-fire steak suspects are excellent but Elbow Lane also explores alternatives, such as goat sausage or smoked beetroot all delivered with aplomb, capped by great beers from the in-house micro-brewery, wonderful cocktails, and a very smart wine list.
- €€€, elbowlane.ie
Etto serves an ever changing à la carte menu for lunch and dinner and feels like it has always been with us. Some of their dishes are part of Dublin lore, like the red wine prunes and vanilla mascarpone dessert and Lyonnaise potatoes that simply have to be ordered as a side dish, no meal is complete without them. The mediterranean inspired menu is always a delight and has an admirable lightness of touch, even if you order the roast venison with ceps. The wine list has always been a highlight too; long may Etto reign.
- €€, etto.ie
Mentored for many years by Michael Quinn, a great Waterford chef who cooked under Myrtle Allen, Peter Everett has always eschewed culinary showmanship, treating as gospel Myrtle’s credo, passed on to him by Quinn, of doing as little as possible to interfere with the primacy of premium produce.
However, it takes special skill and empathy to divine the delicious from a base premium product and Everett nails it every time, from super seafood to wonderful lamb, beef and game. An atmospheric venue in medieval wine vaults complete this fine restaurant.
- €€, everetts.ie
Short attention spans, forever forward-facing in quest of some fresh new thrill, often make the mistake of dismissing The Farmgate’s menu as “old hat”, the type of food your mother used to make. However, this ever delicious rendition of Cork’s culinary heritage is always more than just a history lesson on the plate and the proof is in the eating.
Deceptively familiar dishes, based on great local produce, come from the Myrtle Allen school of doing as little as possible to interfere with premium ingredients, all in one of the most beautiful hospitality spaces in the land, high up in the rafters of the English Market.
- €€, farmgatecork.ie
Midleton’s loss was very much Lismore’s gain, when the apocalyptic Storm Babet forced a permanent relocation for Máróg O’Brien’s seminal restaurant. Now run by her daughter, Sally, in a stunningly renovated Victorian pub with an impossibly handsome garden space to boot, the food continues that tradition of sourcing the very finest of fresh, local seasonal fare and delivering Irish country cooking with a twist. From elegantly simple salads to hearty full dinners, this is timeless Irish hospitality in an equally timeless venue, with Sally O’Brien as your impeccable host.
- €€, farmgate.ie
Fish Shop, on unprepossessing Benburb St beside the Luas tracks, is tiny, with a tiny menu centred around that everyday food – fish and chips.
Yet it undeniably deserves to be on this list, Start, perhaps, with oysters, crab on toast or prawn croquettes, before the main reason that you are here: the featherlight crispy batter encasing the translucent hake or haddock, chunky chips, and the brilliant wine list offering pet-nat, manzanilla or garganega to perfectly match the fish.
- €, fish-shop.ie
A “small, family run modern Irish restaurant in a relaxed setting … using the best ingredients we can find” is this restaurant’s modest description of itself and as of 2026 they can add Michelin star to their bio. John and Sandy Wyer’s cool restaurant really does pay close attention to their ingredients but also to creativity and flavour. That pollen isn’t on your chicken liver parfait for decoration, it adds a nutty clarity to the silky mouthful just as cauliflower purée might add an earthy contrast to the sweet flesh of the plaice. Finely honed precision cooking.
Forêt is sister restaurant to Forest Avenue just a few steps away, but here the focus is on classic French bistro dishes. They play the hits at Forêt and you will see comforting French words like chasseur, rillettes, terrine, campagne, and paysanne scattered across the menu. The Forest Avenue sourdough is among best in the country and you will need extra bits to mop up dishes like the poulet vin jaune or the sauce charcutière with the confit duck, and for dipping into the sticky rich French onion soup. Magnifique!
- €€, foret.ie
Nano Nagle Place, Cork City
Located in the bucolic gardens of the Nano Nagle Centre, in the heart of Cork city, the walled oasis that is Good Day Deli is a truly serene retreat, the restaurant itself a stylish glass cube perched on high to the rear of the sloping gardens. It is a bright, light-filled space, not unlike the delicious breakfast/brunch/lunch menus of fresh, local seasonal produce that make it one of the most popular seats in town. Look out for signature kai moana fish tacos, gorgeous baked confections (Beamish stout and chocolate cake, for example) and wonderful West Cork Coffee brews.
- €€, foret.ie
St Luke’s, Cork City
Sited at Ireland’s coolest urban crossroads (also including Live at St Luke’s venue), pizza parlour GoodHood is a subtly stylish venue with an easygoing vibe. Pizzas are superb: Bases swollen, blackened, blistered edges, yet still, light, crisp and savoury; toppings, of premium quality, judiciously applied. Benchmark margarita is the perfect polyamorous throuple of sweet acidic tomato, creamy mozzarella and herbaceous basil, and after that, the excellent menu takes flight. A canny offering of small plates includes superb beef cheek on crispy potato terrine, lamb flat bread, pork and prawn toast with sesame, fish croquettes and stunningly good twice-cooked fries.
- €€, goodhood.ie
Calabria is one of the most remote and least known Italian regions but also one of the proudest with a fine culinary tradition. Grano’s owner, Roberto Mungo, and many of his staff are from this beautiful region and so are most of the dishes served, plus the odd Pugliese dish or Italian classics like vitello tonnato or Parmigiana di melanzana. The house-made pasta is superlative, silky and complex with balanced saucing, Grano’s sourcing is also impeccable (the wines, that ndjua, oof!). Thankfully its sister wine bar next door, A Fianco, is marginally easier to get into.
- €€, grano.ie
Simon and Freddie Haden’s magical country house delivers on all levels — from an incredible setting in the Burren, wonderful interiors, relaxed hospitality and Jonathan Farrell’s inspired food.
A Dubliner whose exciting style of cooking is contemporary and seasonal, guests can look forward to creations like wild garlic spaetzle, cured Atlantic scallop with garden rhubarb, and samphire and lamb rump with steamed lamb smoked yogurt. Each dish is designed to showcase the region’s stellar produce, and Jonathan has a vegetable garden to draw from too. With an interesting selection of wines, fun service overseen by Éanna Hassett, and glorious views from the dining room, dinner here is a genuine pleasure.
- €€€€, gregans.ie
Sited in an old-style Irish cottage, including flagstone floors, dresser, and an endearing low-budget makeover, Homestead is a charmingly authentic space.
Overseen by Sophie McCauley, husband Robbie’s superb cooking is technically precise while offering real comfort and joy on the plate. McCauley shears away all but the most essential elements of each dish, With a creative menu built around finely sourced local produce from sea and land, including much grown by himself in their gardens and fruit orchards, purity of flavour and texture are always McCauley’s end goal.
- €€€€, homesteadcottage.com
George’s Quay, Cork City
Izz Cafe has come to symbolise the beating heart of the Palestinian support campaign in Ireland to such an extent that you might be forgiven for forgetting that it is also a great restaurant. That fact comes flooding right back the minute you sit down before one of their divine mezze platters, a dazzling vibrancy of colour, flavour and texture to kick off, before exploring further this canon of Palestinian culinary classics, in an ever bubbling city centre space with real soul. Be sure to always finish with Palestinian coffee and medjoul dates.
- €, izz.ie
The keyword in defining Kai is “generosity”, in both spirit and in servings of delicious food that simultaneously comforts and confounds as chef/proprietor Jess Murphy reimagines wonderful west of Ireland produce with a magpie mind allergic to culinary proscription. Fish and seafood is always to the fore, whole fish on the bone a particular pleasure and sweet treats are always sublime, as Murphy navigates with aplomb the fine line between bountiful, comforting flavours, and real innovation on the plate.
The space too is a delight, with all the welcome of a real community, masterfully overseen by Jess’s partner, Dave Murphy.
- €€€, kairestaurant.ie
Kaldero is not the first Filipino restaurant but it is the first aimed as much at Dubliners as at our 42,000 strong Filipino population. Chef Richie Castillo is half-Filipino and has been on a long mission to celebrate and honour (“not repackage”) Filipino food.
Plump green chilli peppers stuffed with minced pork and smoked scamorza (lumpia) typify the bold flavours on offer, as does the slow-cooked, meaty-rich oxtail kare kare. Expect vibrant flavours and a mostly Filipino wait staff who are happy to explain it all. Also, don’t miss the cocktails.
- €€, kaldero.ie
Eric Matthews opened Kicky’s on South Great George’s St in November 2023 and it became an instant classic. It was hard to book the week it opened and it is not much easier in 2026.
Mediterranean inspired food cooked over fire is one theme they promise but also fresh pasta with punchy sauces (rabbit bolognese or maybe pappardelle with 72-hour cooked short-rib).
Watch for dishes like sugar-pit cured pork chops and always order the signature potato focaccia with carbonara butter and a cocktail; expect big flavours, decent portions, and also fun, lots of fun.
- €€€, kickys.ie
Lady Helen has held a Michelin star since 2013 but the current team is arguably the best version yet, led by John Kelly, the low-key laser-focused chef who champions superb Irish produce and makes fine use of the bounty from the Mount Juliet Estate.
Served in the magnificent dining room, the French influence in the cooking is strong, but there are surprises too, like foie gras with dashi and mackerel with horseradish. Factor in a freshly revamped Manor House for 2026 and the sky’s the limit for this elegant Irish outfit.
- €€€€, ladyhelen.ie
Park Hotel, Kenmare, Co Kerry
The dinner offering has been reborn anew at Park Hotel since new owners Bryan and Tara Meehan swept through with a fresh broom, also unearthing a treasure in chef James O’Sullivan, a formerly junior member of the old kitchen team, now heading up Landline restaurant.
His soft, quietly reserved character is reflected on the plate, in a precise and empathic delivery of dishes that shun the pyrotechnics, instead plumping for a simpler approach, resulting in deeply flavoursome food.
An always bright and elegant room has also been transformed as a ‘gallery’ for the Meehans’ stunning collection of Sean Scully artworks.
- €€€, parkkenmare.com
From the folks behind Uno Mas and Etto, Lena is strictly Italian. Do we need another Italian restaurant? Well yes, yes we do if it is as focused and sharp as Lena.
The first Lena dish to go viral (but not the last) was their anchovy and sage leaf fritter: they were open a day. Big flavours like this are found throughout the menu which also has classics like cacio e pepe with hand rolled pici pasta, pumpkin-ricotta filled mezzalune and slow cooked ossobucco with gremolata and risotto milanese. Barely open a year and already this canalside beauty is a classic Dublin restaurant.
- €€€, lena.ie
Kevin Burke’s Library Street took over a space previously occupied by Allta and there is a spiritual connection between these two restaurants, Burke having worked here in Allta’s original iteration. Both offer flavour punches and layers of complexity in what seem like simple dishes, and pasta is usually a highlight.
Sadly, our favourite Library Street dish – the stuffed chicken wing– is no more, but there is still pumpkin risotto, chargrilled porkchop, grilled cabbage with kimchi, scallop and lobster ravioli and lots of other knock-out treats plus a creative, eclectic wine list and team of knowledgeable welcoming staff.
- €€€, librarystreet.ie
The interior is summer holiday simplicity but the real pleasures of Conor Graham and Mark Commin’s seafood bar and restaurant are best savoured on a sunny eve when its scenic location on New Quay Pier, Flaggy Shore just around the corner, truly comes into its own.
A deceptively simple menu will satisfy most appetites, from a crowd-pleasing and quite excellent fish and chips to the more upmarket offerings, including fresh local crab, lobster and, of course, Flaggy Shore oysters.
Special nod to local clams harvested by Graham’s uncle Willie, washed down with a fine Reisling.
- €€€, linnanesbar.com
Gráinne O’Keefe made her name in much missed Clanbrassil House (sister restaurant to Bastible) and such was her fame that when she opened Mae in 2021 it was over a year before we could get a booking.
The pared back dining room is a comfortable backdrop for all those things we like to find on a menu, such as croquettes (with perhaps brisket or bacon), good use of Irish cheese, perhaps in agnolotti or generously grated, and you might get the best onion ever with your beef.
This is confident flavour focused cooking with a noticeable undertone of warmth and indulgence laced through every dish.
- €€€, maerestaurant.ie
Howth, Co Dublin
The busy fishing village of Howth has to be one of the most romantic spots in Ireland and it is here you will find chef Killian Durkin and his partner Jess D’Arcy’s Mamó restaurant, serving spanking fresh fish from the boats moored just 150m away.
The signature cod chip starter of confit potato topped with taramasalata is one of those dishes we need in our official culinary archive (like the Italians have).
Expect precision cooking and fine use of seasonal ingredients, Mamó also has a great value lunch and a good sister restaurant in Margadh RHA, (which, with newly arrived Cathal Leonard at the helm, we expect to find in next year’s 100 Best list.)
Neven Maguire is not just the nicest man in Ireland (with more best-selling cookbooks than any other Irish chef or food writer); but he deserves his reputation and it didn’t happen by accident.
The country’s best-known chef, Neven’s cooking in MacNean house is among the most generous and joyful in the country, a true reflection of the man.
There is creativity and artistry in the food but also proper respect for ingredients and for technique. Even the vegetarian menu can inspire and enchant. Getting a booking isn’t easy but the perseverance will be worth it.
- €€€, nevenmaguire.com
Cooking fine quality Irish meat, fish and vegetables over fire, Mister S’s mission is as simple and pleasing as that and they take their job seriously. Taking inspiration from all the great barbecue traditions but notably from Brazil and parts of the Southern US the food in this hugely enjoyable restaurant never stints on flavour.
Try the signature burnt end rendang spring rolls, smoked beef short rib with chimichurri, grilled pork chop with a sticky glaze or go for a sharing côte de boeuf. For dessert, the tonka panna cotta is outstanding, or the chargrilled pineapple. Casual and cool.
- €€, misters.ie
A tiny space, a handful of stools, dining shelves along two walls, orders handed out through a high serving hatch, it is hardly surprising that most diners take away their food to eat elsewhere, most often to O’Sho, a pub across the road. Miyazaki is Takashi Miyazaki’s interpretation of Japanese street food that first turned him into a national culinary superstar.
With Mike McGrath now running the kitchen, fine and funky flavours are the order of the day, not least in great healing bowls of char siu pork, but always make sure to add a tasting of Miyazaki’s elemental and definitive dashi with plain noodles.
Another restaurateur-driven operation where Victor Murphy, one of the finest restaurant managers in the land, presides over this old country pub, dazzlingly reimagined by his partner artist Máire O’Mahony, whose family have had the business for three generations.
A fine outdoor space, with a recently imported Italian pizza oven, should come into its own this summer. Inventive cooking of seasonal small plates of superbly sourced produce (the first restaurant to feature Glenbrook Farm free range pork) is allied to a cracking cocktail list and guest chefs and pop-ups only add to the glitz and all-round gorgeousness of O’Mahony’s.
Another survivor worth celebrating, Eamon O’Reilly opened One Pico in 1997, 29 years ago. Zhan Sergejev is at the stove now and he has continued One Pico’s almost 30-year tradition of taking the best Irish ingredients and adding classical French culinary techniques to bring out their best.
Yes you will want to mop up that jus from the lamb, of course the chocolate tart uses the best bitter sweet Valrhona, but who knew caper ice-cream could match it so well?
Front and back of house are in harmony here, ensuring you will always leave feeling cosseted, cared for and delightfully sated.
- €€€, onepico.com
Orwell Road restaurant from the Bereen Brothers (Row Wines, Coppinger etc) has always been good but under Brazilian chef, Leticia Miranda, it might be even better.
Of course, Leticia has kept using the best Irish ingredients she can find but adds little touches of Brazil, like crispy tapioca croutons to the heirloom tomato salad or a cauliflower and coconut puree as a sauce for the the scallops and crispy chicken.
Properly tender cod with a crisp top might come with a complex dashi veloute and you know that slow cooked beef ragu will melt in the mouth.
- €€€, bereenbrothers.com
Chef Ross Lewis opened Osteria Lucio in 2016, a few years before he passed the Chapter One baton to Mickael Viljanen. You might think he would want a rest after all those years at a Michelin star stove but, of course, the boundless Corkman just moved to his other busy restaurant.
Fat juicy prawns baked in the pizza oven with garlic butter and nduja, bruschetta with spiced beef, suckling pork slow cooked over night; Osteria Lucio’s dishes may sound more rustic but the cooking here is just as sophisticated and intelligent as anything Ross has cooked. A fun and vibrant spot.
- €€€, osterialucio.com
Pickle celebrated its 10th birthday in March 2026. That’s a decade serving some of the tastiest and most creative Northern Indian food to a hungry Dublin public.
Chef Sunil Ghai and his restaurant manager, Benny Jacobs, have created one of the most welcoming restaurants in the country where Irish ingredients are married with Northern Indian techniques and flavours with delightful results.
There is a generosity about the food in Pickle, the prawns squeak with freshness, the slow-cooked lamb falls sweetly off the bone, the dal will warm your soul, and spices and spirits are always in harmony.
- €€€, picklerestaurant.com
Dining at Rare is like opening a magical box filled with ancient and modern food treasures; it’s extraordinary.
Chef Meeran Manzoor is originally from Tamil Nadu as is much of his team so as you might expect, his cooking is rooted in India but also influenced by European traditions and of course local ingredients.
Tasting menus might include venison with a Kinsale Mead jus, or momos dumplings filled with local lobster and clams, or flaky paratha stuffed with wild Irish mushrooms with venison jerky crumbled on top. No matter the pairing, all are a feast for the eyes and the palate at this remarkable spot.
- €€€€, bluehavenkinsale.com
Pizza perfection. Reggie White is the OG when it comes to pizza in Dublin, having consulted on most of the best pizza joints in the city (eg, Pi, Bambino, and Little Forest).
Virtually everything is faultless, from the cacio e pepe arancini with parmesan custard to the nduja and honey chicken wings, the meatballs to the garlic focaccia with brown butter and confit garlic.
More importantly, that pizza base will stay crisp light and fluffy from first bite to last while the toppings zing with flavour. Skip the ice cream sundae at your peril.
- €€, reggies.ie
Ballydehob, Co Cork
The moss green interior of this former pub is a zen-like space, otherworldly in its sense of still tranquility, a room that Elaine Fleming oversees with gentle and unobtrusive assurance.
Meanwhile, her husband, chef Rob Krawczyk, builds his menus on a bedrock of sublime and micro-locavore sourcing and including charcuterie made with his father, Frank, the godfather of Irish charcuterie. Dishes cycle through the season, delivered with an ethereal lightness and ever present delicacy of touch.
Lisheen Greens produce, Skeaghanore duck, local seafood, beef and free range pork – superlative produce revealing its quintessence on the plate.
Guilbaud’s is the grand-père of Irish fine dining, opened in 1981, it is halfway through its fourth decade and the remarkable team have never once rested on their many laurels.
Accolades include the largest wine cellar in Ireland (30,000 bottles), arguably the best cheeseboard, the most polished front of house team and, of course, ultrafine elegant cooking.
You know your fish will flake translucently, your beef will be perfectly pink and you can guarantee those gougères will explode with flavour in your mouth.
Lunch is remarkably good value and dining in RPG should be a rite of passage for every Irish person.
Rosa Madre is famed for its fish (eg, wild seabass baked in salt, black sole meunière), for its fresh pasta and Italian classics, and perhaps, most of all, for its owner, Luca de Marzio.
Beware of Luca, he will not just charm you, he will convince you to order that extra bottle of wine or champagne (he’ll have a sabre on hand to slice off the cork), he will make everything on his menu sound delicious (it is), and you might order it all. We dare you not to love this restaurant as much as the celebs do.
- €€€, rosamadre.ie
“In season, local and fresh, created and served with love”, so say owners Alice and Richard , and so it proves when you visit Rúibín on Galway’s dock road. It’s Galway, so of course vegans are as well taken care of as carnivores and pescatarians, with a fine lunch menu (fried chicken with Korean honey butter sauce and sushi rice anyone?), an exquisite dinner menu (monkfish with sobrassada butter or maybe muscovado brined pork chop with apple and black garlic ketchup), and a fun bar menu offering say crispy artichokes with cheddar custard or perhaps savoury-sweet moo ping pork skewers.
- €€, ruibin.ie
Drumcondra, Dublin 9
Seducing northsiders with its hit of Middle Eastern sunniness, Shouk offers all the classics from the region, from the creamiest hummus, to the fluffiest pita, a mezze feast of flavours at a great price. Don’t forget to order the whole roasted cauliflower or the whole chargrilled aubergine (get two), insist on extra falafel as you know you will need them, don’t skimp on the silken dips and do consider the Moroccan fish. Order all this and then order the Middle Eastern feast on top; somehow you will eat it all and want to come back for more.
- €€, shouk.ie
Chef Stephen McAllister and restaurant manager Declan Maxwell opened Spitalfields in 2019 and it has hummed along seamlessly, winning awards and charming locals and tourists alike. This is not pub food, it is fine food served in a pub that is not just aware of its surroundings but celebrates them. The cock-a-leekie pie was an instant classic from the day they opened, the beef cheek and oxtail parker house roll was another, the devilled eggs yet another, in fact the menu is chock full of signature dishes with new ones every time you visit. The trick is to visit often.
- €€€, spitalfields.ie
Dingle, Co Kerry
Solas is a bijou little venue specialising in small plates but chef/proprietor Nicky Foley delivers mighty big flavours in every dish. Spanish-style tapas may be a tired trope in certain quarters but Foley brings extensive experience, in London and in Spain, to bear on wonderful local produce, making for vibrant interpretations. While Iberian and Asian influences are pronounced, sometimes a local accent comes to the fore, as in sublime new season asparagus, wild garlic leaf, hollandaise and hen’s egg. Meanwhile, partner and co-proprietor Ann Connell runs the buzzy little space with a calm efficiency and genuine warmth.
- €€€, solastapas.com
Killarney, Co Kerry
The fires are burning brightly in the Kingdom, specifically at Tango, in Killarney, where the offering comes either from the humongous Neapolitan pizza oven turning out some of the best pizzas in the country, or from the Victorian steampunk Argentinian wood-fired parilla grill where all manner of smoky alchemy is visited upon prime Irish beef. A vibrant and lively room completes a winning formula.
- €€€, tangostreetfood.com
Hardly a wet weekend in situ and yet to live through a full cycle of the annual Irish growing season, chef Lewis Barker might be forgiven a few stumbles as he comes to know the local shopping basket.
That he never once falters over the course of a recent meal suggests his current offering on the plate has all the potential to evolve into something truly special in years to come.
Bavarois of Rossmore oyster is elegant and clean, while dry-aged Skeaghanore Duck as the savoury ‘pinnacle’ of a tasting course harks to his extensive experience cooking in Asia.
- €€€€€, castlemartyrresort.ie/terre
In a tastefully restored Victorian residence, the first room is modern elemental: whitewashed old stone, bare timber and a state of the art wine cellar, housing a superb offering — unsurprising as co-owners Peter Hogan and Jumoke Akintola also own Fish Shop and Bar Pez in Dublin.
From there, it is down further into one of those light, bright and simple rooms of Spanish summer holidays, opening out into a lovely garden.
As Hogan presides expertly over a serene space, Akintola does very delicious things to fish and seafood in the kitchen — a beautiful restaurant, in every sense.
- €€€€€, castlemartyrresort.ie/terre
Housed in former cellars of the exquisitely restored Cashel Palace Hotel, honeyed golden light gently diffuses under vaulted ceilings to create an elegant yet surprisingly relaxed space. Stefan McEnteer’s delivery on the plate performs in similar style, technically precise and perfectly cooked, and freighted with some surprisingly homely flavours to charm even the hardest of hearts.
From pretty and potent snacks, elaborate creations yielding a mouthful of magic, all the way through some very fine cooking of fish and meat, especially Tipperary lamb, McEnteer hits his marks through every single course.
- €€€€, cashelpalacehotel.ie
It bears repeating every time, that sourcing premium local, seasonal produce can be the ideal bedrock for all manner of fine cooking and Niall O’Sullivan, head chef at The Grain Store, excels in this area, with a real passion for foraged and cultivated produce and farm-to-table cooking.
Sure, he allows the wonderful produce of Killruddery estate’s gardens and farm space to shine on the plate, his restrained culinary interventions only heightening the impact of such premium ingredients.
A gorgeous summer smorgasbord last year featured delicious produce still brimming with the life energy only found in truly fresh fare.
- €€, killruddery.com
Kildare chef Adam Nevin won a deserved Michelin star in 2025 for Carton House in what must be one of the most beautiful restaurants in Ireland. Nevin is confident enough to serve bold flavours and creative enough to know which ones.
Why not top that scallop with preserved beef shreds flavoured with black garlic or make a beurre blanc sauce from Sauternes infused with truffles?
Why use fillet steak when there’s a tender marbled cut from just under the shoulderblade? Nevin is serving some of the boldest, most creative food in Ireland. It’s wonderful.
- €€€€, cartonhouse.com
Tucked away in a back street of the Cathedral Quarter of Central Belfast and named for the secret club founded by prominent United Irishmen that used to meet there in the 1790s, Gareth McCaughey’s restaurant is characterised by strictly seasonal ingredients prepared with flare and an abundance of flavour.
The room has industrial touches but oozes charm as does the cooking. Caramelised scallops and crunchy salty chicken skin, carpaccio of venison, and halibut with a prawn bisque all shone on a recent visit. Do ask for more of the superlative bread to mop up the sauces.
- €€€€, muddlersclubbelfast.com
One of the all time great hosts of Irish hospitality, John Edward Joyce has carried on the legacy of original founder and John Edward’s mentor, Dan O’Mullane, and made The Mustard Seed entirely his own.
For a long time, the sublime welcome to this impossibly comfortable and comforting Irish country home was the star of the show but in recent years chef Angel Pirev has reinforced his always tasty cooking with a new-found precision on the plate which is fast becoming a real pleasure in its own right. Best experienced as an overnighter to also eat one of Ireland’s best breakfasts.
- €€€, mustardseed.ie
While the heavily made over Oak Room can land like a set from a period drama, chef Mike Tweedie’s cooking is entirely authentic. It took time for him to adjust to the local larder after arriving in Ireland but he is now as intimate with fine seasonal Irish produce as any native and cooks it better than most.
Elegant dishes present with jewel-like precision to the eye, but it is fulsome flavours and terrific textures that seal the deal, superlative produce from land and sea, all immaculately cooked.
- €€€€€, adaremanor.com
The best Sunday lunch in the country? The Old Spot is a very strong contender for this title but don’t forget they are open every day so there is no need to wait until Sunday.
With Denise McBrien minding you at front of house and chef Mark Ahessy in the kitchen serving up classics, you know you won’t go wrong.
From terrines to haddock and comté croquettes to the wagyu beef burger to the steak and chips this is old school dining and all the better for it. Proper food served in a proper pub, properly.
- €€, theoldspot.ie
Glenlo Abbey, Kentfield, Co Galway
Who doesn’t love a train, or the romance associated with the Orient Express? But what if you could have Michelin star food too?
The Pullman is located in beautifully restored carriages from that famous train and is parked in the grounds of the five-star Glenlo Abbey hotel. Chef Angelo Vagiotis and his team have talent to burn and in their tiny kitchen they produce a complex, lengthy tasting menu.
The feather-light brioche here might be the best you will ever taste, the saucing is sophisticated and the desserts are outstanding.
- €€€€, glenloabbeyhotel.ie
While executive chef Liam Finnegan presides over the more refined restaurant in the main hotel, chef Jonathan Keane has reverted to a more old school collision of French classical meets Irish bistro style of cooking that relies heavily on the seasonsand their excellent garden.
Oysters are roasted in bone marrow, spring cabbage is charred over blackcurrant wood and there is alway a Wellington on the menu, venison or Achill lamb, depending on season.
From small plates to full dinners, diners and hotel guests have the option of anything from casual nibbles by the fire to full-dinners of very delicious food.
- €€€, thelodgeac.com
Dungarvan, Co Waterford
In its 30th and final year, there is a case for putting The Tannery at the very top of our list — certainly, over the years, there have been times when Paul Flynn’s cooking was amongst the very best in the country. Leaving behind the pomp and pretension of his Michelin-starred days in London, Flynn set about reinventing traditional Irish food in a contemporary and, crucially, most delicious fashion. Set over two floors –the high-ceilinged upstairs room, one of the best in the country – it has become a defining example of the very best of Irish hospitality under Máire Flynn and restaurant manager Daniel Zacherewicz.
- €€€, tannery.ie
A genuinely adventurous wine list that often takes the road less travelled is delightfully curated by co-owner and sommelier Morgan VanderKamer. Should any outré ambition startle more conservative local diners, chef/co-owner Stephen McArdle’s superlative cooking will always win hearts, combining technical precision and much skill with an innate instinct for divining deeply comforting flavours that makes sense. A stylish bar is a great place to sit and watch the action of the open kitchen and, better again, to slurp down some of VanderKamer’s splendid cocktails.
- €€€, unionbar.ie
It took a while but the glorious food of Spain is now properly celebrated in Ireland and Uno Mas does it brilliantly. The potato and onion tortilla was an instant hit and has filled many an Instagram reel thanks to its oozing centre. The sourcing of everything from Cantabrian anchovies to chorizo to guindila to morcilla to jamón is impeccable, and the brilliant wine list also deserves praise.
The Irish go to Spain a lot but the proof that we can never have enough is the fact that Uno Mas is almost permanently booked out weeks in advance.
- €€, unomas.ie
Wa means harmony and that is exactly what you will find in the cooking at Wa in Galway, just metres from Galway harbour. Yoshimi Hawakawa and her head chef, Paddy Phillips, have created a beautifully simple space to showcase the very best our seas can offer. The sushi and sashimi here is outstanding but treat yourself to the omakase menu and let the chef decide what you should eat and in what order, based on what is freshest and tastiest that day. What will unfold is a glorious journey that will move and delight.
- €, wacafe.net
“Cook with the seasons, sustainably source direct from farms, ferment, forage and cure while minimising waste”, exactly the kind of statement of intent we like to see. The Dublin Mountains are within walking distance, so beside your seared tuna you might find house made mushroom soy sauce with wild garlic and shiny pink elf-cup mushrooms (they are in season together). Chef Simon Williams is ambitious, hugely talented and properly creative and, yes, of course he makes his own pancetta, and his sourdough is squeaky and textured and the layers of flavour in his beautifully presented plates delights all the senses. An all round joy.
- €€€, woodruff.ie
- Prices are based on a three-course meal, small plates selection, or tasting menu for two, excluding drinks
