A question of taste
FIRST, look carefully: this is ‘three of the best’, not ‘THE best’, so let no one get too hot under the collar if a favourite venue is not mentioned; there’s a reason why the Bridgestone Guide grows bigger every year and we simply don’t have the space here today to emulate the Guide and include absolutely everyone. On top of that, many establishments below could just have easily featured in multiple categories — for example, Bite in Dublin do cocktails as well even though we plump for their fish and chips.
While Cork and Dublin are both centres of culinary excellence, it is not comparing like with like: Cork will always have superior local producers (the ‘artisan’ tradition began in West Cork and there is also far more excellent agricultural land available to producers) with local restaurants very much reflecting the availability of that aforementioned produce. Dublin, on the other hand, has a much larger population (and larger ethnic population) and can support a far greater variety of restaurants and eating options.
