Ireland Food Guide: The Best Restaurants and What to Eat Across the Country
Is Ireland the new food capital of Europe?
If someone read the above question out loud to me 20 years ago, I would have howled with laughter. Now, I think I can confidently argue that we at least are on the medal podium. The food scene across the country has exploded with influences from across the globe but holding a distinctly Irish core.
What changed? Why did this happen? Well, multiple factors turned everything on its head.
1. The Celtic Tiger changed expectations
During the economic boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s (often called the Celtic Tiger), Irish people started travelling more—to Spain, France, Italy, and the U.S. When they came home, they expected the same quality they experienced abroad. Restaurants had to step up.
Before that era, dining out in Ireland wasn’t very common and menus were fairly predictable: steak, salmon, roast chicken, maybe a carvery.
2. Chefs started celebrating Irish ingredients
Ireland has always had phenomenal raw ingredients:
Atlantic seafood
grass-fed beef and lamb
dairy that’s among the best in the world
wild foods like seaweed and mushrooms
The big change was chefs deciding to cook simply and let the ingredients shine. We always did farm to table but we just started talking about it and realizing the gifts we had right in front of us.
3. The rise of farmers markets and artisan producers
Starting in the early 2000s, Ireland saw an explosion of small producers:
farmhouse cheeses
craft charcuterie
microbreweries
artisan bakeries
small distilleries
Suddenly restaurants had access to incredible local food.
4. Tourism pushed standards higher
Tourism bodies such as Fáilte Ireland & Good Food Ireland began promoting Ireland as a food destination, not just scenery.
Initiatives like the Wild Atlantic Way encouraged restaurants, pubs, and cafés across the country to improve their food offering because visitors expected memorable dining experiences.
5. Pubs reinvented their kitchens
Traditional pubs used to focus almost entirely on drink. Now many of them serve excellent food—often better than restaurants.
Gastropubs began appearing everywhere, and suddenly places that once served frozen chips were cooking:
slow braised lamb
seafood chowder with local fish
house-baked brown bread
local oysters
6. International chefs and returning Irish chefs
Many Irish chefs trained abroad in London, New York, and Europe, then came home and brought global standards with them. At the same time, Ireland became more international, bringing new cuisines and techniques.
In the smallest of towns, there are multiple dining options for every budget.
I wanted to list some restaurants and gastropubs where I have had incredible meals over the past few years. I am including the expensive stuff. I mean EXPENSIVE. There are a few much cheaper gems further down the list.
Many visitors don’t quite know what to expect from Irish food. What do you order? Here are a few standards, that we do well.
Seafood Chowder: Creamy, thick soup filled with locally sourced salmon, cod, and smoked fish, usually served with brown bread.
Full Irish Breakfast: Sausages, rashers (bacon), eggs, white pudding, black pudding(blood sausage), and grilled tomatoes. If you have breakfast with your hotel reservation then this is what you can have. There is however delicious local yoghurts and fruits available for something lighter
Boxty: A traditional, savory potato pancake that is crispy on the outside and soft inside.
Irish Stew: A classic lamb or mutton stew with potatoes, carrots, and onions.
Fresh Soda Bread: Often served with whipped, grass-fed Irish butter.
Fresh Shellfish: Dublin Bay prawns, oysters, mussels, or Galway Hooker beer.
Spice Bag: A modern staple from the influence of Chinese takeaways featuring fried shredded chicken and chips tossed in salt, chilli, and spices.
Soup: Our soups in Ireland are blended, with cream added in many cases so it is filling. A soup with brown bread is plenty for lunch.
Chips: Don’t forget to skip the restaurant for a takeaway of fish and chips. Nothing tastes better than cod & chips eaten from the paper they are served in and soaked in Salt & Vinegar.
So, here it is folks. A lot of these are for elevated fare however you really can’t go wrong in most gastropubs or restaurants. Let me know your favorite places to eat in Ireland.
Aldridge Lodge, Duncannon, Wexford
Experience: fine dining but a LOT cheaper than others on this page
Price: $$
This amazing out of the way restaurant near the village of Duncannon has been wowing diners for years now. The menu very much depends on what’s in season, but specialties of the talented chef, Billy Whitty, include Bluebell Falls goat-cheese mousse; beef filet with cauliflower puree; and wild venison with hazelnuts. Find where it is, book in advance and thank me after.
Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen — Dublin
Experience: Elite fine dining
Price: $$$$
One of Ireland’s most celebrated restaurants. Elegant, artistic, and meticulous — the tasting menus combine French technique with Irish ingredients. It’s a polished dining room experience where service is almost theatrical. 2 Michelin Stars. Tasting menu at dinner runs at about $250 per person. This is the jewel in the crown of fine dining Ireland. Remortgage your house and go.
Aniar — Galway
Aniar
Experience: Modern Irish tasting menu
Price: $$$
Chef JP McMahon built Aniar around the concept of West of Ireland terroir — using wild and local ingredients, foraging, and traditional preservation methods like curing and fermenting. This is the taste of the West.
Ballymaloe House Restaurant — County Cork
Experience: Classic Irish country house dining
Price: $$$
A legendary restaurant that helped shape modern Irish cooking. It’s built around produce from nearby farms and the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School tradition. I loved my day in Ballymaloe. Also take a stroll around Ballycotton before dinner.
The Bishop’s Buttery, Cashel, Tipperary
Experience: Michelin-star elegance
Price: $$$
The Cashel Palace is the most luxurious of stays in Ireland, under the Rock of Cashel. The Palladian grandeur is almost overwhelmed by the strength of the food served in the Buttery in the Basement. Refined, delicate and carefully presented. This is a 3 hour experience. If you aren’t staying in the Palace which I recommend then before you dine, you might want to think of a stroll up to the Rock to work up an appetite.
Mikey Ryan’s, Cashel, Tipperary
Mikey Ryan’s
Experience: Classic pub vibes but with elevated food.
Price: $$
Cashel Palace offers a more reasonable alternative. At the grant gate to the luxurious hotel is Mikey Ryan’s an upscale pub and restaurant. If the Buttery is a little stuffy or too expensive this might be more your style. Not cheap but more casual, Mikey’s is a fantastic pub in itself but add the tables at the back and an easy way from the staff and you have a fantastic night of food.
The Pullman Restaurant — Galway
The Pullman
Experience: Dinner in an Orient Express carriage
Price: $$$
Located at Glenlo Abbey just outside Galway city, guests dine inside restored vintage Orient Express train carriages — one of the most unique dining experiences in Ireland. Filmed there in 2025 just before they picked up their first Michelin star. Perfect for a refined romantic evening.
Lobster Pot, Carne, Wexford
Experience: Warm welcome, warm comfort food.
Price: $$
Absolutely love the place. The comfort and relaxed atmosphere draws you in and the locally sourced seafood makes you stay. Lobster, mussels, chowder is the vibe. If you are in the SouthEast it is a must stop.
Moran’s Oyster Cottage — County Galway
Experience: Traditional seafood pub
Price: $$
A 250-year-old oyster cottage overlooking Galway Bay. Simple, perfect seafood — oysters, crab, chowder, brown bread. I am a recent convert to Oysters on the shell. Can’t get enough of them.
Fishy Fishy — Kinsale
Fishy Fishy
Experience: Casual seafood restaurant
Price: $$
Run by celebrity Irish chef Martin Shanahan, this is one of the best places in Ireland for simply cooked fish. You are spoiled for choice in Kinsale but you can’t go wrong here.
The Woollen Mills — Dublin
Woolen Mills, Dublin
Experience: Modern Irish comfort food
Price: $$
Near the Ha’penny Bridge, this restaurant reimagines traditional Irish dishes — lamb stew, soda bread, seafood chowder. Hard to find reasonably priced food in Dublin but here and its sister restaurant The Winding Stair are great for solid Irish food.
Brother Hubbard’s, Dublin
Experience: Casual, people watching, tasty
Price: $$
This place is great for a fantastic Irish breakfast. Definite Moroccan influences. Excellent vegetarian and gluten free options. I love the coffee and pastries here. For sure, this is the spot for you, if you stayed out in the pubs too late the night before. Amazing hangover food……..not that I have even needed that, of course.
