Dublin: An Appetising City

We ate very well in the Irish capital.

Our favourite places were:

CORNUCOPIA

This place serves organic, vegetarian food which attracts the kind of mellow, neo-hippy crowd you would expect. You just hope that they aren’t urban-dwelling, SUV drivers too. To complete the atmosphere, there was a woman playing an organic celtic harp.

Just to give you an idea of what you can eat at Cornucopia, here is a sample of their menu, which changes daily:

Main courses – served with a choice of two salads prices from €10.95 – €12.95

• Moroccan chickpea tagine served with a lemon and coriander couscous
• Baked Portobello mushrooms on leek mash with onion gravy
• Spinach & hazelnut cannelloni in tomato sauce with basil oil
• Spanokopita
• Quiche of the day: mushroom, leek & smoked cheese
• Broccoli, lentil and sweet potato sambar (Sri Lankan curry) served with organic brown rice
• Roast squash & fennel layered with olive polenta with romescu sauce
• Thai green curry with chickpea, squash and tofu
• Mushroom & puy lentil moussaka

There ARE restaurants in Italy that serve organic food but the menu and the mood are entirely different.

BEWLEY’S CAFE’

We had breakfast here. Me: a big bowl of organic porridge. (Organic food is big in Dublin.) Signor Lu had pancakes. We did not need lunch that day.

Bewley's Café in Grafton Street

Organic porridge: high energy breakfast

ELY WINEBAR

We had our best meal in Dublin here: Oysters, cucumber and crab salad, scallops and a fabulous lobster risotto.

Ely Winebar. Great food. Friendly staff.

THE OAR HOUSE

We had a late Sunday seafood lunch at The Oar House in the village of Howth, just outside of Dublin.Very appetising indeed.

YAMAMORI NOODLES

A bustling Japanese restaurant with very delicious fare on offer. Clearly “Yamamori” is Japanese for “Yum and Morey”. Or maybe not.

HONEST TO GOODNESS

I had a breakfast omelette here and since there was nothing sweet on the menu, Signor Lu had his breakfast round the corner at another place that I’ve forgotten the name of (oops!).

Breakfast omelette at Honest to Goodness.

TOWN BAR AND GRILL

We had a late Tuesday lunch at this restaurant in Kildare Street. The staff were especially welcoming and happy to explain the entire menu to Signor Lu who likes to make an informed choice. All of the other diners were wearing business clothes and talking shop.  Not us, though.

Another great meal.

The Town Bar and Grill. (Photo from their website).

All of these places were Lonely Planet recommendations. There were many, many other enticing cafés, pubs and restaurants in Dublin. Tourists and locals are very spoilt for choice.

Prices were reasonable: a fraction cheaper than Italy and the portions were generous. There were a lot of good lunch time deals as well as pre-theatre dinner offers (but taking advantage of the latter means that you have to like eating dinner early: I don’t.)

Wine was expensive compared with Italy and the coffee was of an average standard. No surprises there. Irish breakfast tea was an excellent morning beverage.

My favourite thing to eat in Ireland?  Oysters.