Dublin's restaurant map does not reward the traveller who follows the crowd down Grafton Street or into Temple Bar. The interesting cooking has spread onto Marlborough Street, onto Abbey Street Lower, along Ormond Quay Lower where the river does the marketing, and out along the O'Connell Street spine, the corners visitors tend to walk past on the way to a postcard. This is a working list of twelve, picked for the north-city and quay-side blocks where an English-reading visitor can eat well without paying the tourist-quarter surcharge: a steakhouse open from breakfast, a Telugu-inflected canteen, a Mediterranean brunch counter, a late-hours burrito bar, a proper sushi room, a wood-fired kitchen, a two-shift grill room, a chain that earns its place by keeping honest hours, a wine-bar Italian, a bakery-cafe, a burger counter that refuses to pad the menu, and an Irish room that has stopped pretending. Addresses, phones, websites and service hours all trace to their public sources; the opinions are the editor's.
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1 Flanagans Restaurant
61 O'Connell Street Upper, DublinAn O'Connell Street steakhouse open from breakfast to late
The dining room at Flanagans, 61 O'Connell Street Upper, opens at 09:00 and stays open to 23:00 Monday through Saturday, dropping only to 22:30 on Sunday. Skip the tourist-priced grill rooms south of the Liffey chasing the same beef trade; this steakhouse has held its corner of Dublin's main boulevard by keeping the kitchen open for real breakfast, real lunch, real dinner, and a decent hour after the theatre. One room, three services, no gimmicks. The menu is unashamedly a grill room, and the arithmetic of a family-run beef kitchen on O'Connell Street is what has kept the door open through every trend that has arrived and left. Book by phone on +35318731388 or through flanagansrestaurant.ie.
- steak house
Hours: Mo-Sa 09:00-23:00; Su 09:00-22:30
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2 Andhra Bhavan
85 Marlborough StreetTelugu-inflected South Indian cooking on Marlborough Street
At 85 Marlborough Street, Andhra Bhavan cooks the Telugu-inflected end of Indian cuisine rather than the pan-subcontinental menu the mid-market rooms have flattened out. The locals go here for the regional plates, the dishes the kitchen is set up to make, not the greatest-hits parade a nervous manager writes for tourists, and the room fills up accordingly. Doors open at 12:00 Tuesday through Friday and at 11:00 on Saturday and Sunday, running through to 23:00, which makes a late weekend lunch a very practical plan. The Marlborough Street address is the clue: this is diaspora cooking, done first for the neighbourhood and second for the visitor. Call +3531551 8742 or check andhrabhavan.ie, but not on a Monday, when the kitchen is closed.
- indian
Hours: Tu-Fr 12:00-23:00; Sa-Su 11:00-23:00
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3 Tang
9a Abbey Street LowerA daytime Mediterranean counter for flatbreads, soups and proper brunch
Steam rises through the counter at Tang, 9a Abbey Street Lower, from 08:00 on weekdays, when the first office trade walks up from the Luas stop. Don't bother with the chain-brunch on Grafton Street; the locals prefer this counter because the cooking is honest. Brunch and Mediterranean plates, flatbreads and soups are made to order at a small kitchen that closes at 15:30 Monday through Friday and at 15:30 on Saturday, with no evening service and no Sunday opening. That daytime-only rhythm is a stance in itself: one shift, done well, then the shutters go down. There is no dinner and no wine list, just a lunch counter that has decided what it is. The site is tang.ie; the phone is +353 1 873 3672.
- breakfast
- pancake
- flatbread
- salad
- soup
- brunch
- mediterranean
Hours: Mo-Fr 08:00-15:30; Sa 10:00-15:30
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4 Pablo Picante
14 Aston Quay, DublinA late-hours Mexican burrito counter on Aston Quay
Doors at 14 Aston Quay stay open to 23:00 on Friday and Saturday, to 22:00 Monday through Thursday, and to 21:00 on Sunday, which tells you what kind of trade Pablo Picante is feeding: the post-cinema, post-pint, post-work-late crowd who want a Mexican burrito that is not a supermarket compromise. Skip the tourist-grid Mexican menus on the shopping streets; this is the counter the locals default to because the cooking is straightforward and the queue moves. There is no pretence at a sit-down evening. You order at the till, they build it in front of you, and you eat on a stool by the window with the quay traffic for company. The site is pablopicante.com; the phone is +353 1 679 8737.
- mexican
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5 Yamamori Sushi
38/39 Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin, D01 R224A properly staffed sushi room on Ormond Quay Lower with late weekend service
The Japanese sushi room at 38/39 Ormond Quay Lower in the D01 R224 postal area runs 12:00 to 22:30 Sunday through Thursday and pushes to 23:30 on Friday and Saturday, which is late enough for a two-hour dinner after the theatre and long enough that Yamamori Sushi has never had to pretend to be a lunch spot. The locals swear by this room because the format is taken seriously and the late weekend service is honest. Skip the conveyor-belt sushi on the shopping-street chains that shortcut the craft. The website is yamamori.ie/northcity and the phone is +353 1 8720003; the north-city branding matters because more than one Yamamori exists, so book the right one.
- japanese
Hours: Su-Th 12:00-22:30; Fr-Sa 12:00-23:30
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6 Hellfire
7 Westmoreland Street, Dublin, D02 XF76, IEA wood-fired kitchen that splits its day into distinct lunch and dinner shifts
Fire glows in the wood-fired kitchen at Hellfire, 7 Westmoreland Street in D02 XF76, where a two-shift day breaks lunch 12:00 to 16:00 from dinner 17:00 to 22:30 Monday through Thursday, pushing dinner to 23:00 on Friday and Saturday, and running Sunday lunch 14:00 to 16:00 with an evening 17:00 to 22:30. That gap in the middle of the day is a stance. The kitchen resets, the room turns over, and dinner service starts cleanly, which nothing on the same street bothers to do. Avoid the all-day rooms that pretend to switch modes; this one commits. The fire is the point, and the menu moves with what the fire does best that week. Site hellfire.ie; phone +353 1 671 9969.
- woodfired food
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7 Morelands Grill
Westmoreland Street, DublinA split-shift steakhouse that keeps proper lunch and dinner windows
A serious steakhouse needs a serious kitchen, and Morelands Grill on Westmoreland Street runs the old-school two-shift schedule that respects the format: lunch 12:00 to 15:00 and dinner 17:45 to 21:45 Monday through Friday, with weekend lunch pushed back to 12:30 to 15:30 and dinner still 17:45 to 21:45. Skip the round-the-clock hotel dining rooms that promise everything and cook nothing; this steakhouse narrows the day down to two proper windows and cooks properly in each. The pass closes for the afternoon between services, which is what you want if you care about the plate that arrives. It is not a room for a quick pint and a snack. Go for the grill and go at 12:00 or 17:45, and eat what a grill room is set up to cook. Site morelandsgrill.com; phone +353 1 645 1318.
- steak house
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8 Nando's
51-52 Mary Street, DublinA dependable Mary Street chicken canteen with real hours
51-52 Mary Street is a chain-canteen address, and Nando's plays the format straight, cooking chicken and piri-piri from 11:30 to 22:00 Monday and Tuesday, 11:00 to 22:00 Wednesday and Friday through Sunday, and 12:00 to 22:00 on Thursday. Skip the tourist-grid burger joints charging twice as much for less honest food; if you are on a Mary Street shopping run with kids or a tired afternoon on your hands, this is the sensible stop. The chain works because the format works: marinade, timing, and a plate arriving fast. This branch keeps to it. Website nandos.ie/restaurants/dublin-mary-street; phone +353 18720011.
- chicken
- portuguese
Hours: Mo-Tu 11:30-22:00; We, Fr-Su 11:00-22:00; Th 12:00-22:00
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9 Wallace’s Taverna
1 Bloom Lane, Dublin, D01 C850A wine-bar Italian off the north quays at Bloom Lane
The wine list is why the doors at 1 Bloom Lane in the D01 C850 postal area have stayed open, and Wallace's Taverna is an Italian room that keeps a wine bar's confidence about what to pour with the food. Service runs 12:30 to 22:30 Monday through Saturday and 12:30 to 22:00 on Sunday, with no real closure in the middle of the day, which is the mark of a room that trusts its trade to wander in for a glass and a plate. The locals prefer this to the piazza-mimic Italians on the tourist grid because the cooking is direct and the pour is generous. Site wallacewinebars.ie/wallaces-taverna; phone +353 1 8730040.
- italian
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10 Panem
21 Ormond Quay Lower, DublinA daytime coffee shop on the river with a genuine bakery habit
By 08:15 on a weekday the counter at Panem, 21 Ormond Quay Lower, is already turning coffee, and the coffee shop settles into a day that runs to 17:30 and holds that closing time seven days a week. Weekend hours slide, opening at 09:00 on Saturday and 10:00 on Sunday, both closing 17:30, which is the schedule of a room that has decided to be very good at one part of the day rather than mediocre across all of it. Skip the international-chain coffee counters on the quay; the locals go here because the coffee is honest and the counter moves. It is not a lunch destination in the sit-down sense. You take a coffee, you take something from the counter, and you eat by the window with the river in front of you. Site panem.ie; phone +353 1 8728510.
- coffee shop
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11 Bunsen
22 Essex Street East, Dublin, D02 NA09A committed one-format burger counter in the D02 postal area
A burger, chips, a drink, nothing else is what Bunsen does at 22 Essex Street East in the D02 NA09 postal area, with service running 12:00 to 23:00 on Monday, 12:00 to 21:30 Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, and 12:00 to 22:30 Thursday through Saturday. Don't bother with the burger-and-craft-beer chains that pad the menu with sides; the locals prefer this one because it has decided what it is and priced accordingly. The menu is short and the queue is honest, a burger, not a project. Site bunsen.ie; phone +353 1 5599532.
- burger
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12 The Shack Restaurant
24 Essex Street East, DublinA seven-day Irish dining room on Essex Street East
Better than the shamrock-menu pubs chasing the tourist euro, The Shack Restaurant at 24 Essex Street East cooks a real Irish menu 12:00 to 22:00 every day of the week. The seven-day, one-shift schedule is a stance in itself: the kitchen commits to a single window and gets it right, rather than pretending to switch modes at 17:00. Skip the round-the-corner rooms that dress up frozen fare as a national cuisine; this one keeps a real dining room and cooks the plate the name suggests. Website shackrestaurant.ie; phone +353 1 679 0043.
- irish
Hours: Mo-Su 12:00-22:00
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