dining in dublin

Continuing the theme of July 4th vacations, this year T and I left NYC behind and took off to Dublin for the majority of the week. If we thought we would be missing out on all of the red, white, and blue, we were wrong. We found many Irish bars decorated for the 4th and even restaurants offering special deals day of on their American wines. So kind of you, Dublin.

I was curious about what I would think of the food, clearly something I find quite important. Most often compared to the UK, I wasn’t expecting to really love the cuisine. I have to say though we managed to find a nice mix of foods and overall, I have to say Dublin was quite tasty.

At the strong recommendation of some friends, we found ourselves at Gallaghers Boxty House. What’s a boxty, you ask? It’s a thin savory pancake – think crepe, but thicker. I couldn’t try their signature version as it has mushrooms, so I instead went with their chicken and smoked bacon boxty. So good and not the least bit heavy. Finish off the meal with their bread butter pudding. Delicious. Our friends let them know we’d be coming in so they recognized us actually came over and said hi. What hospitality!

Looking for something sweet on-the-go? Gino’s on Grafton Street is exactly what you want. They’re not open super late – 10 or 11pm – but work them into your schedule. Fabulous variety of gelatos at a reasonable price. A scoop of their Guinness gelato combined with caramel gelato was perfection.

For some standard pub fare (and a large variety of their own craft beers), the Pourhouse is a great option. Their burger was fabulous (as well as fabulously massive), and they also did a great fish and chips. Two perfect pub fare options.

We also managed to check out a couple of nicer local restaurants I’ll share about separately – Ely Wine Bar and The Exchequer. Overall, I have to say we managed to find some pretty tasty spots in the friendly city of Dublin.