A guide by jude72
Grand old institution of a Dublin pub - all wood and clatter. A must on any Dublin pub crawl. If it's packed, which it often is after work hours, try Toner's over the road.
Lower Baggot Street
Gerry's offers a range of hearty meals at very affordable prices. Its popularity stretches from banking types to local construction workers to students. A range of hot meal options is offered at lunch (during which time Gerry’s is very popular) as well as soups and an all day breakfast. Service is prompt. Expect to find a good bit of change from your €10 note.
For those who favour a full stomach over watching their cholesterol count!
Just off Harcourt Street, beside the Montague Casino
A gastropub just off Grafton Street. Bright and modern design make this refurbished pub a pleasure to while away the hours. Food is excellent - try the sea bass on asparagrus risotto - and good value. There’s decent pints of Guinness and a very good wine list. One negative, food is not served after 8pm.
4 Chatham Road, Dublin 2; tel: 00 353 1 679 2909
Authentic Italian restaurant. It sells truly excellent slices of pizza for takeaway. (Very) fast food without the guilt of inflating the profits of some evil multinational purveyor of junk food.
Chatham Street, just off Grafton Street, round the corner from HMV; tel: 670-5630
For fans of Argentine Tango, Dublin has a thriving Tango scene with milongas (social dances) and classes on every night of the week. Many of the classes are taught by native Argentine teachers. The great thing about Tango in Dublin is that all the Tango events are accessible on foot from the city centre. Some of the venues have a great Tango atmosphere. Particularly recommended are the Castle Inn Pub and Wynn's Hotel. Unlike some cities, you don't need a partner to take classes. The Dublin Tango community is very cosmopolitan with regulars who come from all over Europe. Things are quieter in January as many of the Argentine teachers go home for the winter months but the full schedule of events should be back up by February. Those that are away usually arrange for a senior students to fill in for them. Prices of classes and milongas range from 6.50 to 10 Euros.
www.geocities.com/tangoireland/ www.tangofever.net/ www.tangoireland.com/ www.abctango.com/almagro/ www.morosini-whelan.com/
A tour of Viking Dublin on an amphibious world war two military vehicle.
64-65 Patrick Street, Dublin 8;
tel: 1 707 6000
Take in a 360-degree view of the city and a free pint in the glass-walled bar at the top of the 1904 storehouse. Entry is part of the Guinness Storehouse tour, €14 per adult. Open 9.30am-5.30pm in winter, and until 8pm in summer.
St James's Gate, Dublin 8; Tel: +353 (1) 408 4800; www.guinnessstorehouse.com/
On a Saturday morning, wander the Temple Bar food market, scoffing samples. Best are the Irish cheeses, smoked fish and organic produce from family farms outside Dublin.
Meeting House Square, Temple Bar; Saturday 10am-5pm; see www.temple-bar.ie/culture_markets_food.asp for a list of traders.
Dublin's best live music venue, in a city which is full of great music, it has been around for years and has live music every night of the week. Also has a great late bar where you never know who you will spot.
25 Wexford Street, Dublin 2; Telephone 4780766; www.whelanslive.com
One of the best bars in Dublin. I used to live around the corner on Parliament St. The perfect place for after-work drinks!
www.dublinks.com/index.cfm/loc/11/pt/0/spid/3E113345-AA18-4F0A-B47B3CEA32FA64C2.htm
Moore Street has become the centre of the new multicultural Ireland. There are lots of traditional old stalls (probably the cheapest place to buy meat and vegetables in Dublin), but there is also an amazing collection of shops and restaurants owned and run by the Chinese, Russian, and African communities.
Moore Street is just off Henry Street, leading to Parnell Street
One of the nicest walks in easy reach of Dublin. Get the Dart train to Howth village (about 25 minutes from the city centre), turn left and walk past the harbour (also a lovely walk and has a great restaurant called Aqua).Keep following the coast and you will find yourself on a wide unpaved path that runs along the southern part of Howth Head. Get ready for a bracing walk with fantastic views over Dublin Bay on a nice day. If you keep walking for two to three hours you eventually arrive in Sutton. Keep walking along the coast and you will end up at the Marine Hotel. You can get back to Dublin from the Sutton Dart station.
Howth Head, north Dublin
This spacious bar is in a former sausage factory. Bench seating makes it great for large groups of people to talk, as there is no TV or loud music. The amazing, tapas-style food is reasonably priced and excellent for both carnivores and vegetarians. The bar attracts locals and not too many tourists.
14a Fade Street, just a few minutes east of Grafton Street
A lovely old pub. It has the original frosted glass, a big wooden bar, and dusty pictures of writers who used to frequent the place, like Brendan Behan. But best of all, it has a snug. Look to your right when you walk in. Sometimes it's included on the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl, but don't wait for them to take you. Stop in for a pint.
21 Fleet Street
It's at the entrance to Temple Bar off Westmoreland Street. You might not notice it.
Head south out of Temple Bar and you will find a long road full of interesting restaurants and shops that will tickle you fancy. Eventually you´ll reach Portobello Harbour, an old canal mooring now smartened up with cafes and shops.
Highlights include Solas and Carnival bar. Good pubs to go to are O'Connels and Wheelan's. Grab something to eat from Bretzel's Jewish bakery, which has the best bread in south Dublin, and wander down the canal, weather permitting, of course.
Off Dame St, down George St and keep on going
The best (maybe only) local in the centre of Dublin. Basic - even down-at-heel - it succeeds in being both pretentious and unpretentious at the same time. Pullulates with penurious artists, wannabe Joyces and alcoholic has-beens diluting their woes in stout. Staff are firm but fair and sometimes friendly. You can have any grub you want as long as it's a ham and cheese toastie or a variant thereof.
The walls are chock full of the patrons' art - a democratic explosion of crap and colour that does much to brighten the dim interior. You never know, you may even pick up a future Hib-Art gem for next to nothing. Quirky. Incomparable. Essential.
15 South William Street, Dublin 2; tel: 677 9320
The real 'left bank' of Dublin. It is everything that Temple Bar aspires to be, mixing art and music with Dublin's finest pubs on one stretch of street. Whelan’s for the best live music and gigs. Carnival for alternative entertainment. Solas for relaxed chat and music. Cassidy’s where Bill Clinton had a pint of Murphys. Ryan’s for some of the best pints in Dublin. The Bleeding Horse, one of the oldest pubs in Dublin. Flannery’s where the country people create a piece of the west in the city. Plus numerous eateries with cuisine from around the world, furniture, fashion and art dealers. What more could you want from a weekend in Dublin?
At the tram station on Stephen's Green take a right away from the Green and you are there.
Their gluttonous "roasts in a roll" are something you'd get in Valhalla - great haunches of meat carved into enormous home-baked rolls with delicious spreads. They make excellent soups, salads and pizzas, but it's with their chocolate brownies that Gruel truly excels: big heavy slabs, crisp on top, gooey in the middle, baked several times a day with quality ingredients.
The atmosphere's good, the staff are enthusiastic and there's a new spacious room downstairs, perfect for mislaying the rest of your afternoon in. This is the best lunch in Dublin.
68A Dame Street, Dublin 2; tel: +353 (0) 1 670 7119
A small chain of cafe bars offering quality and value for money. The two city centre ones are in lovely old buildings, and they combine a nice old-fashioned character with a quality range of Italian influenced food. They don't take bookings, but have an efficient queuing system, so they are probably one of the best places to go if you find yourself without a booking on a Friday or Saturday night.
South Great George's Street and Grafton Street
www.cafebardeli.ie
TTo clear your head the morning after a night on the Guinness, hop on the Dart to Dun Laoghaire and take a stroll down one of its two piers. The east pier is a mile long and the west even longer. You will be rewarded with a breathtaking view over the Irish Sea.
On sunny days when the sea is a deep azure and the sky scattered with gauzy clouds you'll share the pier with families and lovers and little boys fishing. On colder winter days, when the water is iron grey, and the cumulus clouds and watery sun do battle over the roof tops and church steeples, the only sounds will be the rushing wind and the clanging of harboured boats. You might pass other pink-nosed hardy souls or even spot a few seals watching you silently from the choppy waves.
Nothing like it for a hangover.
DART to Dun Laoghaire station
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