What to Eat in Dublin: Local Dishes and Where to Find Them
Last updated: October 2026
Intro
Dublin's own dish is coddle, a potato casserole of sausages, rashers and onion, and the rest of the local table is a full Irish breakfast, boxty, stew, fish and chips from a chipper, soda bread and a pint with oysters. The freshest change is on the bill: since 1 July 2026 restaurant and catering supplies, hot takeaway food and hot tea and coffee carry Ireland's 9% second reduced VAT rate, down from 13.5% for restaurant meals, though each place decides what it does with its menu prices. This guide names dishes first and venues second, and only venues whose own pages were still live in October 2026.
A self-guided walk in the Ciceru app, the Ciceru Dublin walk, has a story and a quiz question at each of its 9 stops and a free 500 MB global eSIM, and runs about 3 km in 2 hours for €5.
⚡ Quick answer
- Dish to try first: coddle, the Dublin dish. Visit Dublin points to John Kavanagh, the Gravediggers, in Glasnevin
- Breakfast: a full Irish means sausages, rashers, eggs, black and white pudding, beans, tomato and soda bread or toast
- Cheap and fast: a chipper. Leo Burdock has fried fish here since 1913, with takeaway at 2 Werburgh Street
- Pub food: The Brazen Head serves food from 12:00 to 21:00 every day
- Skip: any Temple Bar doorway with a photo menu and a person inviting you in. Eat a few streets away instead
🧾 What changed in 2026
The VAT rate on restaurant and catering supplies moved to the second reduced rate on 1 July 2026, according to Revenue's own pages. That rate is 9%, and Revenue lists hot takeaway food and hot tea and coffee on it too. Alcohol, soft drinks and bottled water are excluded, so a pint or a can of cola is not any cheaper in tax terms.
What that means on a plate: nothing automatic. Revenue sets the tax, not the menu. Some venues will have cut prices, some will have kept them, and most sites do not publish prices as text, so this guide quotes none. Read the board before you sit.
One bill habit is worth having: look for a service charge line before you tip on top. This guide could not confirm a national rule on service charges, so read the menu and the bill.
🍳 Breakfast: the full Irish
A full Irish is a fry: sausages, rashers (back bacon), eggs, black and white pudding, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns and soda bread or toast, according to Tourism Ireland. White pudding is the pork one. Black pudding has blood in it. Both taste better than the description sounds.
How to order it: you can usually pick the parts, so say what you want gone. Tea or coffee comes with it.
Visit Dublin names two places for a good one:
- 📍 Catherine's Café, Meath Street, in the Liberties
- 📍 Bread 41, Pearse Street, where the focus is sourdough and breakfast sandwiches
Bewley's Grafton Street (📍 78 to 79 Grafton Street 🕐 08:00 to 18:00 daily) has been on the same spot since 1927 and serves breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. It is the easy option when you are already shopping.
🥪 Lunch: chippers, toasties and soda bread
A chipper is a fish and chip shop, and in Dublin it is a normal lunch, not a holiday treat. Leo Burdock opened its first shop in Christchurch in 1913 and says it fried with coal-fired pans until 1991. Two branches are in the centre:
- 📍 2 Werburgh Street, takeaway only 🕐 12:00 to 23:00 daily
- 📍 4 Crown Alley, Temple Bar, eat in or takeaway 🕐 Monday to Wednesday 12:00 to 21:00, Thursday 12:00 to 22:00, Friday to Sunday 12:00 to 23:00
Visit Dublin also points to pub toasties, such as the classic at Grogan's Castle Lounge, and to the seeded brown soda bread and Guinness and treacle bread at The Bakery in Rialto. Cheese lovers get a tasting session at Sheridans Cheesemongers on South Anne Street.
For a lunch with some Dublin literary weight, Davy Byrne's (📍 21 Duke Street 🕐 12:00 to 23:30 Monday to Thursday, later at weekends) appears in Joyce's Ulysses, where Bloom has a gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of burgundy. Its own site lists oysters, crab and smoked salmon on the menu.
🍲 Dinner: coddle, stew, boxty and a pint
Coddle. Visit Dublin describes it as a potato-based casserole with sausages, rashers and onion. Its pick is John Kavanagh, the Gravediggers, in Glasnevin, a short trip out of the centre. Opening hours vary by day, so check before travelling for it.
Boxty. A potato pancake made from mashed and raw potato. Visit Dublin names The Boxty House as the specialist.
Irish stew. Lamb with root vegetables, or beef cooked in Guinness. Visit Dublin recommends O'Neill's on Pearse Street for a traditional one.
Seafood chowder. The Exchequer serves one with brown bread, according to Tourism Ireland. Dublin Bay is known for prawns and mussels.
Bacon and cabbage with parsley sauce. Visit Dublin lists it at The Brazen Head (📍 20 Lower Bridge Street, Usher's Quay 🕐 open 12:00 to late, food 12:00 to 21:00). The pub says there has been a hostelry on the site since 1198 and the present building dates from 1754. Groups under 8 cannot reserve, so turn up. Live traditional music starts at 21:00 nightly, per its own site. The Ciceru Dublin walk ends here.
🤔 The dish everyone gets wrong
Visitors order Irish stew everywhere, because it is the dish the menu promises. Dublin's own is coddle, and tourist menus tend to skip it, so you have to go looking. Ask for it by name at a pub known for it, such as the Gravediggers, and check the kitchen is open first.
The second mistake is assuming the kitchen stays open as long as the bar. It does not. The Brazen Head pours until late, but its food stops at 21:00, and Mulligan Grocer in Stoneybatter stops at 21:15 or earlier.
🛒 Markets and standing counters
- Temple Bar Food Market. 📍 Meeting House Square 🕐 Saturdays 09:30 to 15:30, according to Temple Bar's own site. The city council page lists only summer 2025 dates, so confirm a winter Saturday before building a plan around it. Independent traders, organic produce and baked goods
- George's Street Arcade. 📍 South Great George's Street. Built in 1881 as Ireland's first purpose-built shopping centre, per its own site. 🕐 Monday to Wednesday 09:00 to 18:00, Thursday to Saturday 09:00 to 19:00, Sunday 11:00 to 18:00. It has food stalls among the vintage shops
- Chippers (above) work as standing counters. Take the bag to a bench and eat it hot
📍 Three neighbourhoods to eat in
The Liberties. 📍 Around Meath Street and Fumbally Lane. The Fumbally (📍 Fumbally Lane 🕐 Tuesday to Friday 08:00 to 17:00, kitchen closes 15:00, Saturday 09:00 to 17:00, Sunday 10:00 to 15:00) is a café, bakery and events space with a Friday one-dish dinner. Catherine's Café on Meath Street is the breakfast option.
Stoneybatter. 📍 North of the river, west of the centre. L. Mulligan Grocer (📍 18 Stoneybatter 🕐 Wednesday to Saturday from 17:00, kitchen to 21:15, Sunday from 13:30, kitchen to 20:15, closed Monday and Tuesday) cooks seasonal Irish food and has a nod to Scotch eggs on its own site.
Portobello. 📍 South of the canal. Brother Hubbard South on Harrington Street serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, and Bretzel Bakery is a Portobello sourdough baker working with a 21-year-old starter. Visit Dublin dates it to 1870.
☕ Coffee and tea
Dublin takes coffee seriously. 3fe roasts in the city and runs cafés including Sussex Terrace, Pearse Street (Gertrude) and the Triangle in Ranelagh. Bewley's is the older Dublin name, in tea and coffee, and its Grafton Street café is the old-school stop.
Check closing times before you plan a late flat white: Bewley's Grafton Street closes at 18:00 and The Fumbally at 17:00 most days. For where laptops are welcome, see the coworking guide.
🚫 What to skip
- Photo menus in Temple Bar. A doorway with a person calling you in and a menu that lists stew, burgers, pizza and Guinness pie together is a tell. A short menu with a real specialty is better
- Ordering by the menu photo. Read the actual dish name and ask what comes with it
- Arriving after the kitchen shuts. Check the food hours first, they are earlier than the bar
❓ FAQ
What is the traditional food of Dublin?
Coddle is the Dublin dish: a potato-based casserole with sausages, rashers and onion. Beyond it, a full Irish breakfast, boxty, Irish stew and fish and chips from a chipper are the usual answers.
Where can I eat cheaply in Dublin?
A chipper such as Leo Burdock on Werburgh Street is the quick answer, and the Temple Bar Food Market on Saturdays adds a market lunch. The wider cost picture is in Dublin on a Budget.
Is restaurant food cheaper in 2026?
The VAT on restaurant meals, hot takeaway food and hot tea and coffee dropped to 9% on 1 July 2026, but venues set their own prices, and alcohol and soft drinks are excluded. Read the menu and the bill, including any service charge line.
✅ Before you go
Check the kitchen hours of any pub and the day of the market, because both change. For the bigger picture, start with Dublin Explained, and for what costs nothing nearby, see Free Things to Do in Dublin. To walk between food stops, the Ciceru Dublin walk runs from the James Joyce Statue to The Brazen Head, where the kitchen is open until 21:00. All the walks are at ciceru.com/tours/ireland/dublin.
