“Potager” is the French word for a kitchen garden so it’s the perfect name for this restaurant to Dublin’s north, in the city’s garden heartland. The sandy soil around the village of Skerries has long been used to grow vegetables for the capital and beyond. At Potager, housed in a former bank, chef Cathal Leonard does offer meat, but the best dishes combine hyper-local fish and seafood with vegetables grown nearby, like Howth crab and Rush tomatoes. [$$$]

You’ll be tempted to order so many things at this Middle Eastern restaurant, so here’s a game plan: Start with some cocktails, followed by the mezze platter, and then perhaps the chargrilled smoked aubergine. Then dig into the meats. There are serious grills in action here, and the aroma of shawarma wafts through the air. The outside seating area is particularly fun. [$]

It was practically front-page news when the celebrated two-Michelin-starred chef Mickael Viljanen moved from the Greenhouse to take over as chef/patron at Chapter One. The cooking is as precise as you’re likely to get, with top-quality produce given the classic French treatment. There is of course a tasting menu, but you can dine for a reasonable sum if you opt for the excellent lunch; unlike many daytime menus at top-end restaurants, this one actually does reflect the kitchen’s abilities. Bookings open on the first of each month, and you need to be lightning quick to snag one. Otherwise ask to be added to the cancellations list. [$$$$]

Handmade food is the heart of this small Italian restaurant in Stoneybatter. When owner Roberto Mungo’s mother Roma came from Italy to oversee the opening of the restaurant, she flew with dried grass stalks, used to roll curly tubes of fileja pasta. You’ll find it cooked and teamed with charcuterie, sauces, and especially vivid vegetables. [$$]

Head through this impressive pub — all dark wood, vaulted ceilings, and original floorboards — to get to the coolest beer garden in Dublin. It’s lush and green, with cascading creepers and tropical plants, and a retractable roof to keep things cozy. The garden kitchen houses a large green Pavesi pizza oven, turning out a simple menu of six pizzas, which arrive at tables in cardboard takeaway boxes. There are plenty of great beers on tap, including White Hag, Whiplash, and Kinnegar. [$]

Sitting on a high stool at one of the marble counters in this compact room is one of life’s little pleasures, whether you’re on your own or seated next to some interesting company. Start with the snacks, a gilda perhaps, and a glass of fino. Or delve into the low-intervention wines on a list worth investigating. As you’d expect, it’s all about the fish, which is pristine and cooked simply, either deep-fried in batter or whole-roasted. You won’t get better fish in Dublin. [$$]

Every city needs a destination bakery like Bread 41, a place that doesn’t just produce great sourdough but takes pure pleasure in surprising customers with creative, exciting pastries. Eoin Cluskey’s cafe, which is tucked under a railway bridge, now has a smart upstairs dining area, making it more of a destination lunch and brunch spot. Among the rotating list of specials, the kimchi fritter is likely to be the big hit of any meal. [$]

Frank Kavanagh and Peter Sztal, the couple behind Cloud Picker, chose the name for their coffee roasting operation after a trip to Thailand, where they ascended above the clouds to see coffee bean pickers at work. They set up Cloud Picker Cafe in a lovely piece of Dublin history, the projector room of the long-gone Academy Cinema. They offer delicious coffee from flat whites to pour overs, along with excellent salads and dishes from Sztal’s childhood like stewp, a hearty mix of soup and stew based on Polish goulash. [$]

Variety Jones consists of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it dining room on Thomas Street. There’s no name over the door, but the restaurant does boast a citywide reputation for wonderful family-style dishes like the tenderest venison loin and salt-roasted celeriac. Chef Keelan Higgs mans the kitchen at the restaurant, while his brother Aaron runs the front of house, and together they brought a Michelin star to Dublin’s south inner city. The kitchen cooks much of the menu over fire, partly out of necessity, since the Higgs opened the restaurant without a gas connection. [$$$]

Clair Dowling, the brains behind this lovely cafe, worked in London with Yotam Ottolenghi and Skye Gyngell, and her experience shows in intricate salads and plates of cheerful food. It’s worth making time to sit down with the fresh, vegetable-focused dishes, as the rest of busy Dublin drops in for takeout. At every turn Dowling finds ways to make pristine ingredients even more delicious, amping up purple sprouting broccoli with miso almonds or serving comforting dal with orange-zested couscous. [$$]

The balcony of Pepper Pot Cafe overlooks the lovely interior courtyard of the Powerscourt Centre shopping mall, a view that can inspire an epic line on the weekend. But the wait is worth it for Dublin’s best bagels, nutty and elastic, fresh baked in-house each day, as well as other baked goods and dishes. The pear and bacon sandwich will convert you to that curious combo, the crumbly scones are held together with a large dollop of clotted cream and a teaspoon of house-made raspberry jam, and the Victoria sponge is the best in the city. [$]

Gochujang is at the heart of this chic chicken restaurant, where great free-range chicken is given the Korean-fried treatment. The spicy funky paste anchors their Korean hot sauce, one of several dips for crispy fried chicken along with house-made lime mayonnaise and sriracha caramel. Expect a wait for a table at busy times but it will be worth it. [$$]

Gildas, tortillas, squid a la plancha, and flan de queso are just a few of the dishes on the menu at this smart, award winning restaurant. Come with a good appetite to try the salt-aged Delmonico steak, served with bearnaise, beef-dripping potatoes, and Bordelaise sauce; it’s the stuff of legends. The wine list here is particularly good, featuring some of Spain’s most acclaimed small producers and an impressive selection of grower Champagnes. Vegetarian dishes are available, and the kitchen can cater to vegans with advance notice. [$$$]

With sustainability and carefully sourced produce at its heart, this small, daytime cafe is a popular spot for brunch or lunch. The menu is chalked on a blackboard, and you can see the bowls of beautiful salad, beetroot hummus, and tzatziki as you queue to order. The biggest decision: whether to get all this goodness in a bowl or wrapped in a flatbread. [$]

Karthik Thiru was missing the taste of home, so he opened a South Indian food truck, selling dosas in a parking lot close to where he worked. It’s now so popular, diners need to get there early before items sell out. The dosa fillings range from potato masala to Chettinad chicken, paneer, and mixed vegetables. They are, of course, even better when dipped into the spicy sambar, with its sour notes from tamarind. Parottas and homemade masala chai are also on the menu. The truck is currently open Saturday and Sunday, but Thiru is expanding hours, so check Instagram for updates. [$]

It’s small and noisy (especially as the night lengthens and more wine is poured), but Etto has been crammed with happy eaters since it opened. The energetic Italian menu includes fiendish flavors like pig trotter carpaccio and mussels with nduja, fennel, and samphire. The wine-soaked prunes with a dollop of putty-thick mascarpone are a city favorite. Book in advance if you want to be sure of a table. [$$]

Named after owner Vanessa Murphy’s mother, this restaurant is a love letter to all things Spanish and flavorful. Murphy and her Spanish partner Anna Cadrera make regular pilgrimages to Spain for inspiration and ingredients, and pack it all into a lively menu of small plates. Their pork cheek with red pepper sauce is a must-eat dish, and be sure to take staff recommendations on wine, sherry, and vermouth pairings. [$$]

In 2019 the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) opened in the old Newman House of University College Dublin. The old university common room in the basement now houses this lovely, literature-themed restaurant, run by chef and food writer Domini Kemp and her sister Peaches. The food is vehemently Irish, and the Commons offers some of the city’s greatest examples of hearty dishes like free-range pork with buttery mashed potato and barbecued cabbage. [$$]

School friends Will Dempsey and chef Karl Whelan added a clubby Chinese restaurant to Dublin’s roster with Hang Dai. The entrance appears like a takeaway joint, but the restaurant expands into a back room that looks like a mash-up between a disco and a subway train. The vibe is fun but the food is serious, especially the duck special (preorder it when you book). The duck’s is glass-crisp, and it comes on a platter served four ways, including the severed head, from which you can taste a scoop of duck brain if you’re so minded.  [$$]

The robata-style grill brings an extra dimension of flavor to every dish at Mister S. To start, you need to order the burnt-end rendang spring rolls, made with beef that has been brined, barbecued slowly, shredded, and mixed with Malaysian spices. Follow that up with smoked Angus short rib, Andarl Farm tomahawk pork, or grilled fish. The restaurant is also open for a sneaky good lunch on Friday and Saturday. [$$]

The building housing this bistro-style restaurant is a time capsule of old Dublin. For decades it was a family-run off-license shop selling wine, beer, and spirits. The Delahunt team kept much of the old shop, including the gorgeous mahogany counter, which they raised to make a bar, but they didn’t rest on the laurels of the beautiful building. Real thought and effort goes into dishes like hearty artichoke soup, roast pork with pear, or venison haunch with dark chocolate. There’s also a beautiful cocktail bar upstairs, accessed through a tiny door at the end of the bar.  [$$]

Step into this atmospheric restaurant for the best North Indian food in the country. The express lunch tiffin box is a perfect quick bite if you’re eating on your own, but it’s better to turn up with a group of friends in the evening to really work your way through the menu. The goat keema pao has become a bit of a signature dish, a slow-cooked wonder in which minced goat meat melds with black and green cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, mint, ginger, garlic, onions, Kashmiri chillies, and kalpasi moss. It’s delicious mopped up with maska pao, a brioche-style bun. [$$]

The home of Dublin’s best pizza, this place is run by a Frenchman married to an Irish woman. He imports flour from France and tops wood-fired pizzas with French ingredients like Emmental cheese rather than mozzarella, and merguez rather than Italian sausage. The sourdough bread and fluffy buttery brioche sell out as soon as they come out of the oven. Plan ahead if you want to snag a loaf. [$]

Slightly outside downtown (but definitely worth a trip), Barry Fitzgerald and Clairemarie Thomas’s restaurant is decorated in low-key decor that belies the quality of inventive cooking in the kitchen. While there are some Nordic influences including ferments and foraging, the tasting menu (the only option) is based on seasonal, Irish produce. Featured dishes might include poached oyster with elderflower and tomato dashi; mackerel tartare with fermented gooseberry; and lamb neck with pointed cabbage and sheep’s yogurt. A vegetarian menu is available and there’s a well chosen low-intervention wine list. [$$$]

A new chef and a new team in 2021 changed everything at this popular restaurant on the edge of town. While you can get in and out for an affordable a la carte meal much of the week, stop by for the 65-euro six-course tasting menu on Friday and Saturday. Dishes change often, but you’re likely to find roasted onion tortellini and baked cream with wild berries. A full vegetarian menu is available with vegan options on request. [$$$$]

Sunday lunch is a bit of an industry secret at this lovely canal-side restaurant, where you’ll find the room filled with off-duty chefs. Locks has always served good food with comfortable vibes, but things have kicked up a notch with the arrival of Andy Roche, who previously worked at two-Michelin-starred Aimsir. A few recent tasty morsels included ox tongue on tiny waffles with pickled girolles; dry-aged beef tartare with smoked marrow; and Castletownbere lobster with burnt onion. [$$$]

You wouldn’t expect to find a Michelin-starred restaurant in a market in a coastal Dublin suburb, but if you get a reservation, it’s worth jumping on the train to Blackrock, to pull up a seat at one of the few tables at Liath. The five elements of taste form the framework for Damien Grey’s precise menu, starting with bitter flavors and moving onto sour, salty, savory, and finally sweet. [$$$$]

This special cafe comes from a dream team collab between a mixed farm and a talented chef. Beef, lamb, and pork are reared on the estate, a clutch of happy hens lay the eggs, and a small herd of Jersey cows supplies the milk for chef Luke Matthew’s dulce de leche. The Airfield garden and nearby organic growers provide just-picked organic salads too. Sunday lunch is a family favorite. [$$]