A 30-minute drive from the city, Kinsale was once dubbed Ireland’s gourmet capital. Though it lost its way for a spell, this impossibly pretty little seaside town is once again on an upward epicurean swing. O’Herlihy’s Kinsale (OHK) and Saint Francis Provisions are fine and funky little cafes, injecting youthful spirit into a town that has been at the forefront of Irish dining for more than 40 years. Bastion delivers excellent produce with precision and finesse alongside a smart wine list and fully merits its recently awarded Michelin star, while Fishy Fishy is a gorgeous portside affair offering superior seafood, including an excellent take on traditional fish and chips, from celebrity chef Martin Shanahan and wife Marie. The Black Pig, a gorgeous old wine bar in the tiny backstreets, offers small dishes to complement one of the very best wine lists in the country, as well as a splendid selection of sherries and fine Irish craft beers. [$ - $$$]

This world-renowned vegetarian restaurant has been going for a quarter-century but remains as vital as ever. Chef-owner Denis Cotter’s cookbooks have guided generations of novice vegetarian cooks, and Paradiso and its farm, Gort na Nain, won Collaboration of the Year at the inaugural World Restaurant Awards in 2018 for Cotter’s partnership with Gort na Nain’s gifted grower, Ultan Walsh. A seasonal menu, constantly evolving, offers dishes such as stunning ewe’s milk cheese (award-winning Cáis na Tíre) cappelloni with sweetcorn, jalapeno, and lime butter. Grilled cauliflower has been refined to perfection in a big, punchy dish enhanced by cashew korma, spinach, mustard, and pickled raisins. The advent of Walsh’s Crown Prince pumpkins sees the return of one particular winter menu favorite: pumpkin gnocchi with king oyster mushrooms, chanterelles, black kale, lemon thyme butter, walnuts, and Cratloe Hills sheep’s cheese. [$$]

During a decade at Cork’s original craft brewery pub, Pompeii Pizza has opted for the progressive approach. As well as turning out great versions of the usual suspects from the wood-fired oven in the beer garden, experimentation is ongoing. A Halloween special featured butternut pumpkin sauce, provolone, O’Mahony’s streaky bacon, and black pepper; the chefs developed an in-house vegan mozzarella for dairy-free pies, and all doughs are made with a combination of house-milled Irish heritage grains combined with Italian tipo 00 flour. Charcuterie and cheese platters are also available at the cocktail bar upstairs. [$]

In a city where daytime dining has long had the upper hand, Pigalle’s radical revision into a major culinary prospect was most welcome indeed. This delightful space off the cobbled streets of “Barracka” (in the local parlance), and right next door to its sister establishment, Tom Barry’s, one of Cork’s most iconic pubs, now offers a full menu of delicious dishes based on superb local produce and chef Mark Ahern’s sharp little flavor twists. Highlights include: fresh mussels with ’nduja and seaweed cream and Carrigcleena duck, currently served with seasonal squash and sauteed kale. [$$]

Michelin-starred Japanese chef Takashi Miyazaki first introduced himself to Cork with his take on the traditional homestyle cooking of his homeland, offering mighty cooking from a minute location. A handful of stools and a shelf counter are the only seating from which to consume his superb handiwork, using fine local produce that inspires the occasional Hibernian inflection. A bowl of plain noodles in his sublime dashi is a must, while the hearty miso butter tonkotsu ramen is based on pork stock cooked over three days. Though he has gone on to open the Michelin-starred Ichigo Ichie, Miyazaki remains a crucial piece of the local dining scene. [$]

An institution within an institution, a visit to Farm Gate — both its al fresco mezzanine cafe and enclosed restaurant — is a quintessential Cork experience, perched over the iconic English Market’s fountain. The cafe does a wide range of excellent sandwiches, hot dishes, soups, and baked desserts while the restaurant menu is largely traditional Irish farmhouse brought into the heart of the city. This is all about good ingredients, cooked well, including the local delicacy tripe and drisheen (an Irish blood pudding), alongside corned beef and spring cabbage or lamb’s liver and bacon, all with discreet contemporary twists, and a short but sharp wine list demanding proper lunching be extended late into the afternoon. [$ - $$]

Ireland’s very first specialty chocolate shop was established 19 years ago by husband-and-wife team Niall and Rosemary Daly. In the wake of Niall’s tragic passing several years ago, Rosemary has continued to run what remains the very best chocolate emporium in the country, offering premium chocolate and confectionery from many suppliers, including all the major Irish artisan producers and bean-to-bar manufacturers. The crowning glory is the excellent selection of fine single-origin chocolates from around the globe. [$]

Virginia O’Gara is a force of nature. Along with husband Donal, the Texan-turned-Corkonian has led the vegan revolution in Cork and, by extension — when they take to the music festival circuit — Ireland. If the sustainability of veganism can sometimes be questionable because of a huge dependence on monoculture crops from around the globe (smashed avocado on sourdough, anyone?), O’Gara continually offers local alternatives in her always-creative culinary caperings. Exquisite kombuchas and kefirs use rainwater from their own gathering and filtration systems, her colossal krauts are made using local cabbages and root vegetables, and her vegan nachos make meat-eaters instant converts. [$]

One of the nicest dining rooms in the country, this is an oasis of serenity in the heart of Cork city in one of the country’s major galleries. The lunch menu remains an immaculate reimagining of the culinary ethos of the doyenne of Irish food, Myrtle Allen, who first opened it as a cafe some 30-odd years ago. The decidedly homey and traditional fare — including eggy quiches, roasted bone marrow, devilled kidneys, and home-baked cakes — nonetheless does not seem remotely out of place in these grand surroundings, but cooking like this is an art form in itself. [$$]

Clare Condon and her Pacific Cook Islander husband, Kristin Makirere, offer elegant dishes in this gorgeous glass cube secreted away in a little inner-city oasis. Their ethos of sustainability (embracing local, seasonal, organic, and fair-trade foods) is divinely delivered in creative dishes such as hibiscus-poached pear with coconut mascarpone on buttermilk pancakes; or tea-smoked beetroot with sauteed kale, poached eggs, and hazelnut dukkah. Scant seafood elements in a primarily vegetarian/vegan menu — like the Kai Moana fish tacos, battered hake in Irish grown-and-produced corn tortillas — might tempt vegetarians to fall off the wagon. [$]

In a city chock-full of fine coffee houses and a county with the best roasting scene in Ireland, Filter is Cork’s epicenter for serious coffee drinkers. Assembled from recycled materials, it sports the clean, spare lines of a lab with none of the sterility, and an extensive array of coffee-related kit. Filter carries an impressive range of beans from top Irish roasters to titillate the obsessives yet functions equally well as a coffeehouse for the general public. Partner-proprietors Eoin McCarthy and Alex O’Callaghan have established an off-site bakery, supplying the shop (and other coffeehouses) with an inventive range of confections and baked goods. [$]

Arriving in Cork from Italy as a teenager, fresh out of catering college, Mirco Fondrini served a 14-year apprenticeship in the English Market’s Farmgate before finally opening Da Mirco, where his impeccable hospitality does more for the ambience than any decor ever could. Food is as it should be in any osteria: homey, hearty, and complemented by a cracking Italian wine list and some good Irish craft beers. The menu ranges from fish to house-made pastas to bites like the pillow-soft focaccia with speck, olives, and salame Valtellinese from near his Italian home village. For dessert, chocolate salami with cream never fails. [$$]

Cork Coffee Roasters supremo John Gowan is the godfather of the city’s modern coffee scene. Here the coffee is rock-solid and pastries are thoughtfully chosen, but there is equal pleasure to be derived from the ambience in this tiny space that evokes the cluttered wooden intimacy of a Nantucket whaler’s cabin. Situated at one of the city’s major confluences, it affords a perfect post for watching people and the day go by. [$]

The glittering steampunk outfit — all brass, glass, and twinkling lights — is appropriate for this opulent 19th-century space in the city’s Victorian Quarter. Equal attention is paid to a seasonal cocktail menu that’s focused on foraged wild ingredients and spirits from local producers, yielding drinks such as the Rosehip (Connemara Irish whiskey, fig leaf, rosehip), the Pear (Bán Poitín, pear, white port, champagne), and the Wood Sorrel (Glendalough Autumn Gin, Banyuls, wood sorrel). The food menu stretches from bites to full dinners, including soft-shell tacos with herring, anchovies, avocado, black beans, and sweetcorn salsa; and Ballyhoura wild mushrooms, smoked sausage, and scamorza cheese. [$$]

The awkward, narrow little room that makes up Elbow Lane is dominated by an open kitchen with a roaring wood-fired grill. It is here, under the guiding hand of executive chef Stephen Kehoe, chef Harrison Sharpe serves the likes of a starter of sunchokes with hazelnuts in a port-and-coffee sauce, while tasty mains include monkfish with lamb bacon, parsnip crisp, and tomato and horseradish salsa. From the grill, there’s pork neck with rhubarb chutney and Angelica-spiced watercress. A flight of Elbow Lane’s own draught beers makes for nice liquid companionship. [$$]

Sited in a 19th-century artisan’s dwelling, in the city’s former Jewish quarter, Rachel McCormack and Jack Sonny Murphy’s tiny little deli punches way above its weight. With an eye to its location and heritage, McCormack employs an old Ashkenazi Jewish recipe for a 10-day salting and spicing of beef for the impeccable Reuben; their banh mi is a tribute to the Vietnamese classic; creative salads include broccoli with mustard dressing and oat and sesame brittle; while wickedly popular salted caramel and walnut banana bread pairs well with excellent coffees from star local roasters Golden Bean. [$]