All Apologies
Unit 6, Shearwater, Pier Road, Kinsale, Co Cork; allapologiesbar.com
Husband and wife team Charlie and Brendan O’Sullivan have finally realised the dream of owning their own spot. Being based in Kinsale and having worked at Rare and The Black Pig, they took the chance to renovate a two-storey building overlooking the harbour. With an impressive cocktail menu, a wine list focused on small organic producers and a rotating menu of seasonal small plates, it’s the perfect place for cosy catch-ups. Joanne Cronin
Cora
1 The Mall, Main St, Lucan, Co. Dublin; 01-4447458, coralucan.ie
Friends and fellow cafe owners Jason Mac an tSionnaigh of Urbanity and Ryan Nolan of East Village Coffee have transformed a beautiful 200-year-old building on Lucan’s main street into a light-filled cafe with a smart terrace. Chef Paul Brogan serves a modern menu of breakfast, all-day brunch and bright, zingy lunches, including Turkish eggs, pork belly polenta and a rotation of sandwiches. There’s home-made rock shandy and lemonade, excellent coffee and a concise list of wine and spritzes, all ready for the dinner menu arriving this winter. Ali Dunworth
Dak
1a Bolton Street, Dublin 7; baranam.ie/dak
Owner Kelan O’Reilly’s background as a self-taught cook, former Wagamama manager and Korean-food obsessive comes together at Dak, a tidy room tucked behind Bar Anam on the corner of Capel Street and Bolton Street. Korean soul food is the focus, with fried chicken and handmade mandu at the heart of the menu. There’s an excellent-value €25 dosirak meal and all five fried chicken flavours pair well with the wide selection of craft beers from Bar Anam’s taps. Bar Anam also serves Dak’s bar snacks. AD
Dosa Dosa
562 South Circular Road, Dublin 8; 01-559 0482, dosadosa.ie
A dosa is, of course, the thing to order at Karthik Thiru’s first bricks-and-mortar restaurant, which specialises in the food of Tamil Nadu. My choice is always the award-winning gunpowder ghee masala dosa, a large fermented rice and lentil pancake brushed inside with ghee and gunpowder spice blend, and filled with masala potatoes. The spinach masala vada are not to miss, neither are the well-priced grills, curries and biryani. Read review here. Corinna Hardgrave
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Elle’s
189 Kimmage Road West, Dublin 12; instagram/elles_kimmage_
It’s not unusual to see two queues stretching down the footpath outside Ian and Elaine Ussher’s new cafe. The sit-down brunch cafe features dishes such as the Buffalo Bennie and fluffy lemon meringue pancakes. Even busier though is the coffee hatch from which coffees, juices and açai bowls fly out, fuelled no doubt by the cafe’s social media, which shows Ian making old-school treats such as walnut whips and dot cakes. JC
Fuoco
52 Fields Terrace, Ranelagh, Dublin 6; 01-406 0006, fuoco.ie
This new Italian- and Mediterranean-inspired restaurant comes from Jules Mak and David Fox of Parrilla, with chef Renato Braga in the kitchen. The restaurant doesn’t claim to be an authentic Italian trattoria, but it very much has that vibe of simple food cooked well, with great dough for the fresh pasta and pizzettes. A fun skewer menu features lamb belly, spiced carrot and even lasagne. Picanha, half a chicken and market fish are all cooked over fire. AD
Gaffe @ Leonard’s Corner
117 South Circular Road, Dublin 8; 01-4542332, leonardscorner.com
At the start of summer, there was a quiet announcement that Yorkshire chef Dan Chambers would cook from the small kitchen at local pub Leonard’s Corner. Initially working on his own, cooking and washing dishes, Chambers’s food built up a solid reputation for its simplicity and seasonality. Dishes such as ricotta-stuffed Roscoff onions, roast cod with butter beans and a droolingly good cheese quarter-pounder all stay on the right side of pub food. Read review here. JC
Jumon
53 William Street South, Dublin 2; 087-0044079, jumon.co.uk
Niall Davis and his business partner, chef Tamsin Harper, opened Jumon in Belfast in 2018 and it has since gone from strength to strength. Their creative, tasty Asian-inspired menu hops merrily from India to Japan and China to Malaysia, but the really impressive part is that it’s all vegetarian or vegan. Flavour bombs such as XO green beans, the silky white garlic hummus and spicy dan dan noodles will certainly guarantee return customers. JC
Mark Moriarty Studio
Wilton Park Studios, Dublin 2; markmoriarty.ie/studio
While Mark Moriarty may still look as fresh-faced as when he won the World San Pellegrino Young Chef of the Year in 2015, this genial chef and Irish Times columnist has since built up a career across television, cookbooks and private catering.
This year he returned to restaurants with his slick eponymous 22-seater. The unique mix of art, music, 10-course tasting menu and relaxed atmosphere at either lunch or dinner means these seats are among the hottest in town. Be sure to try the baked potato sourdough. Read more here. JC
Matsu Ramen
5 Charlotte Street, Newbridge, Co Kildare; 045-494206, instagram.com/matsuramen_
Ken Komatsu is a man of many talents. A classically trained sushi chef and instructor, he is also an artist and an importer of Japanese chef’s knives. He brings all his talents together at his smart new restaurant in Newbridge where diners can slurp down bowls of savoury zingy yuzu tsukemen ramen, vegetarian miso ramen or donburi rice bowls topped with braised pork, all accompanied by a beer or glass of sake. JC
Ómós
Abbeyleix, Co Laois; 057-8510233, omos.co
This was the opening of the year. Cúán Greene’s Scandi/Japanese-influenced 12-course menu, driven by seasonal Irish produce, reflects how he has matured as a chef. His dishes are resolved and original, on a tasting menu that knows when to go full-on with flavour and when to hold back.
When I visited, outstanding dishes included a beguiling shiitake jelly topped with pumpkin seed milk and roasted corn kernels, and 60-day-aged beef grilled over live fire. €175 is expensive, but not out of kilter with restaurants at this level, and it is possible to book dinner without staying over. It has all the hallmarks of a two-Michelin-star restaurant. Read review here. CH
Pickosito
North Lotts, Dublin 1; instagram.com/pickosito.taqueria
As you walk into Edlyn Garcia Morán and Raquel Hernández Rodríguez’s north Mexican restaurant, you will see wheat flour tortillas being rolled out with a slim rolling pin, ready to be cooked on the flat-top griddle nearby. Its cooking is quite different from that of central and southern Mexico, where corn tortillas predominate.
Brought to the table as soon as they’re cooked, the tortillas are warm and pliable, filled with whatever you’ve chosen from the menu, including barbacoa, adobada, carne asada, chorizo, vegetables or chilli sin carne. Read review here. CH
Regency House
15 Upper Crescent, Belfast, BT7 1NT; +44 (0)28 9588 1846, regencyhouse.co.uk
Diners at Alice Stewart and Chris McClurg’s elegant spot are invited to start their meal with a relaxing drink in the first floor drawingroom overlooking the enclosed Crescent Gardens. The casual refinement continues in the downstairs diningroom where McClurg serves up starters such as tender saddleback pig rib or agnolotti with manzanilla and Coolattin. Sharing main courses of saddle of Murley Mountain lamb or monkfish tail with red curry and kaffir will surely have the table talking. JC
Black Sheep
The Grace hotel, The Demesne, Westport, Co Mayo; 098-25122, thegrace.ie/black-sheep
The Grace hotel is a wonderful addition to the many attractions of Westport, and its restaurant, Black Sheep, is impressive in its use of top-quality produce, with Clew Bay scallops, Padraic Gannon oysters and Clare Island lobster. It’s a pleasing menu of seafood and meat, with competent cooking. Sole is served on the bone, the lobster main is generous, and the breads – Parker House rolls with whipped onion butter and Mescan stout treacle oat bread – are worth ordering if you can trust yourself not to fill up before you’ve tried anything else. Read review here. CH
