Carton House a Fairmont Managed Hotel

Transplanting the Italian osteria to the Irish capital, this former bank has no trouble filling its large space with an almighty buzz from the many happy diners feasting on its simply delicious cooking. The enticing menu ranges from sourdough pizzette to homemade pastas and a wood-fired section showcasing prime fish and meat. The generous, well-priced plates have an honest simplicity to them, with recognisable dishes cooked with skill and packing in plenty of flavour. For dessert, consider the polenta cake with seasonal fruit.

To the northwest of the city, you’ll find this lovely little Italian restaurant specialising in homemade pasta. Unfussy dishes like spinach balanzoni or cavatelli with venison ragu are expertly cooked and deliver great flavours thanks to their quality ingredients. It’s a friendly and passionately run place, with an owner and chef who hail from Calabria and regularly import produce from their home town for an authentic touch. The all-Italian wine list features some organic and biodynamic options.

You can’t help but fall for this rustic little restaurant and its warm, welcoming young team. Dark green walls and dried flowers are indicative of the nature-focused approach, with seasonal produce and a low-waste ethos key to its charms. In the day it’s a simple café serving particularly good coffee and viennoiserie, before the kitchen steps up a gear in the evening with cooking that is a feast for the eyes and the taste buds. Influences from across the globe are poured into the flavour-packed dishes, like an original venison fattoush salad with baba ganoush.

With only eight seats around its counter, don’t be put off if you can’t secure a reservation at this sweetly run sushi restaurant at the first time of asking. The omakase menu is based around fine seafood produce, most of it Irish, with multiple servings of nigiri forming a large chunk of the experience – the hamachi and the salmon are particular highlights. The team are endearing and the service is not drawn-out, allowing you to enjoy a satisfying meal that doesn’t take all night. A good selection of sake and other Japanese spirits completes the offering.

Pizza

Italian

Pizza