The month of middling Summer has a lot to give in terms of eating out
We've narrowed down your broad range of options to take in just six of our top picks in Dublin's fair city this month:
6. Hakkahan
32 Stoneybatter
There's a unique grouping of people, who distance themselves from popular occurrences for no good reason at all. I'm unfortunately a member of this sad, little collective, choosing to silently nod and empty my mind of all intent when people tell me things like "you have to watch Mad Men" or "the McDonald's breakfast is actually class". The most recent example of this was when countless people told me about Hakkahan in Stoneybatter. Thankfully the world intervened in this specific case of pointless amnesia and landed Hakkahan at Taste of Dublin, whereby the team exposed thousands of foodie freaks to it's amazing food (myself included). With a menu made up of some familiar dishes and some authentic Hakka Han dishes, this has to be some of the best Thai food being served up in the city right now.
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5. Leamhain
St. Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre
Many might be familiar with Leamhain's distinct branding, probably from seeing the last block snatched out of a freezer or glimpsing that so-and-so smugly reaching the till before you and landing a block into their whimsical tote. The vegan ice-cream company was set up by Conor Sweeny and his partner Louise, while Sweeny (former chef at the famed vegan restaurant Vanilla Black in London) was out of work, doing a very Lockdown 1 activity of watching Tiger King and eating. Apart from realising that Carole Baskin wasn't the real villain, Sweeny realised that the vegan ice cream he was eating wasn't that great and set about creating his own. Starting small-scale stocking to local shops, before building up to having his own production facility and now his own shop in St. Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre. The team at Leamhain are constantly working on new flavour combinations, alongside refining and reworking their best sellers.
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4. CN Duck
Dublin 6's 12 Ranelagh
As if there wasn't enough places in Ranelagh to check out, CN Duck comes waddling into our lives. Industrially styled and inspired by Shanghai in the 1930s, CN Duck wears its vintage inspiration as boldly as any Y2K-er on TikTok. The team behind CN Duck have a goal to reproduce an authentic Chinese dining experience for customers, using carefully chosen spices and flavours, "that is unrivalled in Dublin" and "will blow your taste-buds' mind". The menu is slick, and distinct, drafted by the type of person who knows the Dublin food scene inside out and what Dubliners want (especially Cantonese siu mei!).
3. Margadh
Grand Canal
The third wing of the wine and cheese dynasty has recently opened at Grand Canal. Born out of the closure Mamó Restaurant during Covid, owners Jess D’Arcy and Killian Durkin opened the first Margadh in October 2020, as evidenced by this third opener the team have gone from strength to strength stocking and producing high-end produce covering morning, noon and night hankerings.
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2. Day n Night
Dublin 1's 18 Great Denmark Street
It's been up for debate for some time where this spot on Great Denmark Street is named after Kid Cudi's Day 'n' Night, which entered our brain by hook or by crook for the entire summer of 2009, or not. But the spot certainly "runs as smooth in the night like it does in the day" covering a lot of bases as attested by the round the clock name. From 9am-4pm the team serve Coffee & Nostalgia Korean Toasties, from 4pm-10pm they serve authentic Japanese Ramen, with loads of specials from chicken karaage to lobster rolls thrown in.
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1. ZAATAR
George's Street Arcade
More Middle Eastern food in Dublin is a definite cause for celebration, freshly opened from the people behind Umi and Zaytoon this spot in George's Street Arcade is just the ticket. Selling pizzas and boasting the sale of Dublin's 1st Wood Fired Manakish, a food typically eaten for breakfast in the Middle East. Aside from looking delicious the sale of this dish is supremely important to the ZAATAR team, writing that it brings "a much-needed element of nostalgia to our community, as manakish are a pillar of Middle-Eastern and Levantine cuisine." What goes into these products is a world-wide affair, with zaatar and sumac sourced from Palestine and Jordan, cheese blend a mixture of Cypriot halloumi, Italian Fior di Latte and Palestinian Akkawi cheese, and the 00 flour coming from Naples. Never one to turn down the opportunity to try a new form of dough, we are really excited to try this spot.
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