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5th February 2025
04:40pm GMT
Eating well, drinking better, and making bad decisions that somehow lead to the best meals of your life. Every month, we’re cutting through the noise to bring you the Restaurants You Have To Try in Dublin. The spots actually worth your time. The brand-new openings that already feel like institutions. The hyped-up places that (for once) deserve the hype. The joints slinging food so good you’d consider getting their logo tattooed.
Why not slipp into hidden wine clubs, dive into a swirl of tortillas and birria, sniff out the hush-hush local restaurants championing the city’s next wave of flavours.
If it’s worth eating this month, it’s on this list. Welcome to your new monthly guide. (If you're looking for classics, look out for our upcoming all-time Dublin's Best Restaurants guide.
Mosaic Wines is the sort of place where you’ll find an artfully scribbled menu. There'sno dividing lines or “starter vs. main course” headings to cling to. Depending on how you feel about small plates it either leaves you free or slightly terrified to cobble together a meal from olives, spiced crisps, and fresh focaccia. That’s half the fun, really, provided you’re willing to embrace a bit of uncertainty.
Browse the shelves for a quirky Alsatian white or local craft ale. Open it right there if you’d like, and guess your way through the small plates until you strike that perfect sweet spot between “that can’t possibly be enough food” and “I probably shouldn’t have ordered the entire menu.” For anyone allergic to guesswork, though, the staff’s good for real talk. They won’t hesitate to steer you from “snack” to “we need a second round of bread, stat.” In the end, it’s all about mixing, matching, and letting the low-key neighbourhood vibe take the pressure off making it one of the Restaurants You Have To Try in Dublin this month.
Mi Casa is brought to you from the husband-and-wife team behind PHX bistro. This snug tapas bar gives classic Spanish cooking a breezy, modern tweak. The menu is complete with Carlingford oysters, patatas bravas, and a “confit tortilla” that’s more about green herbs than egg. The best seat in the house just might be at the high tables overlooking the open kitchen. There you can watch the tiny team hustle through fiery peppers and sizzling shellfish, all in real-time. Don’t come expecting a rigid Spanish orthodoxy—the 'twist' is part of Mi Casa’s charm.
But that’s the point: You’re here to graze, sip, and enjoy the lively bustle of a Smithfield evening. The service is laid-back and fun. The wine list has a handful of bottles worth exploring. The desserts host a basque cheesecake worth writing home about to cap things off nicely. If you need an excuse to revisit Smithfield’s after-dark side, consider this your all-access pass.
Sunday roasts priced at a level that seems more 1995 than 2025 have made Yew Tree the local obsession. Here, it’s about that plate of Black Angus beef, or a free-range chicken with the trimmings. Each is served in a dining room that seems immune to the usual pressures of hype. Drop in midweek for well-priced small plates. Or come Sunday to claim a roast and watch Terenure’s families and friends fill up the room in a swirl of chatter and gravy.
Born from the ashes of The Bowery’s cavernous shell, The Dunmore zeroes in on fresh Irish seafood. Think fish pies, crisped cod fillets, and the kind of shellfish that tastes like it left the boat maybe an hour ago. A well-placed steak on the menu suggests you could come here in a surf-averse mood too. The real reason to show up is to see just how well they handle the ocean’s bounty. All without fuss or fanfare.
By day, Brother Hubbard is the go-to for brunch queues and thick slices of bread. By night, it trades in the morning hustle for a low-lit French bistro vibe. Chefs Thibaud Boulant and David Gorgeart channel Michelin cred into pot-au-feu, baked leeks with Cashel Blue, and a €37.50 tasting menu that has no business being this affordable. The best trick: They won’t blink if you stroll in with your own bottle, thanks to the straightforward €10 corkage. Hense how it landed on this list of Restaurants You Have To Try in Dublin this month.
Northern Thai grill meets nighttime hustle in this space from the folks behind Crudo and Juno. Fire is the operative word. The custom charcoal grill from a Wexford maker sears everything from Feighcullen free-range chicken to deeply flavoured Thai sausages. Layer it all with a fish sauce caramel that hums with sweet-sour heat, and you’ve got a version of Thai that’s loud, proud, and nowhere near touristy blandness.
Yet Love Tempo and El Milagro make it look effortless. Julian Trejo Pascual and his mother Maribel press tortillas from Creole corn imported by Balam, layering them with birria or achiote pork. They’re a messy delight, especially the vampiritos topped with molten mozzarella and slow-braised beef. Wash it down with a glass of whatever farmhouse saison they’ve got on draft and let the synergy happen.
A newly sunlit Mexican corner of Ranelagh courtesy of chef Celina Altamirano and Victor Lara. Early hits include buttermilk-fried octopus with ancho aioli, charred sea bream, and a pork chicharrón paired with a knockout black mole. That sauce is smoky, chocolatey, layered. You’ll see why people talk about ordering a second plate before they’ve finished the first. The molé alone makes this one of the Restaurants You Have To Try in Dublin this month.
Hera’s approach to the gastropub is all torched Carlingford oysters and succulent meatballs in chipotle sauce. the also handle a steak that demands its own spotlight. Yeast-butter fried potatoes and a roll call of smaller plates show they aren’t afraid to colour outside the lines.
Evenings at Tang feel like a well-kept secret. Thursdays and Fridays only, a menu led by chef Aoibheann O’Shanahan, and a candlelit setting that transforms this café into a destination. The Middle Eastern–inspired plates — peppered with everything from harissa to labneh — show off serious confidence. The uchiki kuri pumpkin hummus practically begs for extra focaccia. Son't skip the mushroom shawarma lands with that smoky, meaty chew that makes you wonder why anyone would crave beef.
Saturday mornings see Aussie chef Mark Senn and partner Ingrid Baceviciute slinging oyster mushroom rolls from a neon-green food truck. Each dish features fungi grown in the humidor next door. Cajun-breaded mushrooms turn up in baguettes, while an oyster mushroom stroganoff nestles in flatbread with cucumber pickle. It’s fully vegan but not in a way that announces itself. The flavours are just that good, from the tandoori spices to the spot-on textures. So while this is a pop upper it is still one of the Restaurants You Have To Try in Dublin this month, because yowzaaaaa.
Think “Berlin-style” döner, but built on a foundation of Turkish diaspora cooking. The menu features a thick-crusted bread that emerges hot off the grill. That bread alone is worth the visit, though the 24-hour marinated chicken and beef only sweeten the deal. At around a tenner, these hearty sandwiches feel like a gift in a city where price creep can be a pastime. Plan to add a pile of their house pickles for maximum crunch.
Reggie White (Pi, Bambino, Little Forest) finally has his own flagship. It’s every bit the pizza paradise you’d hope for. A 48-hour sourdough fermented from Wildfarmed regenerative flour forms the backbone of pies like the sweet-salty leek and Cashel Blue. The quintessenital tomato-forward Margherita that shows off White’s unwavering respect for tradition.
Dublin’s hunger is in flux this February. The city’s a little warmer, the daylight a little longer, and these kitchens a little bolder. Get out there, try something off your usual path, and discover new shapes and scents in the heart of a place that never quite sits still.
And there ya have it folks, all the Restaurants You Have To Try in Dublin this month. Happy Hunting.
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