Get out your front door Eat, Drink & Explore…
Dublin is a small easy-going capital of Irish folks, is infamously known for its humanism, pubs, and Craic (an Irish word meaning a good time). Over the last few years, food and booze have been the center point of this cosmopolitan city. Well, chefs and breweries in Dublin are on the path of making extraordinary traditional treats pairing with fantastic drinks.
These are Seven of our favourite places that you must visit and the drinks that you should try in Dublin.
Paul Kavanagh – Irish Food Trail
There are thousands of pubs and opulent restaurants – where to start is a good question. Dubs are promising to give you peak pleasure through their traditional yet extravagant food and without any miss booze. Here are the top 7 things to eat and drink while you are in Dublin.
1. Guinness Tour
Guinness is undoubtedly the landmark of Irish drinks all over the world. Is it beer or stout, which is a mystery? This dark, dry stout is still brewed at St. James Gate since 1759. The original recipe is still brewed with the authenticity of Arthur Guinness and will be there for 9,000 years! So for travelers, the Guinness tour is a must see attraction for any visitor to Dublin City.
The tour includes an in-house discovery of a 7 story building. Each storehouse has its background and story. The tour begins with a rich history of “Seal of Guinness” – the famous 9,000-year lease. Then it goes through the multilevel storehouse of cask making, a showcase of natural ingredients, tasting, and much more. The tour ends at Gravity Bar on the 7th-floor, where you can sip delicious Guinness and witness scenic Dublin landscapes.
2. Jameson Distillery Tour
“Uisce Beatha” translates to “the water of life” but literally means whiskey in the Irish language. The deep roots of the Jameson’s family with their ‘water of life’ is the most iconic whiskey made on the Island of Ireland. The Jameson Distillery offers a world-class premium experience to visitors who want to enjoy this wonderland of whiskeys. Jameson has been winning awards for the best whiskey since their foundation. Drinker or Non-drinker both can indulge themselves with the history of Jameson via a tour.
You can have a range of tours with time options of 25 minutes to 3 hours. Visitors can have the Jameson Experience tour, behind the scenes tour, Premium whiskey tasting, and cask opening experience separately for the much-refined experience. Distillery apprentice tour is best for the real whiskey geeks as you get to visit the live, current-day distillery where you can dive in much depth of Jameson experience. If you are looking to pick up any of their specialized bottles visit L.Mulligans Whiskey Shop, Celtic Whiskey Shop, Fox’s or international buyers can grab a bottle here.
3. Gallagher’s Boxty House
In the heart of the temple bar, you will find the original and most authentic Irish food at Gallaghers. They carry their philosophy of “The Humble Spud Made Beautiful.” from the most traditional to a modern swist on some old favourites. Gallagher’s Boxty House serves traditional potato pancakes, known as “Boxty” as their star dish. The restaurant is lovely and quaint in contrast with its modern looks from the outside.
Gallagher’s serve all three types of boxty – which are heavily influenced by Leitrim, Cavan, and Fermanagh counties. Yet! Chef Pádraic Óg Gallagher perfected the Leitrim styled pan boxy in 1988. Since then, they have a range on the menu featuring a range of local ingredients – the humble potato. You can have various traditional menus designed surrounding the boxty, which perfectly pairs with their Jack Smyth craft beer.
4. The Temple Bar
Probably the number one Bar in Dublin – the Temple Bar, has the whole area named after it! (Well not really,! the bar is named after the district, Good marketing right?) The bar, established in 1840, is famous for its spectrum of history and has the most extensive rare whiskey collection of more than 450 unique Blends, Malts and Single Post Stills. The attractive red color of the bar is too hard to miss on the banks of the river Liffey. The bar is quirky and always bustling with live musicians entertaining the crowd.
The atmosphere will take you in for one of the most exquisite Irish bar experiences. Here you can still enjoy the long lost rare whiskey from the depths of the collection – which you can’t miss if you are in Dublin. They haven’t stopped with the drinks – the bar menu has over 100 types of sandwiches for their customers. Another list to ravish is traditional fresh oysters with pints of Guinness.
5. Irish Food Trail Dublin & Galway
Going on a food tour is like a glimpse into the world of Irish gourmet wonders. The walk will take you on the experience of Ireland’s finest artisan food producers. Here you can find delicacies from as simple as Local Craft Beer to Irish Stew, Oysters and Carrot Cake. There is no end to how much you can eat this great food and, of course, drinks varying from delicious wines to local creamy Irish stouts.
The tour is the brainchild of Paul Kavanagh, where your guide takes tourists and visitors on a ride into Irish wonderland. You can get absorbed into all kinds of feasts eating and walking on the streets of Galway or Dublin. With the list so long, you don’t have to be confused about what to see? Where to go? The Irish Food Trail will make sure you get an exceptional experience out of this tour.
6. Powerscourt Townhouse
The Powerscourt Townhouse was built in 1744, this Georgian townhouse is a fine example of an elegant, high-end home to the Irish aristocrat – which today serves as a collective space for an arrays of pubs, restaurants, fashion houses, art, and handicrafts shops. You can wander to various vendors and get yourself the best of Ireland at the Pepper Pot – “Irish Soda Bread, Spiced Grass Fed Beef and the famous Pear and Bacon Sandwich.”
Here you can find various activities to do in the traditional Irish way. You can improve your culinary skills at the Cooks Academy. At the creative Quarter, you can travel back into the time at Farrier & Draper – by gulping down 1920’s styled drinks. You can enjoy the passing of times at the Townhouse Café and eat your hearts out at the Pepper Pot. They have got something for everyone!
7. Ely’s Bar & Restaurant
Ely’s Bar is one of the oldest wine venues in Ireland, still standing strong at Dublin’s Docks since 1821. Ely’s claim they have pioneered and revolutionized the wine and wine bar act in Dublin. Take a small tour to the under-ground historic wine cellar. The lunch menu includes one of the best wines paired with cheese and charcuterie.
Ely’s are proud of their 1200 different wines with a range of premium whiskeys, gin, craft beers, cognac, and original cocktails. They are well known for its home-made burgers and mouth-watering authentic, delicious Irish pies.
Dublin may have thousands of pubs and restaurants hustling and bustling daily with music and laughter – it is truly an exquisite example of Irish culture. After all, we humans are all about food and booze! The above list will take you inside the secret the “Craic” – An Irish way of life. You can enjoy Dublin by just doing simple activities like – eating and drinking!