The Top 10 Best Food and Drinks to Try in Dublin, Ireland
#1 - Irish Stew
What better way to start off this list than the national dish of Ireland! Traditional Irish stew consists of lamb, potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, celery, and fresh herbs all slowly cooked to make it rich and tender. Other variations of Irish stew can sometimes have mutton or beef. Usually, this would be enjoyed on cold winter months, but it is great any time of the year!
#2 - Boiled Bacon & Cabbage
You may be thinking this sounds a little strange. Boiled bacon? That can’t be good. Well, you would be wrong. This is super tender cuts of pork that is boiled in onions and herbs for about an hour, taking in all those fresh ingredients. Then, it is served with nice crisp and salty cabbage. It’s a staple in Irish cuisine, and you should definitely have some while you’re here!
#3 - Soda Bread
This type of bread was actually created by Native Americans as an alternative to traditional yeast bread. However, Ireland decided to make bread using sodium bicarbonate (soda) since it was cheaper and provided less ingredients. With the financial instability the Irish faced in the mid-1800s, this became a staple in most homes. Using soda vs yeast definetely has a different texture from traditional bread, but I would argue it tastes even better!
#4 - Shepherd’s Pie
Techniqually, you can find this anywhere in the UK as well, but Shepherd’s Pie has been a traditional food here in Ireland as well. It’s called Shepherd’s Pie because it contains lamb. It is cooked in a gravy with vegetables and is topped is a generous portion of mashed potatoes. It’s a very filling dish, so you may want to share it with a friend.
#5 - Boxty
As you may have noticed already, many Irish dishes consist of potatoes, and this is no exception. A boxty is a potato pancake, essentially. It is pan fried and traditionally eaten without any toppings. However, there are many restaurants that serve variations of it, such as with sour cream and onions, chicken and cream sauce, hamburger and fried onions, and so on. We recommend trying it first without any toppings so you can taste it without any competing flavours. Then, you can add whatever topping you’d like!
#6 - Coddle
Coddle is basically making use of any dinner leftovers and putting it together in a new dish. It usually consists of sliced sausages, potatoes, onions, and herbs (sometimes with barley). It is cooked down to a soup or a casserole. This one may be hard to find if you aren’t staying with relatives, since a lot of restaurants won’t serve coddle. However, if you get lucky enough to try one, it might be one of your new favourite Irish dishes!
#7 - Irish Breakfast
Similar to English Breakfast, the Irish breakfast is a calorie bomb. It consists of bangers, bacon, eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, bread (toast), and pudding. The difference between an English breakfast and an Irish breakfast is the sausage, toast, and the pudding. In Ireland, they serve Irish bangers (different seasonings), soda bread, and white or black pudding that is different from traditional pudding in England. We personally find the Irish bangers and black pudding to be tastier, so give it a try and find out for yourself.
#8 - Guinness
Guinness is treated like a religion over here in Dublin. You will find it all over posters, gifts, and even in many food varities throughout the city. But, the best way to enjoy a Guinness is at a local pub. You can visit the Guinness Storehouse while you’re here (we recommend you do), so you can see the process of making the world-famous beer. It’s not like what you get anywhere else. It’s much smoother in texture and is more crisp than Guinness in other parts of the world. You may think you’ve already had a Guinness, but you really haven’t until you’ve tried a Guinness in Dublin!
#9 - Barmbrack
Moving onto something a little more sweet, barmbrack is a kind of tea cake here in Ireland. It is made out of cherries, currants, and raisins in a yeasty base. It is actually a Halloween tradition in Ireland, so you will usually find it in the Autumn months. Traditionally, a ring is placed in the dough - the person to find the ring in the bread is considered to have good fortune. Like panettone or fruitcake, it is lightly sweetened by the dried fruit - perfect for those who don’t like overly sweet desserts.
#10 - Irish Whiskies
The last item you must try when you visit Dublin is Irish whisky! It is definetely different from Scotch whisky in that it tastes more clean and crisp than what you might find in Scotland. There are many distilleries around Dublin where you can try different varities of whisky. Perhaps the most famous distillery in Dublin is Jameson’s Whisky, which was founded in 1780. You will see whisky varieties all over the city, so you will have plenty of opportunities to try a bunch of them.
