Since I am the ultimate foodie, here are some places I visited on a weekend break to Dublin that I absolutely and loved! You definitely need to try every one of these if you are ever in the area.
1. Wuff – Go Irish Brunching!
An independent cafe worth visiting for their irish breakfast and tea. They have a selection of food on the menu but we went here for brunch. We ordered an Irish breakfast and vegetarian breakfast with Irish tea which pretty much tastes like your regular English breakfast tea. The waitress said so herself when I asked her what was different about it, but it’s worth trying just to check for yourself. This place is super popular with queues flowing out of the door sometimes and has good reviews online. Their portions are massive and the breakfasts are around a tenner!
2. Chewbrew – Gotta Grab Some Bubble Tea
I found this place when I was browsing on Instagram for bubble tea shops in Dublin and this one kept popping up. I put it on my to-go list and off I went in search for it. The interior of the shop was really bright with neon designs and cool seating to chill. There was a selection of hot and cold teas for around €4 euros each. I ordered a hot Thai tea with tapioca and my friend got a mango fruit tea with popping passion fruit bubbles.
Their instagram is @chewbrewbbt
3. The Rolling Donut
This cute independent shop is just near the Ha’penny bridge. I walked past and saw an array of delicious colourful doughnuts and a bunch of people popping in so I decided to treat myself. They have a big selection of vegan doughnuts too which were really popular and selling faster than the regular ones. I ordered a salted caramel pistachio doughnut which was amazing, not too sweet surprisingly, along with my usual cup of tea. One doughnut is €3 or 2 for €5.
Their instagram page is @therollingdonut_
4. Token – For Chicken and Retro Arcade Lovers
I was starving and found this place round the corner from Wuff. Now I love fried chicken and they had a lot of it. There was a selection of fried chicken, burgers, hot dogs, salads and drinks among numerous retro arcade games scattered about the venue. We got an offer for a main meal, side, drink and 10 game tokens for €20 euros which was more than enough.
Each game took one or two tokens so the deal was perfect.
If you’re looking for a place to eat and chill indoors and possibly get a drink at the bar then this a must visit.
5. The Church – Cafe, Bar, and Restaurant
Popped into this old church cafe which resembled the Vienna church cafe in style and had this rustic charm to it. It was slightly busy upstairs but there is seating downstairs in the basement (sounds dodgy I know, even I was wary to go downstairs) but it had a Cinderella fairytale vibe to it and had the perfect dinner atmosphere. We just popped in for dessert so I ordered a chocolate brownie with ice cream and my friend had a pannacotta with cream, apple crumble sauce and chia seeds with Irish tea.
6. HaiLan – Bento For A Bargain
When I see a Korean or Chinese restaurant, I automatically want to go in. This was the case here as we popped in for lunch when browsing the Temple bar area. This place is opposite the Dublin castle so there were many tourists in the area but the restaurant wasn’t too busy around late afternoon. There was a selection of Korean and Japanese cuisine. I ordered Buchimgae; Korean pancakes and a chicken teriyaki bento box. The pricing was really good for the portion sizes: around €10-12 for main dishes and service was also very good!