Restaurants

Dublin's restaurant scene is a bit of a good news/bad news situation: The good news is that the economic upswing over the last 15 years has brought with it a new generation of international, sophisticated eateries. The bad news is that prices are considerably more than you'd pay in a comparable U.S. city, or even in Paris or London -- and so far this hasn't changed significantly with the recession.

A combination of high taxes (the VAT on wine is 21%, and on restaurant meals it's 13.5%) and a bit of lingering nouveau riche enthusiasm among restaurateurs has the effect of making dining out memorably expensive. But the quality is good, and splurging once or twice while you're in town can be a real treat.

How to Eat Without Breaking the Bank

Prices for food in Dublin are sky-high, so if money is an object, you're going to have to be creative.

You can get a cost break in the city's many cafes and tearooms, which offer sandwiches, scones, soup, and hot platters at reasonable prices. The cafe in the tourist information center on Suffolk Street -- Fionn McCool's -- does good, cheap food for less than €10. Or you could have your lunch in a pub, where you can get a hearty lunch for around €10. The pub option is for lunch only, though, as most pubs don't serve food after 3pm.

If it's summer, cut costs by buying a sandwich at one of the many sandwich shops -- or even in grocery chains like Tesco and Dunnes -- and having a picnic in a city square. Store-bought sandwiches are better and fresher here than in North America, and they only cost a few euros. Some Spar grocery stores are now making crepes and stir-fries to order for a few euros. And at the Botticelli gelataria at 3 Temple Bar you can have a cup of excellent ice cream for €2.50.

In the winter, though, getting out of the cold can be a priority, so consider popping into a coffee shop and grabbing a sandwich there -- usually no more than €4.

At dinnertime, bargains are harder to come by. However, many restaurants offer "early bird" or prix-fixe menus at about 25% off their normal price -- look out for signs in central Dublin.

Definitely take advantage of free breakfasts if your hotel offers them, as that's the best deal on food you're going to get in Dublin.

How to Eat Like an Irishman

If you've come to Dublin expecting to find plenty of restaurants still serving traditional Irish food, you're going to be disappointed. Dublin is far too chic, and Dubliners far too sophisticated, for the Irish stew, soda bread, and shepherd's pie they grew up eating. The very food you cannot escape in the Irish countryside, you cannot find in Dublin restaurants.

A number of pricey restaurants do modern, upscale interpretations on Irish cooking; places like Chapter One and Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud use only Irish ingredients in their complex dishes, for which you will pay a premium. But the simple, basic food that the Irish are known for is not really represented.

Still, you can get around this, as long as you don't mind eating in a pub. Several of the city's traditional pubs still serve plain, hearty Irish food, and as an added benefit, it's certainly much cheaper than what you'll find in the high-and-mighty restaurants. Your best options include the Porterhouse microbrewery on Parliament Street in Temple Bar, which is an excellent place for a midweek lunch of dishes such as Irish stew with brown bread, or bubble-and-squeak. Not too far away, O'Shea's Merchant (12 Bridge St. Lower; tel. 01/679-3797) and the Stag's Head pub are among the best places in town for real Irish food. Both offer home-cooked, traditional food in pleasant surroundings (just don't try to eat there on busy weekend nights when it's too crowded for comfort).

Outdoors Is the New Indoors (for a Smoke)

While Ireland has a reputation as a hard-drinking, heavy-smoking place, it is not above American-style health laws, and thus it has a sweeping antismoking law. Smoking is banned in virtually all public spaces, including restaurants, bars, hotel lobbies -- you name it. Therefore, there will be no smoking at the table, and not even any nipping into the bar for a quick drag. It's out into the cold and wet to indulge.

The Irish are not entirely unsympathetic to the addicted among us, and most restaurants and bars have created lavish patios and gardens, usually covered and heated, where smokers can puff away in relative comfort. In fact, one unintended outcome of the antismoking legislation is that Dublin has become more of an outdoor city than ever before, as outdoors is the new indoors, and the smoking patio is often the place to see and be seen