33 of the Best Lunch Spots in Dublin

The star of the show is their classic pork and prawn wonton noodle soup, featuring handmade wontons with bouncy prawn fillings, served in a meticulously prepared broth combining fresh chicken stock and in-house flounder fish powder. Beyond wontons, the all-day breakfast menu tempts with Hong Kong favourites like satay beef noodles, chicken congee, and indulgent Hong Kong-style French toast—a deep-fried delight layered with peanut butter and drizzled with syrup and condensed milk.

From the moment I first bit into the veggie edition of their breakfast sandwich (which I had for lunch, with a side of potatoes) I've been hooked on Two Pups, and it's one of the first cafés out of my mouth when asked for a Dublin recommendation for great food. Like all the best cafés and restaurants, Two Pups focuses on local suppliers and seasonal ingredients, sourcing from the likes of Firehouse Bakery, McNally Family Farm, Village Dairy, and North Wicklow Eggs.

The ambience is laidback and fuss-free, and the grub will impress your foodie mate and win you serious brownie points for suggesting it. Something to note if you're a picky eater - the dishes at Two Pups can't be modified, so if you're a serial remover of coriander or feta, this won't be the spot for you. If you're down for anything, then it's a winner-winner-chicken lunch (...). The menus are completely different depending on whether you dine on Francis Street, or in Fairview, so be sure to take a goo at what's on offer before deciding which one you're heading to.

Patrick Hyland kicked off his career in food by simply making dishes he loved to make for himself, with a belief that American food is "a great crossover of cultures." Pig & Heifer has that special family feel that we're more used to seeing on TV shows than in person, making that trip to New York almost unnecessary. The Pig & Heifer use age-old techniques to keep that authentic NY feel to their sambos; their famous pastrami is made with a tried and true 30-year-old recipe hailing from the States. That said, all the meat is Irish, and all the bread is baked specially in-house, The Bear style. They even acknowledge that operating this way is more labour-intensive, but the payoff of their effort is felt in every bite.

This is not for the people who return to the same café day in and day out for a tuna melt on rye bread, with a Vit Hit on the side (no shade) but instead for those who love a bit of a surprise, down for whatever meat or cheese is being laid on bread on any given day. They serve all the lunchtime staples - soups, salads, sandwiches, as well as the more out-there but ever-delicious frittata (let's agree to shout more about frittatas in 2024 guys). Emer's Kitchen is a takeaway establishment only, but given its proximity to Stephen's Green, Iveagh Gardens, and Fitzwilliam Square, on warmer days you can find a nice perch with your soup and frittata while people-watching.

Plus they're not worried about breaking rules, proven when they had a weekly Christmas sandwich special in the middle of May, sensing perhaps that this is when we needed it most. We love a daredevil. Carved only opens on weekdays until 3pm, so if you work in an office nearby, give yourself a little bit of joy, leave the leftovers in the fridge, and head on down to Hanover Street for a hefty roll that contains the exact right ratio of bread, meat, cheese, garnish, and condiment. Just make sure you have some napkins at the ready - even the neatest of eaters are going to find smears of mayo or avocado sauce all around their gob.

Naturally one of the coolest streets worldwide, as per Time Out's ruling, and who are we to disagree, Capel Street delivers when it comes to the lunchtime meal, as it does at all other times of the day. Soup is such an underrated dish, and Soup Dragon, which has been operating since 2000, recognise this, putting forward every iteration of soup that you can think of, with the option to add sambo, salad, or homemade brown bread on the side. Their quick and efficient service makes it a go-to for lunch on the go, you know that "I have 20 minutes between meetings" feeling. Giving soup the main character moment it's always deserved, the Capel Street spot also has some extremely affordable offerings especially if you opt for veggie, with some good gluten-free and dairy-free options for those who struggle to find lunches out.

Tokyo Kitchen might be a spot you easily walk by, but if you're a lover of raw fish, we can't emphasise how much you ought to give this little hole-in-the-wall a chance. Usually frequented by barristers, film students and trendy types this spot off a Smithfield backstreet is worth donning the carhartt/wig for. The sushi is prepared by chefs with over a decade of experience in this art, expertly rolled and using fresh and healthy ingredients. If you're particularly daring, nothing will prove this restaurant's worth more than the daily sushi platter, a collection of nigiri, the chef's choice of norimaki, and the chef's special seafood dish, which starts at the very reasonable €12.95.

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I could write a sonnet about my undying love and appreciation for Sprout. After weeks and weeks of seeing every other person in my office carrying that recognisable white and green paper bag, before diving into a Kardashians-sized salad, I caved and went myself, only to be able to confirm that the hype is much deserved (I know, I'm super late to this party). Even the person most opposed to the salad as a meal will have to take their hat off to the bowls that come out of Sprout. The warm bowls in particular will keep you satiated well past your dinner time, the kind of meal that has you pop on some beans and toast at 9pm because you nearly forgot to eat before bed altogether. It's hard to choose a fighter from Sprout; I had something of a relationship with the Charred Chicken taco bowl, before embarking on a brief rendezvous with the Bombay bowl, and finally settling into a love affair with the simple but effective Sataysfied bowl (yes, I'm using romantic relations as a metaphor, that's how much of a fan I am of Sprout).

I am an egg fiend, and I do not subscribe to the idea that they are only associated with breakfast. It matters not what time you're digging into those yolks, they'll make you happy morning, noon, or night. What Argentinian restaurant ALMA does to poached eggs is nothing short of visionary, and as someone often disappointed in poached eggs (vinegary, uncooked, you know the kind I mean) this dish is one I dream of more often than I care to admit. Their exquisite poached egg dish, simply called Alma's Poached Eggs, comes with two free-range poached eggs, smashed avocado, garlic portobello mushrooms, feta cheese, and salsa criolla on organic Tartine sourdough - piled high, like a little volcano, whereby the feta replaces the lava (and they do not cheap out on the feta, I'm happy to report).

Of course, ALMA is also known for its pancakes, vegan hummus toast, and the Choripan Argento, an Argentinian-style sausage on sourdough, so if I somehow haven't sold you on the eggs, there will undoubtedly be lots of things for you to enjoy. One thing to note is that given its popularity, your booking only allows you to sit for an hour on weekdays, and just 50 minutes on weekends - given the efficient service, this isn't a problem necessarily, and in fact is ideal for your office lunch, but ALMA won't be somewhere you stroll back from 2.5 hours after sitting down.

You'll hear Rialto locals saying the area has gone 'very trendy' since Daddy's opened, and it's true - the village is now a go-to destination for foodies and speciality coffee lovers, tote bags and refurbished racer bikes in tow, while still retaining its original, old-school Dublin 8 charm. Set in front of the Circular (which houses Coke Lane Pizza and The Other Hand), it's an incredible example of neighbouring businesses maximising space (at the weekends Daddy's spills into The Circular's seating area). The nostalgic menu has nods to all the greatest hits of our childhoods, from eggs in a cup to salad sandwiches.

Standouts include their benny and cabbage (an Irish slant on the brunch classic) and their weekly savoury tarts. Ideal for a hungover meal when all you really need is good food, good vibes and to feel okay again. Very dog and kid-friendly, on a sunny day there are few better places to be than sat outside in the Rialto Riviera (we are convinced the temperatures are +5 degrees hotter than the rest of Dublin) slugging a iced coffee and watching the world go by.

Blessed we were for a time to have The Cheeky Piglet a mere two-minute walk from our offices. When they opened in October 2021, we didn't know just how often we'd make that short journey, be it for coffee, a couple of hash browns, or a homey sort of meal, the kind you crave when hungover on a Sunday morning. Mastering the art of serving breakfast all day long, Cheeky Pig also has grilled sambos (which you can get with crisps or chips on the side), and all sit under €10. Plus the staff at Cheeky are some of the loveliest and most welcoming that you'll find in the city, not least of which is the café cat that you may or may not be lucky enough to witness upon your visit, which can be the making of your lunch hour when work is getting on top of you. Add in that Cheeky is a dog-friendly café, which its loyal customers have certainly made the most of, and you're in for nothing but feel-good vibes.

Il Fornaio is open in the heart of the IFSC, creating authentic Italian dishes since 1998, entering its 26th year of service in Dublin. The large windows allow for optimal people watching whilst sheltering from the cold, and while this will make for a spennier lunch than most, you'll be full all day long. Reserving a table is advised as Il Fornaio is a more intimate space, and the corporate workers in the surrounding offices flock to it like seagulls when they see a rogue chip on the ground, but once you're booked in, you won't regret it.

Dublin's toastie offering is strong and mighty, which makes throwing around phrases like the best toastie in the city difficult, but Meltdown is certainly up there. Starting off as a pop-up, the female-owned business then grew into the wonderful space on Montague Street, which boasts indoor and outdoor dining, with a warm and Groovy-Chick-chic interior that rouses up nostalgia like nothing else. Serving up some of the more creative toasties in Dublin, which are most definitely the cheesiest; the cheese-to-bread ratio is nothing short of a mathematical anomaly. The overload of cheese on these sandwiches is so intense that you can request half the cheese - perhaps a solid choice for the lactose intolerant who selectively forget this trait about themselves whenever they get a whiff of gouda or cheddar. If you somehow need more convincing, where else can you get a mac and cheese sandwich? Exactly.

So good they stock a lot of the best cafés and lunch spots around with their impeccable sambos, as well as their own in Inchicore, Rathmines and most recently Monkstown. Spreading tasty toastie joy wherever they go, the team do a bang-up job of creating a serious level of freshness in theirs, especially in the Asian Pulled Pork, slow-cooked pulled pork, spicy Asian slaw, house pickled cucumber, chillies, fresh rocket & homemade peanut rayu aioli on sourdough. Champions of local businesses themselves, they use Bread 41 in their sangos, alongside some gold-standard Irish suppliers for their fillings.

Industrial set-up, with a well-designed sitting area set behind metal and glass, one of the best lunch spots in Dublin has to be Urbanity. Their take on Sydney's omelette from The Bear should be reason enough to add them to that ever-growing "Need to try" list. The menu changes depending on whether it's a weekday or a weekend, so be mindful of that when deciding what day to visit them. Monday to Friday it's all about sambos on Tartine sourdough and soup served with moist Guinness bread, as well as bigger plates if you're in need of linner (lunch + dinner). On Saturdays and Sundays expect loaded potato hash with short rib, or yassified smoked salmon and poached eggs topped with beetroot borani (Iranian yoghurt dip), almonds, and apple and chilli slaw.

Big on flavours, and seasonal ingredients, the plates are packed with personality. The team don't ignore vegans or veggies here, with some great options on the menu that would turn a meat eater. The team also have incredible coffee which they roast in-house, with some desserts hidden behind glass that is hard to break eye contact with. Yes Chef! While there is plenty of seating, it tends to get pretty busy on the weekends but it is definitely worth the wait.

Over the past few years, Rathmines has been no stranger to great food openers, but there was a heightened sense of excitement when 100% kosher Deli 613 landed in the suburb.⁠ Deli 613 combines tradition with delicious, viral-worthy dishes (expect to see a lot of the XXL NY-size salt beef sandwich on your Instagram feed next year), and the passion that goes into every last pickle slice is clear.⁠
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The deli was opened by Rabbi Zalman and Rifky Lent, with an aim to provide familiar kosher food to Dublin's Jewish community and introduce the dishes to Dubliners en masse. Heading up the kitchen is chef Robbie Burns, who brings his own extensive knowledge of the Irish food scene to the business. Kosher cooking is a new venture for the chef, but he's risen to the challenge and was well up for a chat about the intricacies of the cuisine when we popped in last year.⁠

When I think of lunch, I think of two components; soup and a sandwich. Oxmantown, now with three Dublin 7 locations, does God's work in this area, at an affordable price. Have you seen how much some places charge for a toastie these days? Oxmantown sticks a €7.50 price tag on their creations, with a small soup costing €2.80. Oxmantown has their classic menu; your ham and cheese, chicken and stuffing, pastrami and sauerkraut but they also have a daily special where they get to experiment with ingredients, and if you're feeling daring, they rarely miss with their combinations. They've also got a new(ish) micro bakery called Elliots now open in Phibsboro - head here for some of the best baguettes in the city, fruit-filled, squidgy brioche pastries accompanied by speciality coffee from Cloud Picker.

They have a breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu available, full of vegan-friendly classics such as scrambled tofu, seitan sausage rolls, jackfruit puttanesca, and more. There is tons of indoor seating, and everything on the menu is designed to be comfort food, warming for the tummy and the soul. Cornucopia does employ the odd meat-alternative ingredient, but for the most part, it relies on the deliciousness of veg and lentils, which is where plant-based food truly shines.

The roast chicken sandwich, in particular, has been on Juniors menu for many years and for good reason- it's an absolute classic, bread that can stand up to the sauce, unctuous roast chicken, slightly wilted greens and a chunky slice of tomato it's hard to spot the flaw. However, if you want to feel like you've stepped into an episode of The Bear (for the food, not the never-ending hamster wheel of stress) then there's no better spot for lunch than Juniors.

It's tough to write a Dublin food list right now and not include Nomo Ramen, who are hands down serving the best ramen in the city, managing to create a broth that is almost creamy in texture and flavour. Head Chef Kevin Hughes began to obsess over ramen from a young age, which only intensified as he ate the dish in cities all over the world, eventually falling in love with the style offered in New York and LA. Now, the goal for Nomo is to serve up the most authentic ramen in Dublin - and they are succeeding in leaps and bounds.

The noodles in question are specially made by Sun Noodles, a company based near New York - the main provider to ramen restaurants across the U.S. and beyond. Nomo offers a range of different ramen, with the star of the show being their Tori Paitan (chicken broth) blended with whole chicken and vegetables and simmered for seven hours to reach a specific consistency. The quality of each component of the dish is apparent at the first slurp, this is a bowl you will come back to again and again.

Arguably Tang could top any kind of listicle that you could think of: coffee, lunch, breakfast. Such is the level of quality the team wraps, froth and dollop on everything. With three Dublin spots in the city centre, you aren't ever going to be too far away from one. The menu is made up of Middle Eastern-inspired classics that have been given a simple twist of innovation, food that's made with care and consideration, something you can taste with each bite. For lunch, their magnum opus is most certainly the flatbread, a delicious filling afternoon meal option that doesn't feature highly on too many Dublin menus, unfortunately. At Tang you can fill your flatbread with Middle Eastern chicken, Moroccan lamb, or Lebanese bean, before adding in salad, salsa, and of course, the most underrated but gorgeous condiment around, tzatziki. If you're into a lighter lunch option, and can't get bogged down by all the bread, you can get all these fillings in a salad instead.

Another favoured lunchtime haunt for office workers, Tír are all about seasonal ingredients and adapts its menu accordingly throughout the year. Tír is Irish for country or land (á la Tír na nÓg), and you'll see why this deli is so-called after tasting one of their sambos. Tír works very closely with farmers and producers, the service is swift and friendly and you come away feeling full in a healthy, wholesome way. Expect expertly fermented sauces and slaws accompanying perfectly seasoned meat cooked over an open flame. Bring yourself back to those cosy family Sundays with this incredibly tangy smoke-roasted beef sandwich parts, horseradish and salt & vinegar crisps with butter.

If you ever happen to have a midweek day off in Dublin and are looking to treat yourself to a lunch where you can sip tea from a china cup and watch the world go by, The Pepper Pot is a must. It's open at weekends too - it's just one of those places I always think of when mentally compiling my dream day in Dublin, and a dream day obviously takes place midweek when you should be working. Located upstairs in the dreamy Powerscourt Shopping Centre, The Pepper Pot looks and feels like a café that has been conjured up for some Hallmark Christmas movie, and yet this quaint space actually exists, inviting you in for tea sipping and spilling (in the metaphorical sense, don't be wasting a good Earl Gray). Not only do they bake everything in-house for maximum freshness, Pepper Pot doesn't shy away from daring flavour combos, as is evident from their famous bacon and pear sandwich. Any Dublin foodie worth their salt has this as one of their fave sambos in Dublin, and for a good reason.

Number one goes to the much overused term but in this case completely accurate lunchtime institution that is Green Bench. Every day at lunchtime, Dubliners flock to this unassuming shop front in Dublin 2 after scouring their Instagram page to find out the specials of the day. Don't let the winding queue put you off - and trust us, if there's one thing that is for certain at this café, it's that there will be a queue - Green Bench are a well-oiled machine when it comes to moving through the rush with ease and there's a reason they're one of the city's most beloved sandwich spots; not the least of which because their sambos are completely filled to the brim with ingredients. If you're visiting them, head to their Instagram to check what daily specials they're slinging and if they've got the Hoi Sin pork with herby stuffing on, you're legally obliged to order it. Green Bench are serious in their quest to make the best lunch for Dubliners, deserving of all the praise and accolades they receive.