Whether it’s your first time in Dublin or you’re on a return visit, a walking food tour makes for the perfect introduction into Dublin’s culture and history, all while enjoying delicious Irish food.
We met our guide Linda late morning near Trinity College. Our small group of just ten went on the “Dublin Secret Food Tour.” We were promised was nothing short of fantastic. And Linda delivered, with her knowledge of history and of course, food!
Breakfast
The first stop was at the Kilkenny cafe. The cafe is inside Kilkenny Shop, which supplies beautiful Irish artisan products. In the restaurant, the chefs prepare a variety of homemade dishes in house daily. Our dish was a sampling of some traditional Irish breakfast items, including white pudding not to be mistaken with blood pudding.
Irish Whiskey
After priming our bellies well enough for the next stop on our Dublin food tour, we headed to the Celtic Whiskey Shop. It is just around the corner from St. Stephen’s Green and a neighbor of The Mansion House, an eighteenth-century Queen Anne style home. The mansion is the oldest freestanding house in Dublin and where the Lord Mayor of Dublin resides.
In the whiskey shop, we tasted three Irish whiskeys and a delicious Irish cream while being schooled on the variations of distilling and aging.
A Traditional Irish Lunch on the Dublin Food Tour
After sufficiently quenching our thirst with the brown stuff, we headed to The Hairy Lemon. We had a choice of three traditional Irish dishes (I chose Guinness Stew) and while we waited for the food, we learned the pub’s namesake is from one of Dublin’s great characters. In the 1950s there was a local dogcatcher who was alleged to have a “lemon-shaped visage and a stubble of gooseberry like hair,” which frightened children and adults alike. He was once called The Hairy Lemon and the name stuck.
Fresh Cheese
One of my favorite stops on the Dublin food tour was in Fallon & Byrne. Our guide popped in to pick up two kinds of cheese for us to sample at the end of the tour. Although I’d had a fair bit of eats by this point, walking into this shop was a feast for the eyes and my mouth watered with delight. It has all of the freshest produce, meats and, cheese a girl could ask for!
Without giving away the entirety of our Dublin food tour, I will mention that we covered a good bit of ground in and around Dublin’s Creative Center. The Powerscourt Centre, a Georgian townhouse turned shopping center is located here as well as George’s Street Arcade.
The South City Markets, now known as George’s Street Arcade, opened in 1881. The enclosed Victorian market is one of Europe’s oldest shopping centers and houses about fifty boutique shops and dining options.
Ice Cream
I could live on ice cream, literally! Not only is it my favorite food, but I come from a long line of Murphy’s, from Ireland, so this next spot makes my heart happy.
We were able to try as many flavors as we liked before deciding on a cup or cone to go!
Famous Fish & Chips on our Secret Dublin Food Tour
Our final stop was in the Temple Bar area at Leo Burdock for the most amazing fish and chips I have ever had! The smoked fish was fried to a golden, airy crisp.
Our guide Linda was friendly, fun and very knowledgeable about Dublin’s history and local food scene. Her passion for her job was evident in how kind and flexible she was to all of us in the group. She led us on an excellent gastronomic adventure! (Book your Dublin Food Tour).
If you find yourself in Dublin, even just for a day, I highly recommend that you go on a Dublin Food Tour. If you still have some time and energy to spare after all that food, the Guinness Storehouse is definitely worth a visit. You can get a perfectly poured pint at the Gravity Bar!
Have you been on a Dublin food tour? What types of food did you taste?
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