Put Dublin on the menu this autumn
Visitors curious to savour the modern Irish food scene are well served this autumn with a host of new food experiences in and around Dublin. Whether you browse an urban dockside market, take a city-centre walking tour or escape to a country house estate, there are many routes to an authentic taste of contemporary Ireland.
Nestled in the Dublin mountains close to the beautiful Bohernabreena Reservoir Park, the short drive from the city up to Olly Nolan’s small farm is as inspiring as the self-sufficiency he has created there. Well known to Dubliners for the award-winning Olly’s Farm raw honey collected from his apiaries around Dublin and Wicklow, Nolan has recently opened his farm to visitors. The Smallholding and Honey Farm tour is a monthly event where you can walk the orchards, vegetable garden and livestock paddocks to meet his native Dexter cows, laying hens and pet goats, before enjoying a house tour and honey tasting.
In north county Dublin’s horticultural heartlands, the Keogh family have opened their historic home at the 122-acre Whitestown House and Estate. Here you can enjoy unique evening and daytime experiences that combine the talents of chef Kelly and her artist sister Aoife with their mother Hazel’s flair for old-school Irish hospitality. Expect open fires, warm welcomes and complimentary cocktails whether you book an informal event like the Pick and Cook, which invites visitors to harvest blackberries, apples and plums from the estate grounds before gathering in the Aga-warmed kitchen for Kelly’s recipe demos and a hearty lunch, or the more elaborate Dining Club, which offers a seven-course dining menu. November’s Halloween-themed “The Darker Half” menu showcases estate-game like pheasant, duck or venison and seasonal vegetables homegrown or from neighbouring McNally Family Farm.
Nearby in rural Fingal, The Courtyard Kitchen at Newbridge House and Farm launches this autumn. Filled with light from the adjacent 18th-century courtyard, the new demo kitchen is designed to host workshops, feasts and interactive cooking demonstrations from local food network Dublin Coast and Fields members amongst others. Another good reason to visit this beautifully preserved Georgian mansion and estate and its working farm with a family-friendly interactive Farmyard Discovery Trail.
Back in the city, several new food tours join local originators such as Fab Food Trails and Delicious Dublin Tours to offer walking tours to suit every budget and palate. Newest to the scene is the collaboration between leading local food guide All The Food (ATF) and international food tour providers Devour Tours. Their new Ultimate Dublin Food Tour reflects ATF’s laser focus on the hottest talents, latest openings and most innovative spins in one of Europe’s most thrilling food cities. The tour takes in 17th-century merchant mansions through to modern food truck heroes, with five food stops serving anything from the freshest Dublin Bay crab on toast to playful all-Irish ice-creams (whiskey and Guinness in a cone anyone?), curated and regularly updated by eagle-eyed experts on Dublin’s fast-evolving food scene.
Over at Flavour Trails (formerly Adventure Trails) owner-operator Gráinne Lawlor pairs each sample dish of traditional Irish flavours with complementary local beers and ciders for their flagship Irish Food Trail. Meanwhile, Derek King of Experience Irish Whiskey has teamed up with Gráinne Mullins’s artisanal Grá Chocolates to offer a premium whiskey and chocolate pairing (bookable for private groups).
At Walking Food Tours, there is something for every budget, with the introduction of a new luxury all-inclusive Taste & Tales private walking tour with owner-operator Kevin Adams. This complements their original pocket-friendly Food on Foot and Drinks on Foot public tours, with its unusual format that allows visitors choose which food and drink samples they purchase based on the guide’s recommendations.
If you’d prefer to follow your nose without a guide, go free-range at the new urban redevelopment of the iconic Boland Mills site at Dublin’s Digital Docklands. The historic 19th-century flour mill has lain dormant for decades but opens in autumn 2024 as a food hub. The savvy crew behind The Animal Collective – creators of some of Ireland’s hippest bars including Dublin’s Bonobo, Kodiak and Caribou – are heading up a new bar as well as an eclectic indoor food market on the ground floor of one of the new Boland’s buildings. Nearby, Grindstone Speciality Coffee serve its signature brews and select samples from local food producers.
In pride of place, the new Bolands Mills Bakery becomes the flagship HQ for baker Thibault Peigne of the beloved sourdough specialist Tartine Organic Bakery and tiny sister establishment Russell Street Bakery (nestled in the shadows of Croke Park where its pastries have achieved cult status). Besides the artisan breads and Danishes baked onsite, expect next-level pastries from a fully dedicated patisserie lab, producing traditional, modern and fine patisserie. The cafe will also make proper Belgian waffles onsite from scratch served with house-made ice cream.
This exciting redevelopment is the first of several in the city, with
2025 bringing openings such as Tallaght’s ambitious social enterprise-run Priory Market, complete with multiple food and drink traders, craft brewery and tank bar, and co-working incubation kitchen.
Elsewhere new multi-stall food markets are being developed in landmark churches, riverside warehouses and historic fruit and vegetable market buildings – great news for the independent food and drink businesses who will be ready to greet you in these dedicated spaces.