The financial and cultural quayside, home to Paradiso vegetarian restaurant and Jacobs on the Mall in the former Turkish baths, both drawing diners across the city.
Denis Cotter opened Paradiso on Lancaster Quay in 1993 and it remains Ireland's most important vegetarian restaurant. Priced at €€€. At 16 Lancaster Quay.
Signature: Six-course vegetarian tasting menu, Seasonal garden plates, Organic wine pairings
Cork's most evocative dining room occupies the former Turkish baths on South Mall with a soaring Victorian interior and seasonal Irish menu.
Signature: Baked crab mornay, Seasonal tasting plates, Sunday lunch
A workers cooperative on Sullivan's Quay running one of Ireland's longest-established vegetarian restaurants alongside a wholefood store and deli.
Order: Daily hot vegetarian plate with wholefood sides; the menu changes daily with seasonal produce.
Tip: Open Monday through Saturday only; the deli closes before the restaurant.
The baking arm of Cork's iconic wholefood cooperative since 1982. The in-house bakery produces daily loaves of spelt, rye and seeded wholemeal for the deli.
Order: A spelt scone with the lunch special - the bakery's allergen transparency is Cork's best.
The bar and wine programme at Jacobs on the Mall, Cork's most architecturally dramatic dining room in the former Turkish baths. The wine list skews serious.
Wine focus: ['Fine wine', 'Old World', 'Restaurant wine bar']
Cork's wholefoods institution since 1982 with self-service vegetarian lunches and dinners at prices below any comparable sit-down restaurant in the city.