Dublin's tourist heart, with the Saturday Temple Bar Food Market on Meeting House Square, Klaw's tiny seafood counter on Crown Alley, and the trad pubs that pay for it.
Gallagher's Boxty House on Temple Bar in Dublin, Pádraic Óg Gallagher's three-room canon of boxty, coddle and smoked salmon, the boxty reference in town.
Signature: Boxty pancake, Dublin coddle, Smoked Irish salmon
Order: The boxty pancake stuffed with beef and Guinness, with a half pint of stout.
Tip: The middle dining room is the calm one; the front bar fills with traffic from Temple Bar Square after 19:00.
Klaw on Crown Alley in Temple Bar, Niall Sabongi's fifteen-seat seafood counter, oysters from Carlingford and a lobster roll the size of your forearm.
Signature: Half-shell oysters, Lobster roll, Crab claws
Order: Half a dozen oysters two ways and the warm lobster roll; finish on the chowder.
Tip: No bookings ever; the counter sits fifteen, arrive 12:00 or 17:00 to be first in. Cash and card accepted.
Piglet Wine Bar on Cow's Lane in Temple Bar, an Italian-leaning wine bar from Enrico Fantasia of Grape Circus, cicchetti and small plates with European organic wines.
Signature pour: Sicilian skin-contact white by the glass
Wine focus: European natural wines, Italian-leaning
Food: Italian cicchetti, cheese, salumi
Tip: Walk-in for small plates; bookings from 17:30 require a minimum three dishes per person. Counter seats face the kitchen.
The Palace Bar on Fleet Street in Dublin 2, a Victorian pub since 1843, the literary watering hole of the Irish Times pressroom, with a hundred-bottle whiskey list.
Signature drink: Irish whiskey neat
Food: Toasties only
Tip: Three rooms; the upstairs parlour is the whiskey room. Tasting flights of three for EUR 18 Tuesday and Wednesday.
Vintage Cocktail Club on Crown Alley in Temple Bar, a first-floor cocktail room behind an unmarked door, the city's most serious pre-Prohibition cocktail list.
Signature drink: Pre-Prohibition classics
Food: Cheese boards and bar plates
Tip: Ring the bell, walk up the stairs. Bookings essential; the room is two seatings per night Thursday to Saturday.
Klaw on Crown Alley in Temple Bar, Niall Sabongi's seafood counter pulling Carlingford oysters and warm Lambay-crab and lobster rolls, the city's seafood street pick.
Try: Lobster roll and oysters
Tip: Counter sits fifteen; the lobster roll is EUR 18 at lunch. Walk-in only.
The Pieman on Crown Alley in Temple Bar, Dublin, a counter-style pie shop running a daily rotating Irish pie menu, the city's reference for a steak and stout pie.
Try: Steak and stout pie
Tip: Six pies daily; the steak and stout sells out by 14:00. Eat in or take away in a paper bag.
Temple Bar Food Market on Meeting House Square in Dublin 2, the city's flagship Saturday market since 1997, thirty Irish producers in a covered square setting.
Tip: Arrive 10:00 to beat the tourist queue; the oyster stall opens last around 11:00. Cash and card accepted at most stalls.
The Pieman on Crown Alley in Temple Bar, Dublin 2, handmade Irish pies and sausage rolls for under EUR 12, the city's reference for a steak and stout pie at lunch.
Try: Steak and stout pie
Tip: Steak and stout, chicken and mushroom, vegan chilli; eat in or take away in a paper bag.