Dublin’s top lunch spots

Casper & Giumbini’s, located on the promenade at The Pavilion in Dún Laoghaire, offers a delightful lunch experience with a menu featuring fresh Irish seafood, premium chargrilled steaks, and their signature hamburgers.

Lunch is served daily from 12pm-3pm, alongside an epic cocktail and wine menu, incase you feel inclined. Expect lunch options such as the delectable mussels mariniére with shallots, parsley, and cream sauce served with sourdough toast; Casper’s chargrilled hamburger with cheddar and pickles on potato bun; A classic grilled chicken caesar salad; Or the dressed crab with avocado purée and pickled cucumber. The stylish yet relaxed atmosphere makes it an ideal spot for both casual and business lunches.

Canal Bank Café, in Dublin 4, is a charming lunch spot offering a cosy canal-side atmosphere. Establishing themselves (since 2001) as one of Dublin’s favourite restaurants, you simply cannot go wrong with a visit to Canal Bank.

The lunch menu offers fresh, house-favourites like big salads, omelettes, burgers and a variety of steaks and fish dishes. Our favourites include the Spicy shrimp poke bowl with black rice; Chicken club sandwich with bacon, lettuce, tomato, smoked chipotle chilli mayo, and frites; Chargrilled vegetable flatbread with white bean, roast garlic & rosemary hummus; And the sun-dried tomato, feta cheese & basil omelette. For a light, refreshing lunch that won’t send you into an afternoon food coma, Canal Bank Café has you sorted. PS. A crisp white wine from the curated wine list goes down a treat too!

Saba is a buzzing city centre bar and eatery serving award-winning Thai and Vietnamese-inspired food. Their kitchen is open from noon until late each Tuesday to Sunday, and the lunch options do not disappoint. There’s everything from nutrient-dense superfood salads, like the Gingergrass Salad, complete with ruby chard, mint, bean sprouts, ginger and lemongrass, to noodles, hearty soups, and flavour-filled wok dishes. Real highlights include their Tom Yaam Goong soup (a traditional Thai spicy soup filled with tiger prawns, oyster mushrooms and galangal), as well as their veggie-friendly Hoi An noodles, served with wood ear mushrooms, chillies, sweet basil, veggies, egg, and cashew nuts. The atmosphere is relaxed, but the service is swift — making perfect for a lunchtime drop-in. 

You can often get your hands on a great bargain by eating at a fine-dining restaurant at lunchtime rather than dinner. Prices are lower, and it’s easier to bag yourself a table! Dax offers modern Irish-French cuisine in gorgeous surroundings. Their intimate dining room retains many Georgian features (including an open fire) and in 2018 it was awarded Restaurant of the Year by Georgina Campbell’s prestigious Ireland Guide.

Head Chef Graham Neville celebrates fresh seasonal Irish produce in all of his cooking, which is complimented by a well-considered wine list. Menu highlights include warm potato gnocchi served with comte cheese, and braised Hereford Irish beef served with mushrooms, carrots, crushed swede and a port sauce — not forgetting the sublimely fresh roast Castletownbere Scallops served with fennel and squid ink sauce. Despite the luxurious surroundings and up-market cookery, two-courses at lunchtime will only set you back 36 euros.