Aligned Dublin

On a trip to Dublin in May 2019, to attend a writing workshop, I took a couple of days to explore Dublin - particularly its food and writings. As always the food was gluten free with healthy inclinations. The exploring, not surprisingly, took on a writing theme, not because that is what I was there to do, but because it is a huge part of what Dublin is - a literary and poetic capital, of a literary and poetic people. Having Irish ancestry myself I was excited to set foot on this land for the first time and this little taste has left me in anticipation of my return to Ireland.

Food & Drink

Dublin to me seemed to be a great food city. The standards everywhere I ate were good and it was very easy to find gluten free stuff. Even in the local corner Spar convenience store you could find multiple options for gluten free bread. The standard for coffee was also better than I have experience in the UK. Overall it kind of reminded me of my hometown of Melbourne, with good food of diverse origins and good coffee to be found in most places. Price wise it also seemed pretty comparable to Melbourne which, to people coming from the UK, is expensive. In fact, whenever I mentioned to friends in Wales that I was heading to Dublin for a few days the first thing they would say is how expensive it is. As always, it is always relative to what you already know!

Industry & Co Cafe

A cafe inside an interior design store, this was by far my favourite place to eat in Dublin. Their salads were all incredibly delicious, coffee fantastic, and we were back there a few times over a couple of days!

41 a/b Drury Street
Dublin 2

industryandco.com/pages/cafe

Rustic Stone Restaurant

My main salad here wasn’t super exciting but the sides were delicious. Open for dinner and definitely more restaurant than cafe.

17 South Great George’s Street
Dublin 2

rusticstone.ie

Juanitos

“Soul Food, LA style” - anything LA style will always get me in! My chicken with Arepas wasn’t super exciting but very filling and always great to have a decent gluten free option.

35 Drury Street
Dublin 2

juanitos.ie

Dingle Whiskey Bar

For those of you who know me, I am not a big drinker, since learning just how “drying” it can be to the body and its joints. However, for better or worse, alcohol is one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking of Ireland, and whiskey is one of those iconic Irish drinks. I had never really drunk whiskey before as I only recently learnt that the distilling process removes the gluten from it. So what better place to try it than in Ireland (except, perhaps, Scotland!). So, a friend and I sought out a good whiskey bar and were recommended Dingle. Whiskey is probably never going to be my thing but I liked the bar and they seemed to know what they were talking about.

44 Nassau Street
Dublin 2

theporterhouse.ie/bars-dingle-whiskey

Eathos

Health, Local, and Eastern-Mediterranean inspired cafe. My brunch was decent - not super-flavourful but very fresh.

13 Baggot Street Upper
Dublin 4

8-11 Baggot Street Lower
Dublin 2

eathosdublin.com

Cocobrew

For those of you into Butter/MCT coffee Cocobrew have their own label of MCT oil and, of course, make normal coffee :-). They also had a few sweet treats and a small lunch menu as well.

5 Bedford Row
Temple Bar
Dublin 2

cocobrew.ie

Gallaghers Boxty House

Not new-age healthy, but traditional irish food with LOTS of gluten free options. I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch.

20/21 Temple Bar
Dublin 2

boxtyhouse.ie

Blazing Salads

I didn’t get a chance to eat here but dropped by to have a look - lots of fresh take-away options. Only had a bench and couple of stools for sitting so don’t rely on it for eating in.

42 Drury Street
Dublin 2

blazingsalads.com

Cornucopia

Hugely popular Vegan and Vegetarian cafe/restaurant judging by the 20 people in the queue ordering and the nearly all taken tables. My raw carrot soup was absolutely delicious.

19/20 Wicklow Street
Dublin 2

cornucopia.ie