What foods should we try in Ireland?

Hi Diana,
Last year (2015), went on a 10 day adventure. Tried all sorts of seafood. LOVED ALL OF IT!!!

In Dingle, went to this fun ice cream shop called, Murphy's Ice Cream. You can sample as much as you like. I ended up purchasing a gin and red current sorbet. Delicious. Found them in Dublin too.

I did try a hambuger in Kenmare at a pub. It was advertised as Irish "free-range" cattle. It was pretty good, just too large. Irish stew was also very tasty.

I also tried an Irish Coffee, nice. My favorites were the hard ciders.

Enjoy your adventure!

We spent a month in Ireland earlier this year and in each town where we ate dinner I had the seafood chowder. In each town it was a bit different but all were delicious. Some chowders were more fish and less broth and all were pretty much a meal in themselves. Fresh fish, mainly hake and cod, as well as fish and chips and fish cakes; Wexford lamb. Brown bread is another Irish food that's delicious, though we thought the best was in a restaurant in Glendalough and after that they were good but not as much so. Also, the Irish breakfast (black pudding, white pudding, sausage, rashers, potatoes, eggs, bread) which will satisfy you until dinner. Agree about Murphy's Ice Cream in Dingle and in Dublin, delicious, and the napkins are cute. Not sure if all of these are typical Irish foods but they are the meals that stand out in our minds. We were pleasantly surprised by the food in Ireland!

Irish dairy is to die for.... I ate my weight and then some in butter, chocolate and ice cream!
Murphy's ice cream was awesome. Had it in Dublin, Killarney and Dingle :) The sea salt flavour was a favourite. In other locations, we enjoyed the Cadbury flakys they served with the soft serve ice cream.

In Dublin, we all loved the hot chocolate and truffles at Butler's chocolate ( you get to pick a truffle when you order a hot chocolate)
The Boxty and Coddle ( two Dublin specialties.. coddle is like a stew) at Gallagher's Boxty house was amazing.

The potato chips are great too... The Shamrock flavour was a favourite of my family.

My daughter ate fish and chips every single day. I think her favourite were at the Brazen head pub in Dublin. My husband tried all different curries and enjoyed them all. We also enjoyed Irish stew in most areas that we stopped.

Enjoy!

If the menu had a lamb burger I always gave it careful consideration. Another item we enjoyed was crab claws. The Dingle Gin ice cream at Murphy's was unique and tasty.

I took the 14 day best of Ireland in 2014. One of the restaurants our guide took us on a group dinner in Dublin was the farm. Great food. Ate at several pubs in Dublin on our own at sinnotts, porterhouse , and baileys. Lots of pubs in temple bar area. If you are in Kinsale go to kitty o'se's, Jim Edwards or the shack. Dingle at o'sullivans, our group meal was at fentons and murphy's pub.

Have fun. I am jealous. My ancestors came from Ireland and scotland. Planning on going back in 2018 doing 8 day heart of Ireland and 10 day best of Scotland back to back

All of the B&Bs we stayed at had their own homemade brown bread, and it was great tasting the different choices each baker put into their recipe. And the butter!! I get the Kerrygold butter here in the States now after being spoiled there.

As a big fan of lamb, I had that as often as I could in Ireland, and it was delicious (best was the leg I had at Lord Baker's in Dingle). The fish was great, too.

For me, though, the big discovery was how much I liked Guinness stout over there. I can't stand it here, but it tastes completely different in its home country.

While I didn't try it while I was there, I heard of a chain of Irish hamburger places--McDonald's. ;)

Seriously, anything with local lamb or seafood. And have a meal in a good Irish pub. Everything goes with Guiness.

If you can, ask for/try a slice of 'Barm Brack' a kind of quite heavy fruit cake, leavened with yeast. It's lovely fresh, and even nicer toasted and buttered.

Yes to the bread and seafood -- lots of seafood. You will find lots of mussels, and they are both delicious and pretty cheap. One of my favorite tea time snacks is brown bread with smoked salmon.

We stayed in Malahide last year and ate a couple times at a local pub that served Guinness pie and hard cider. Delicious! It's similar to a beef stew with a pastry crust and made with Guinness of course. Very filling!

And if you want/need to break up the red meat parade i remember a seafood chowder that was almost a casserole and some great quiche served w a side salad....

Thanks everyone for the responses. Sounds like the food in Ireland is similar to the food we had a couple of years ago in England, which we loved. I'm looking forward to trying them in April on our trip, especially the Guinness pie!

I had some lovely "pub" food in Ireland. I think you should try whatever looks good. Can't go wrong with the lamb, seafood chowder or brown bread. You can have the seafood chowder in several different places and in each it will be a little different but all good. When I'm abroad I definitely don't order anything that I can get at home.

I also had some wonderful vegetable soups in Ireland that were different from U.S. vegetable soup - thicker, with minced veggies. One of my favorite memories of Ireland was a hearty bowl of vegetable soup, two slices of dark soda bread, and a warm fire at a pub on a rainy day in Kilkenny.

We've made a large research not too long ago, and there a long list of good restaurants (both tourist-oriented and very good places for local food lovers) and authentic dishes (mostly traditional, but with a couple of emerging dishes as well) to try in Dublin http://beautifulstay.holiday/best-food-in-Ireland - to me this is the best guide on the topic you can realistically find.

We are working on expandig the list of restaurants on other cities in Ireland, but this is not a fast job to do.

Must haves: fish and chips, scones with cream and jam, Bulmer's Irish Cider. Irish stew. Anything dairy!!

I certainly agree with all the above. Don't miss out on Irish stew and shepherd's pie made with the traditional lamb instead of beef, plus all the delicious dark beers designed to compliment this heavy food. If you're like me and worried about blandness, most restaurants I encountered had a small supply of hot sauce on hand.
Irish breakfast is also a calorie-laden treat. Skip the coffee and drink Irish Breakfast tea instead-it's dark, full of caffeine, and meant to be cut with delicious Irish milk.

In England my favorites are: Fish and Chips, Cornish Pasty and Sherry Trifle.

We had some amazing meals in Ireland both before our CIE Tour and after. Some of the highlights were the Guinness Casserole at Oliver St John Gogarty's Pub (#1 meal of our entire trip), lots of hearty soups with soda bread for lunch almost every day, Irish Stew, fresh strawberries our tour guide bought for us by the side of the road one day, lamb and lamb stew, bacon (aka ham) and cabbage with col-cannon, Bailey's cheesecake, Murphy's ice cream in Killarney, a boxty platter at the Boxty House and fish & chips at the Brazen Head in Dublin. Plus a few Irish coffees and more than a few half pints of Guinness. It was truly a delicious vacation.

So happy to see that you reported back and that you had such a great time in Ireland!

I am not a seafood lover, so the best meal I had in Ireland was cabbage and bacon. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but when my meal was served it was a pleasant surprise. The cabbage was chopped somewhat fine, the bacon was huge chunks of ham, and a generous helping of mashed potatoes and carrots. It was absolutely delicious!