Dublin · Literary
Where Writers Eat in Dublin
Three Dublin dining rooms with a real, traceable literary history. We have eaten in all of them, repeatedly. These are the tables we would book for a writer visiting from New York, in the order we would book them.
The places we recommend to friends.
Quick Answer
Book The Saddle Room at The Shelbourne for the canonical Dublin literary lunch. If you have a second night and a four-month head start, add Chapter One under the Dublin Writers Museum. Slot both into Day 1 and Day 2 of our 3-day Dublin itinerary, then walk the rest of the literary trail on our Top 10 Literary Places in Dublin.
- No. 01
The Saddle Room at The Shelbourne
St Stephen's Green
The room writers have eaten in for a century. Burgundy banquettes, green leather, the Stephen's Green window if you ask for it. The Shelbourne kept Elizabeth Bowen's table; Maeve Brennan filed her New Yorker columns from the bar upstairs. Sit on the leather, order the half lobster, stay for a second glass.
- No. 02
Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen
Parnell Square, beside the Dublin Writers Museum
Two Michelin stars, directly under the Dublin Writers Museum. It is the only marquee tasting menu in Dublin where the literary pedigree is literal: you eat in the basement of the Jameson family townhouse, with the Beckett and Yeats manuscripts in the rooms above. Early sitting only, four months out, cheese trolley non-negotiable.
- No. 03
Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud
Upper Merrion Street, inside The Merrion
Two stars, the longest-running fine-dining room in the country, and the table John Banville is on the record as preferring for a long lunch. Eight courses, four-month booking window, a window seat onto the Merrion gardens. Decline the dessert wine pairing; ask for the cheese course twice.
Continue the trail
The literary trip continues on foot. The Long Room, Marsh's Library, Sweny's and MoLI anchor the daytime hours. Hodges Figgis, Books Upstairs and the Gutter Bookshop fill the gaps between meals. The Palace Bar, Neary's and Davy Byrnes close the evenings.
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