Combining my love of making lists and anecdotal Dublin history, I’ve been trying to work out what the oldest restaurant in Dublin City is. The following rules apply:
1) It has to be an actual restaurant, not a pub that serves food.
2) Restaurants within hotels don’t count.
3) It has to be in the same premises. (We’ve made one exception with The Unicorn seeing as it only moved around the corner and remained within the same family.)
Beaufield Mews in Stillorgan seems to be acknowledged as Dublin’s oldest restaurant (established 1950) that is still in the same premises. But what about the city centre?
Some contenders:
+ The Unicorn, 12B Merrion Court (Originally established in 1938 at 11 Merrion Row, it moved to Merrion Court in the early 1960s.)
+ The Trocadero, 4 St. Andrew’s Street (Established 1956)
+ Nico’s, 53 Dame Street (Established 1964)
+ The Lord Edward, 23 Christchurch Place (Established 1969)
+ The Gigs Place, South Richmond Street (Established 1970)
+ Captain America’s, 44 Grafton Street (Established 1971)
+ Flanagan’s, 61 Upper O’Connell Street (Established 1980)
+ The Lobster Pot, 9 Ballsbridge Terrace (Established 1980)
+ Kingsland, 15 Dame Street (Established c. 1980) – CLOSED BUT NOW REOPENED
+ The Bad Ass Cafe, 9 – 10 Crown Alley (Established 1983)
+ Cornucopia, 19 Wicklow Street (Established 1986)
+ Da Vincenzo’s, 133 Upper Leeson Street (Established 1988) – CLOSED
+ The Elephant and Castle, 18 Temple Bar (Established 1989)
Jammets Restaurant, Estd. 1901 on Andrews St moved to Nassau St. in 1927 and closed in 1967.
dfallon
hXci
Sam
Fusciardi’s was estabilished on Capel St in 1937. Of course you could be snobby and dismiss a fish & chips but I’m happy to call it a restaurant.
If your going to put in The Elephant and Castle you may as well put in Cornucopia. Founded in 1986 it also holds the honor of being Dublin’s (Possibly Ireland’s) First and Oldest Vegetarian Restaurant.
Surely the wonderful Banannas was the first purely vegetarian and natural foods restaurant in Dublin est 1983 ….???
There was a vegetarian restaurant called The College operating at 3 and 4 College Green in 1900!
But were there any restaurants in Dublin before the Celtic Tiger years?? Not too many for sure. Early 80′s I do recall the Bad Ass and the Granary (was it where Bad Bob’s was later, in Temple Bar?). And one on the north quays, was it called “Murph’s” maybe? Sure we were all skinny and broke then anyhow, there wasn’t much call for eating out. Except of course in the Manhattan on the way out to Ranelagh/Rathmines in the small hours (is it still there, I’m not living in Dublin anymore these days).
Cheers Oisin, will add in Corunucopia now. Completely forgot about it.
@LeftAtTheCross, The Bad Ass is still going. Bad Bob’s turned into The Purty Kitchen a few years back, never heard of “Murph’s” and The Manhattan is sadly closed.
What about, The Last Post, once flourished on Ellis Quay
during the early 1960′s. It was managed by one Ian or Yan Kaminski who also ran The Baggot Mews………………………..
Brendan Behan was known to have visited The Last Post
Just came across this—I actually worked in Murph’s during 1979/1980. Murph’s was on Bachelor’s Walk, with sister restaurants on Baggot Street and in Cork. The O’Driscoll brothers –Murph and Kevin—sold the restaurants in the early 1990′s. They were very popular places, both for lunch and dinner, nice decor, good menu and pleasant staff (I would say that!). Main competitors were Capt America’s, Solomon Grundy’s (Suffolk St), and a restaurant on Westomoreland St, the name i can’t remember. It was ‘Disco Days’ in Dublin, a fun time, think we thought it was a bit of a Celtic Tiger, though we were all broke. Think a pint cost about 50p. Anyway, just showing my age, nice to think about ‘the old days!’
Good Luck!
Your rule about ‘attached to hotels’ has ruled out a few notable eateries: The Dolphin on Essex Street, I suppose it closed at the end of the 60′s. There was a back entrance from the little court at the end of the alley by the stage door of the Olympia; The Moira on Church Lane (I think), and the Wicklow on Wicklow St. was always a haven if you didn’t like the company in Jammetts, and what about the original Red Bank near the old Theatre Royal, it was still going in the 60′s and perhaps later.
Who remembers the Paradiso on Westmoreland St. and Tasty’s on the Green next to the Cinema (the first bun burger), and The Green Tureen on Harcourt St., though you had to be very careful what you ate.
Great contribution David!
Lots of places I’ve never heard of.
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In the 70′s there was a restaurant in Westmoreland St called the Paradiso. I think it was run by two old ladies. The facade is still there stuck in the middles of the empty EBS building. The Berni Inn upstairs in what is now Lily’s Bordello was another popular restaurant in the 70′s.
My parents had their wedding breakfast in the Paradiso in 1956. My father also worked as a waiter in Barnardo’s in Lincoln Place.
For the most comprehensive history of Dublin Restaurants check out Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire’s PhD ‘The Emergence, Development, and Influence of French Haute Cuisine on Public Dining in Dublin Restaurants 1900-2000: An Oral History’ (http://arrow.dit.ie/tourdoc/12/)
[...] Madame Jammet. Jammet’s Restaurant has featured on Come Here To Me in the past, when jaycarax sought out Dublin’s oldest restaurant. The other featured Jack B. Yeats and Ernie O’Malley. O’Malley of course has featured [...]
I have a drawing of a restaurant The Cedar Tree in Dame St (by ? Skelton) near the junction with South Great George’s Street. It seems to be Circa 1955.
About 2 doors away (in the same drawing) is a building then used by GEC – there’s an Osram neon sign at 1st floor level. This building was later used by Norths, the estate agents.
I was in the Paradiso in the 1960s. It was on the 1st floor, about 3 doors from O’Connell Bridge.. There were B&W stills of movie stars along the stairs leading to it.
J Rock
I know this post is old now but I’ve just come across it.
My parents owned the cedar tree in same street back in the 60s.
I’d really love a scan of the image you have if that’s possible?
Thanks
I was a student at UCD ’65-’68. The Manhattan would be packed after the pubs closed, especially Fri and Sat nights, most people eating eggs-chips-beans-sausage combos. Simple food, loud crowd, hot, full of energy — loved it. Tried Nico’s once, because they had pizza on the menu. But it was a deep-dish variety, and terrible (maybe just a bad night for the chef, but I never went back). I went to the Paradiso a few times on Saturday night. Kind of genteel, well-upholstered. A peaceful retreat, but I only remember that they served a great Knorr’s oxtail soup. Another place that was popular for post-pub late eats was Charlie’s, a basement restaurant on Lower Leeson St. They sold a lot spaghetti, but I never had a good spaghetti in Dublin in the ’60s. Does anyone remember The Gray (or Grey) Door, popular at lunchtime then? Or The Ould Cod (I think), another basement place, near Westland Row in the ’70s? And what was the first Indian restaurant in Dublin? I seem to remember one, also near Westland Row.
Great info. Thanks for the comment Tom.
I was at Trinity until 1955. The Indian restaurant-possibly Dublin’s first was owned by Michael Butt who was Indian. My parents used to eat on a saturday night in Jammets-what a marvelous menu, cuisine and ambience. Their duck and orange (caneton a l’orange) was magnificent-not just a sauce poured on duck. he head waiter, Joseph, I remember would write with pencil on the table cloth to pass race form tips onto my dad who would bet at Mirrelsons. Never since those days whether it be in Eusrope, Britain or the States have I eaten so superbly. Long may Jammets be remembered, BARRY E WHITE
Thanks for the comment Barry! Great stuff.
A few more but no dates.
The Log Cabin in Wicklow Street
Rob Roberts in Grafton Street
The Copenhagen in Rathmines (Maybe too far out)
I’m not sure if a restuarant in a shop is allowed but Wolworths in Grafton Street had a huge sit down restuarant. It was very busy at lunch time. Hard to get a seat if you were not there by 1pm
my grandad owned the log cabin before opening the Horseshoe in lower baggot street
Fascinating stuff, and I only came across this site by accident when I was trying to remember the name of the coffee shop which flourished in the 1950s and 1960s at the corner of Upper Merrion Street and Lower Baggot Street. Was it called the Kilimanjaro?
[...] we’ve looked at Dublin’s oldest established restaurants and the city’s first Chinese [...]
[...] we’ve looked at Dublin’s oldest established restaurants, the city’s first Chinese restaurants and the city’s first Italian [...]
Does anyone remember Guys Restaurant on Merrion Row? Upstairs in Georgian House. The Universal Chinese Restaurant in Wicklow Street, and the Sunflower Chinese beside OConnell Bridge. There used to be a queue of people at lunch time to get into these Chinese Restaurants in the seventies. They offered a three course lunch for 2/6 (two shilling and six pence!) I remember the very good Indian Restaurant on Lincoln Place, just cant remember the name of it at the moment! The La Caprice in Andrew Street owned by Piedro the Italian man, It was opposite the Trocadero, It moved onto Dame street in the eighties. A very good pianist used to play there, Eamonn Monaghan who was a former member of the Capitol Showband!
Getting back to the Chinese Restaurants, if you ordered any of their specials, they always served a fried egg on top!!
Lincoln Place Indian was the Taj Mahal here is a link to a 1979 photo
http://dublincitypubliclibraries.com/image/gs006-taj-mahal
My mum worked in the travel agents “Albert Coffey” beside it in the 70′s.
A few places we used to go back then were, Captain America’s, Solomon Grundy’s, got to sit beside himself a few times, Thunderbirds, upstairs Grafton St. I think, Gallagher’s Steakhouse Abbey St, American Connection Talbot St. (where 101 is now). There was another American one off Georges St I can’t remember the name of, anyone remember it?
Claire
Loved Thunderbirds, always had the pizza with green peppers (that’s bell peppers, now that I’m more sophisticed with age !! hahaha) & I’ve been trying ever since to get a pizza COVERED with green peppers, and ONLY green peppers, but alas … impossible … even if I pay the price for them !!!
Jennifer
[…] 1: Previously we’ve looked at the city’s oldest restaurants, the first Chinese restaurants, the first Italian restaurants and the first pizzerias.) (Note 2: […]