Home is …
I grew up in County Galway, but I was born in Dublin and came back to Trinity College to study – and stayed. I’m 45 now and live just south of the city in Greystones, County Wicklow, on the glorious coast.
The thing I love most about my city is …
It’s a small, raw city with this really rich fabric. In the space of a couple of hundred yards you can pass from modern to Victorian and Georgian-era buildings and get lost down alleys with medieval roots. It’s full of rabbit holes and conversations that start, and before you know it you’re way away from the plan you set out with.
If a friend is coming to stay, I’ll always take them to …
Capel Street, which you won’t find on traditional walking tours. It used to be Dublin’s most fashionable street but fell into disrepair. Now there’s a resurgence of independent businesses there today, including Brother Hubbard, one of my favourite brunch spots, and Camerino, a gorgeous bakery and cafe. There’s also a load of really random stores – a Brazilian grocery shop and a hardware shop, for example – dotted along the way. It’s one of those streets where every building feels like it’s from a different era.
Caryna Camerino outside her cafe and bakery on Capel Street
Art lovers should head to …
The Hugh Lane gallery has great Jack Yeats paintings but the highlight for me is Francis Bacon’s studio, which was airlifted down to the last paintbrush and rag from his mews in London and reassembled in the gallery. It’s an unholy mess and fascinating to peer into. IMMA, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, down in Kilmainham, is in the west of the city where not a lot of people get out to, but it’s a great counterpoint to the National Gallery and all the old-school stuff.
Music lovers should head to …
Dublin is a living, breathing cultural crossroads. One example of that is the Secret Book and Record Store on Wicklow Street, where a sandwich board on the pavement directs you into a cavern-like space. Then there’s All City on Crow Street in Temple Bar, which is a vanguard of Dublin’s underground hip-hop and dance scene that doubles as a vinyl store and sells spray paints to street artists.
Fashion lovers should check out …
The Powerscourt Centre is this lovely intimate shopping mall bang in the middle of the city, with great design stores. There’s a shop called Atrium with stuff by lots of great Irish designers, including Chupi for jewellery and Jill De Búrca, who does amazing modern embroidery.
Atrium at the Powerscourt Centre sells work by Irish designers
My go-to coffee shop is …
There’s one called Laine, My Love on Talbot Street right by my office. It’s a really rough and ready street with a mix of dereliction and old department stores and tattoo parlours and in the middle of it these guys have opened recently selling sandwiches and coffee from Roasted Brown – Roasters + Makers in County Wicklow.
Get the best brunch at …
Meet Me in the Morning on Pleasants Street. It’s very pared back and minimalist but authentic, and doesn’t do the traditional Irish breakfast. You’ll find fresh leaves and chorizo from West Cork and artisan sourdough, but it’s not pretentious or overpriced. Or there’s Brother Hubbard on Capel Street, which does a great mix of Middle Eastern and Irish cuisine.
Brother Hubbard on Capel Street does a mean brunch
For an extra-special evening …
I’d start at a place called Taste at Rustic by Dylan McGrath on South Great George’s Street that does a really cool mix of Irish and Japanese food – or, if it’s a really special occasion, the best chef in the city is Mickael Viljanen at Greenhouse on Dawson Street. He’s got a Michelin star and is doing amazing contemporary Irish food. Then I’d go to a nifty new bar called 1824 Bar at the Shelbourne Hotel. It’s like a cross between a club and a library bar, with an insane selection of whiskies and cocktails based on Irish counties.
I love to unwind by …
Just going for a walk. I was asked to come up with a literary walk last week and it was hard to decide what to leave out. There’s the new Museum of Literature Ireland that’s just opened on St Stephen’s Green. I took a walk from Trinity College, with its famous library, through Merrion Square, with Oscar Wilde’s house, and ended up finding a sculpture of the playwright Brian Friel that I never knew existed in Mount Street Crescent.
The Museum of Literature Ireland on St Stephen’s Green opened in September
My secret beach tip is …
I think most visitors don’t even realise that Dublin is coastal, but there’s so much to explore. One of my favourites is White Rock near Killiney in south Dublin. You walk down to this little cove north of the Killiney Dart train station and it’s gorgeous in nice weather.
If I didn’t live here …
I’d settle back in Galway. It’s a colourful college town with a medieval city centre right on the water, with one of the best food scenes in Ireland. And it’s the gateway to Connemara and the Wild Atlantic Way. It’s the kind of place that feels cosmopolitan, yet you’re never more than a few steps away from raw nature.
Pól Ó Conghaile is travel editor of the Irish Independent.
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