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Traditional Irish Food and Dublin Old Town Private Tour
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From €280 per person
Irish food has a lot more going on than its reputation suggests. This private tour takes you through Dublin’s Old Town with a food expert guide who speaks the language of your choice, stopping at some of the city’s best spots for traditional cooking and drink. It’s food and sightseeing working together - the route moves through Trinity College, Dublin Castle, and the Temple Bar area while your guide fills in the history of what you’re eating and why it matters.
The dishes your guide orders reflect the real culinary history of the country. Colcannon, the classic mash of potato and cabbage. Boxty, Irish potato dumplings served here with smoked salmon. Irish Stew. Coddle, the traditional Dublin working-class favourite made with sausages and bacon. Irish Soda Bread with Whiskey Butter for dessert. Your guide explains the origins of each dish and the long shadow the Great Famine cast over Irish food culture - it’s genuinely interesting context, not just table talk.
There are three tour lengths to choose from:
2.5-hour option - Food Tasting at 2 venues A full-course Irish meal at two venues: traditional dishes, dessert, a soft drink, and coffee or tea.
3.5-hour option - Food Tasting at 3 venues Two full-course Irish meals with traditional dishes and desserts across three venues, plus a beer, soft drink, and coffee or tea.
5-hour option - Food and Beer Tasting at 4 venues Two full-course Irish meals with desserts and beverages across four venues, including 8 Irish beers - a mix of craft and classic options.
Included depends on the option chosen:
All options include:
Meeting point: In front of the Molly Malone Statue, Suffolk Street, Dublin 2.
The 5-hour option is the one to book if food is the main event for your group. Four venues and 8 Irish beers gives you a proper sweep of the Old Town and a much fuller picture of both the food and the craft beer scene than the shorter options can cover.
Coddle is the dish most worth asking your guide about. It’s not well-known outside Dublin and it’s genuinely worth understanding - a slow-cooked mix of sausages, bacon, onion, and potato that was the working-class staple of the city for generations. The history behind it says as much about Dublin’s social history as the fancier dishes do.
The Molly Malone Statue meeting point puts you right at the heart of the Old Town. Suffolk Street connects to Grafton Street, Dame Street, and the approach to Dublin Castle within a few minutes on foot. It’s a good orientation point if you want to explore independently before or after the tour.
Ask your guide about St Patrick’s Day traditions while you’re on the tour. The conversation tends to come up naturally with the food, and a local perspective on what the day actually means in Dublin - as opposed to what it looks like from the outside - is genuinely illuminating.
Trinity College and Dublin Castle are on the route, but you’re moving through them rather than stopping inside. If you want to go inside either, plan a separate visit before or after your tour. The Old Library at Trinity and the State Apartments at Dublin Castle both deserve more time than a passing look from the street.