In light of my upcoming favorite holiday – St. Patrick’s Day – I am posting about our recent trip to Dublin, Ireland for the next two weeks!  Here’s a review of one of Dan and my favorite restaurants in Dublin, Gallagher’s Boxty House!

Gallagher’s Boxty House is an established Dublin restaurant located right in the middle of touristy Temple Bar. Despite this, Gallagher’s Boxty House is no tourist trap. Dan and I first ate here a decade ago and continue to return on every trip. Gallagher’s Boxty House specializes in the potato and almost all of its dishes are potato based. As the name implies, Gallagher’s also specializes in the Irish boxty, or a potato pancake. Eat at Gallagher’s for a taste of traditional, and delicious, Irish food.

The menu at Gallagher’s is on the small side, but as long as you eat potatoes, you should be able to find something.  Here is the menu from February 2022. It seemed a bit smaller this time, likely due to Covid. One pro of the menu (and this is common in Ireland generally), allergins are clearly listed on the menu.

We usually order an appetizer and mains at Gallagher’s in order to try a variety of things. Over our few trips here, my personal favorite is the boxty fries, or simply french fries. The fries are served with an absolutely delicious aioli, and they are simply addictive. We have also split the boxty sampler in the past, which is a trio of potato based dishes: dumplings, fries, and bread. The trio was off the menu on our most recent visit, but that may be due to Covid. And speaking of bread, the bread here is really, really good! They make a few different types, and you can really taste the difference between the three.

For mains, I always go with something corned beef based at Gallaghers. Why? Because corned beef is not easy to find in Ireland, and Gallaghers always has it on the menu! Yes, surprise, surprise, the corned beef-Irish association is more of an Irish-American thing. In any case, I love corned beef so I usually order it whenever I see it on a menu, at home or abroad. This time, I ordered the Corned Beef Dumplings. The dumplings are similar to Italian gnocchi and were served with corned beef cubes in a mustard sauce. It was absolutely delicious. Would 100% reorder.

Dan often orders a Boxty. I mean, when at a Boxty house. This time he ordered the Gaelic Boxty, which was a potato pancake topped with steak and musrooms. The Boxtys are always good. We have also other types in the past. I particularly enjoyed the corned beef Boxty, which is not currently on the menu.

Unknown to us, we also stopped by Gallaghers Boxty House on our Dublin food tour with Delicious Dublin. On the tour, we were served a trio of stews with dumplings: beef, lamb, and coddle (pork). We were also served three types of bread with Irish butter. My personal favorite was the beef, followed by the coddle. The beef stew was outstanding.

Can’t forget drinks, especially when in Ireland. Gallagher’s Boxty House offers a large drink list, which is surprisingly devoid of Guinness! Instead, Gallaghers brews and serves its own beer. Very cool.  We tried a stout on our food tour, and I ordered a cocktail at dinner. While both good, the cocktails are particularly pricey for Dublin.

STEAL OUR DINNER

Gallagher’s Boxty House: 20-21, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, D02 ET66, Ireland. Open 10:00 – 22:00 Saturday – Wednesday, 16:00 – 22:00 Thursday & Friday. Casual attire. Reservations recommended; this place is super popular.