3 Best Restaurants in St. Stephen's Green and Around, Dublin

Located upstairs at the wonderful French Paradox wine shop, this cozy new restaurant sees celebrated local chef Grainne O'Keefe work her magic on the best of Irish produce. The fixed-price tasting menu changes with the seasons, moving from starters like aubergine tart with goat cheese and pickled walnut to meat courses like Iberico pork, with anchovy, dates, and confit potato. 

Chef-owner Eamonn O'Reilly cuts quite a dash, but it's his sophisticated, daring, contemporary cuisine that tends to seduce visitors to his little restaurant tucked away in a quiet lane only a few minutes from Stephen's Green. As is usual with Dublin's luxe eateries, the fixed-price lunch and pre-theater menus offer great value. Try the incredible scallop ceviche to start. Dishes such as pigeon with chicory, salsify, and baked celeriac puree demonstrate the mix of traditional and cutting-edge cuisine. 

Glowing with gilded chandeliers and graced with a few marble fireplaces, this American-style steak house in a restored Georgian town house offers a sleekly elegant setting in which to chow down on some of the most tender Irish Angus beef this side of the Atlantic (they cook it in a special high-temperature oven, searing the outside to keep the inside good and juicy). If steak doesn't float your boat, they also do a mean baked turbot with mussels, clams, and creamed fennel and leek. Oreo-cookie-crust cheesecake is the perfect way to finish off the feast, but many will consider the decor—think sash windows, gilt mirrors, and plush carpets—rich enough.