9 Best Restaurants in The Southeast, Ireland

When Garrett Byrne, the former head chef of Dublin's celebrated Chapter One, returns home and opens a restaurant, people take notice, and the awards---and diners from all of Ireland---start flooding in. The menu is a work of art, with common French themes toyed with and expanded. The ox tongue and cheek, in sauce gribiche with pickled salsify and horseradish cream, is just about the perfect starter. For a main, try the saddle of wild venison with bacon and chestnut dumpling, caramelized parsnip, and pepper jus. Byrne chose an industrial site beside the disused railway yard and transformed it into a stylish, uncluttered space with a beautiful green canopy for a sense of the French bistro. The oak flooring and curved banquettes contrast with the abstract splashes of bright colors on the walls. The wine list is long and luxurious.

It's rather fitting that this restaurant is in a converted church, as it's become something of a shrine for foodies. Jason Matthia's cuisine is classic French with contemporary Irish twists. The seafood cassoulet—half a dozen varieties of fish and shellfish with a delicate chive velouté—is legendary. Another specialty is venison, mushroom and cranberry pie with chestnuts and hazelnuts. The atmosphere is wonderful, too, with dark wood and tapestries providing an elegant background for the white linen. Matthia has opened a great café next door if you prefer something more informal.

Proud of its modern Irishness, Cistín Eile takes the produce of local farmers and applies a simple but stunning brand of culinary magic. The menu changes depending on what's good in the local market. Favorites include black-and-white pudding with cabbage salad, apple, and mustard, or the creamed white rabbit and herb spaghetti. "Hunger makes a great sauce," reads the Irish-language motto on the wall, so arrive with your appetite fully intact. Little time is wasted on the decor, though the space has a homey, warm feel. How they offer dishes of this quality at such affordable prices is a Wexford miracle. And the name? It's pronounced "kishteen ella" and means "another kitchen" in Irish.

Located about 20 minutes from Bansha in the unassuming market town of Fethard, this new deli restaurant has caused a stir with food lovers all over Ireland. Chef Richard Gleeson trained at Ballymaloe and with the revered Ottolenghi in London, and brings his precision and training to play at this bright and warm spot, with polished concrete floors, an open kitchen, and wood tables and chairs. Prices are surprisingly affordable for delights like pan-fried salmon with pickled shallots, rainbow chard, rooster potatoes, and horseradish cream. Sweet treats include the spiced carrot cake with candied pumpkin seeds. Best of all the deli means you can pick up some homemade goodness to go.

Gourmands come in droves to the ruby-red dining room at Dunbrody House, where celebrity-chef Kevin Dundon serves up foie gras with toasted brioche and balsamic-marinated strawberries, pan-seared Hook Head monkfish with garden courgettes and lemon butter sauce, and a chocolate "selection of indulgences." The weekend eight-course tasting menu is a parade of culinary delights. If you're a hands-on type, you can learn how to cook the Harvest Room's delights yourself; Dundon runs a cooking school on weekends. After a memorable dinner, sit back with a goblet of Irish Mist in hand and catch a dramatic sunset fading over the Hook Peninsula. Sunday lunch here is the stuff of legend.

A landmark since the 1940s, Langton's is a labyrinth of interconnected bars and eateries. Up front is one of Ireland's most famous "eating pubs," often crammed to the rafters of its low ceiling with a lively crowd. For more tranquil environs, head out back, where you can enjoy a neo-Gothic garden framed by a stretch of the old city walls. Most of the seating areas, all with open fires, have different personalities—from the leather-upholstered gentlemen's club in the Langton Bar to an attempt at Art Deco in the spacious dining room. The main restaurant offers well-prepared traditional dishes, including (of course) Irish stew and a mean cod in beer batter. There are 34 Art Deco–style hotel rooms upstairs.

Inside the Waterford Castle Hotel, the Munster Room's luxe decor—with oak paneling darkened with age and ancestral portraits in gilt frames—hints at one of the most sophisticated menus around. Options include a fixed-price, three-course menu featuring adventurous starters such as ballotine of quail with celeriac foam, winter slaw, and cinnamon and apple jelly. The dress code is smart (jackets for the men) and the surroundings suggest a big night out. Main-course winners include the best of Irish steaks or the roasted goose breast with potato-and-orange stuffing and burnt-orange sauce.

The compact, award-winning dining room of the Cliff House looks out over the crashing sea, and the dramatic location clearly inspires the menu. The food is locally sourced---including foraging raids on nearby woods and beaches---but prepared with dashes of modern and experimental cuisine. Dinner is a fixed-price, eight-course affair including such delights as the Bantry Bay salmon with cured cucumber, beetroot, and horseradish or Ardmore lobster with carrot and oyster sauce served with a milk bun. And you can't go wrong with the butter-poached turbot, Ardmore potatoes, and duck egg sauce. Go in summer, when you can dine on the expansive terrace, which winds its way down toward the sea. The staff will even match the perfect glass of wine to each delicious course.

Local culinary wizard Paul Flynn whets quite an appetite in the flocks of Dubliners who besiege every weekend what is commonly regarded as one of Ireland's leading restaurants. The menu is rustic but whimsical and always seasonal. Check out the crab crème brûlée with pickled cucumber or the quail and foie gras pie, with cabbage and quince jelly. Fanatical foodies who want to stay as close to the culinary action as possible can now overnight in the adjoining guesthouse.