Summer in Dublin Airport: where to eat, what's new and how much it will cost

Irish Times

8 hours ago

Schools are out and minds are turning to sunnier climes, with
Dublin Airport
, and its many food offerings, certain to feature in many
Irish
holidaymakers'
travel
plans. But what can you expect to eat in those potentially stressful hours between arriving at the airport and boarding your flight? We've done the research so you don't have to.
After three openings over the coming weeks, Dublin Airport will be home to 47 food and beverage spots between its two terminals and landside (the bit between the entrance and security gates). This is up from 40 in 2019, with the various offerings run by six operators, often with multiple brands of varying cuisines and prices, employing 1,100. Between the two terminals, there are 4,200 food and beverage seats.
Many casual dishes at the airport are priced at around €17, with children's meals available for about €7 or €8 (we've rounded up any 95-cent prices.)
On a walk through the terminals, Dublin Airport's head of food and beverage, Aileen Dautry, and head of commercial B2B, Sorcha Nic Eoin, say they monitor quality across operators and are adamant that premium pricing is not allowed. Food operators winning a lucrative airport contract are benchmarked, they say, for menus and pricing, against comparable outlets in the world outside.
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But bear in mind that, rather than being compared to the better value and cuisines of almost anywhere you might be flying to, they're benchmarked against hospitality in Ireland.
Airside, food and drink outlets are open from 4am (peak time) until the last flight, and there's landside 24-hour service. Many outlets have QR codes for ordering from the table you've nabbed, or self-service kiosks for on-screen ordering, as well as counter service in-person. Some have digital displays indicating how long for food to arrive.
Landside
We had a nice coffee at Cloudpicker, and later, from the Roasted Notes hatch, both in Terminal 2 (T2). Through the night landside, there's food from Wright's deli near the bus station or Bewley's in Supermac's.
Supermac's and Papa Johns in Terminal 2. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
We had a nice coffee at Cloudpicker, T2. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Supermac's fast food is on one side of the T2 escalator, including Papa John's pizza, Super Subs, ice cream and Bewley's. On the other side is recently opened Fitzgerald's bar and restaurant, nicely appointed for a drink and a steak sandwich in an airy, relaxed setting. It offers 'contemporary local food', gourmet sandwiches and breakfast, with Loughnane's sausages, rashers and pudding.
The recently opened Fitzgeralds bar and restaurant. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Terminal 1
Food service here is on two levels, with a concourse downstairs and at the junction which splits into various directions for boarding gates. At the top of the escalator are Burger King and The Garden Terrace, a bar/restaurant attracting a younger crowd. It now has a breakfast bar hatch, and it's also got the only outdoor smoking terrace in the airport.
The Garden Terrace, a bar/restaurant in T1 that has Dublin Airport's only outdoor smoking terrace. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Most T1 food is downstairs, and the hoardings are about to come down on another two outlets.
San Marco, an Italian-style restaurant, with table service and using local, seasonal produce, will be suitable for family dining. Operator Kylemore's Dave Murray is finalising the menu of pizza, pasta and breakfast, and also the menu for the new Street Kitchen, with Mexican street food and a Cantina tequila bar serving Margaritas. It will have counter service and a self-service kiosk for orders.
This will be across from the two new places Kylemore has already opened, Kimbok (Korean Fried Chicken) and Boxx (sushi, Thai, Asian), and Murray takes us into the shared kitchen for a look. They brine the buttermilk chicken here and cook it crispy Korean style, and he sources vegetables locally – from as nearby as St Margaret's Road. They also do tofu versions.
Kimbok chicken burger, T1. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Dave Murray of Kylemore in the Kimbok and Boxx shared kitchen, T1. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Kimbok and Boxx Korean chicken and sushi. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Green curry bowl, Kimbok, T1. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
He assembles a few dishes on the spot: Korean fried chicken burger (€14) with gochujang sauce and kimchi slaw is very tasty; Korean fried chicken nugs and fries (€14.50) is his take on nuggets and chips, in a takeaway box with toppings including kimchi, wasabi sesame seeds, pickled cucumber, fermented red onion. Kimbok fries are €4.50, loaded fries (with kimchi seasoning, cheese sauce and crispy bacon bits) €7. Murray also puts together a generous Thai green curry bowl (€16.50) served at Asian-inspired Boxx, with pickled cucumber and carrots, spinach, peppers, sugar snaps, crispy onions; 'it eats very well', he says, and it does. Boxx also does other bowls – tofu or crispy chicken, sweet soy and chilli, peanut satay (all €16.50) and a spice box (€13).
Starbucks is no longer a feature of T1 departures, replaced by Bluebird last July, but is still in Terminal 2.
An expanded Butlers, which reopened in July 2024, is still hugely popular, so there are queues, but we're told they move quickly, and self-service kiosk orders are quick. Prices and standards are the same as in the chain's outlets elsewhere. For breakfast, it has pastries, yoghurts, granola, porridge, muffins and sandwiches that can be toasted, as well as juices and smoothies.
Butlers Chocolate Café. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
I only spot a couple of combo sandwich-crisps-drink meal-deals. Boots (and its meal-deal) has closed in the airport, but WH Smith has a meal-deal for €9. For reference, a meal deal in a supermarket outside the airport can be bought for €6.
Across from it, Marquette's meal deal at €13 is made on-premises and has an extra item: sandwich/wrap/bloomer, plus crisps, a piece of fruit and 500ml drink. Marquette, Wright Group's long established and busy food hall at the airport, has introduced some innovations, including whipped ice-cream, served in plastic tubs, for €3.50.
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Also new to Marquette, says general manager Gerry Cregan, are pizzas from a hot-cabinet; the restaurant sells an individual large rectangular slice with a side-salad or chips in a mini-pizza box for €13.50. Executive chef Teo Mancas behind the counter offers a sample, which is okay-ish, and some nice crispy chicken (a popular item) with chipotle mayo. The Wright's smoked salmon is lovely, as you'd expect, on excellent, rich brown bread baked on the premises (€10.50 for a slice of bread and portion of smoked salmon). Last renovated in 2016, Marquette is on track to be renewed again before summer 2027.
Marquette is popular for breakfasts. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
As the first place you come to selling breakfasts, Marquette has a lot of throughput. It sells sausages, eggs, hash browns, beans etc by the individual item (the price will mount up) or by the plate; breakfast is €16 and a smaller version is €13. Other breakfast styles are offered too.
Some of Marquette's pizza slices will be available, along with Italian beers, ice-cream, coffees and focaccias, at a new Italian-syle grab-and-go called Cibo's later in July, near the very busy Pier 1/100-gates (from where many Ryanair flights depart). Existing quick options there including Jump Juice, Tap and Brew and Nineteen40.
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Back with breakfast, Nomad has porridge with a range of toppings in the morning around the €8 mark. There's a new Arthur Guinness Bar that serves some food too. Pret-a-Mangeris a new airport addition, with fridge displays of grab-and-go snacks: sandwiches, fruit tubs, salads and smoothies. In its small, bright seating area there are some quiet spots.
Top tip: It's not visible from the T1 concourse, but behind Bluebird Coffee Roasters and Marquette, there is very large open area with 136 seats, including tables and counters.
Terminal 2
It's another country over in Terminal 2. The set-up is more open, airier and less crowded – as you'd expect for the newer terminal. The main departures lounge has a high ceiling with a substantial balcony that houses The Mezz casual dining and lots of seating.
In the main departures lounge downstairs there's newly opened Fruitality with a range of juices, smoothies, takeaway sandwiches and pastries. Strawberry Kiss is the most popular smoothie, and is nicely made, as is an acai bowl (two sizes, €10.50 or €12.50).
Beside it, the hoardings will come down soon on The Reserve when it opens in the centre of T2 departures, serving open sandwiches, salads, grazing platters, filled croissants, scrambled eggs with sourdough, and drinks including wine, cocktails and draught beers.
The Fallow kitchen and bar, T2. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
The Fallow is comfortable and calm. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
To the side is The Fallow kitchen and bar, run by Select Service Partner (SSP). You can order at the long bar here, or via QR code when you grab a table in the large and pleasant area alongside the window, with banquettes and bar seating. It's comfortable and calm.
Its all-day menu includes variations on burgers with fries (€19.50 to €24.25), fish and chips (€21), chicken katsu (€18), mac and cheese (€17.25), Sausage and Mash (€17.25), and seasonal specials (such ashoumous and spiced cauliflower salad bowl for €19 or chicken shawarma flatbread for €20). Fries are €6.25 to €6.95. Bar bites (sausage roll, chicken tenders, halloumi fries) are €9 each, or three for €20.
For breakfast, a full-Irish is €18 including toast, with a smaller version available for €16, and there's a good selection of other options such as avocado, bacon and eggs for €13.75. There are also breakfast bowls (just under €10), and various pancake stacks (€10.25-€11.25). A glass of prosecco is €10.50; a Bloody Mary, mimosa or espresso martini is €13.
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SSP's head of culinary Steve Land shows us around The Mezz upstairs, a spacious food hall looking down on to T2's main departures lounge. This involves five offerings from one central kitchen. The brands are Camile Thai, Handsome Burger, Ancho Hancho (Mexican), all-day breakfast from Erin's Kitchen, and a new cuisine for the airport, Taste of India.
Steve Land, head of culinary at SSP, in The Mezz food hall. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
The Mezz is a spacious food hall looking down on to T2's main departures lounge. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
You can order on screen from a line of digital kiosks, adding items from any of these outlets in one transaction, which sounds handy for a group with disparate tastes, and pick up at the hatch.
The biggest dining area in Terminal 2, it's hectic here in the mornings until 8am, for the first wave of flights; Handsome burger sold 31,000 burgers in three months at the peak of 2024.
You can order on screen from any of the outlets in one transaction and pick up at the hatch. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Dining at The Mezz, T2. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
The Mezz offers a range of breakfasts, from mango smoothies (€4.25) or various breakfast bowls from Camile (€8.75 to €9.50), to filled muffins (€9.50-€10) from Handsome Burger. At the Mexican, breakfast burritos or Mexican eggs are €11.450-€12. Erin's Kitchen's full-Irish is €14.50, a veggie is €13.50, and various breakfast rolls are €8.50 to €10.
The day menu kicks in here from 11am. Handsome serves a range of its burgers, including fries, from €15.50 to 17.50. Parmesan bacon fries are €9.25.
A selection of Camile dishes from its standard menu (mostly similar prices to non-airport outlets): Crispy chilli chicken stir-fry; various curries, pad Thai (all €16.50), buddha bowl (€13) and some sides including duck spring roll €3.
Mexican street food includes a selection of burritos and rice bowls (€12.50 to €15.50). A Taste of India has three mains: Chicken tikka masala, butter chicken curry and a jalfrezi with sweet potato, spinach and chickpea (€15.50-€16). Bhajis and pakoras are €7.50-8.50.
Children's options
Children's options figure in both terminals, including at Kimbok and Boxx, Marqette, The Mezz, The Fallow, three Burger Kings, The Garden Terrace, Pret a Manger and Dubh. The T1 Italian opening soon, San Marco, will have a children's menu.
The Fallow children's menu, for example, offers breakfast or brunch for €8.25 to €10, and an all-day menu including mini-beef mini burger and fries, chicken katsu curry, Italian ragu, (€8.25 to €9.25). Drinks are extra (juice €4, water €3.05, milk €1.60).