Delicious Vegan Food in Galway and Dublin.
We got back from a wonderful few days in Ireland on Tuesday. I'm full of cold (I got struck down on our first day in Dublin) but that wasn't going to ruin our holiday. We spent a few days in Galway with Ali and Meg, then bussed it over to Dublin for three days. I thought I'd summarise what we ate while we were there in a post, just in case some other vegan wanderer is out there looking for tips.
Day 1: Arrival day! Ali tried falafel for the first time at Gourmet Offensive Falafel (falafel wraps packed with salad etc, and vegan cheese if you want it!). We had chips too, definitely not needed, the wraps are huge. For dinner we had a BOOJUM, standard vegan beany tacos, but tasty. Coffee Werk + Press do a bloody lovely oat milk hot chocolate and an equally great coffee. They also have a lovely gallery/design store. Well worth a visit. There are so many pubs in Galway it's crazy, but it's worth checking out as many as possible. There is live music everywhere, it's just the best.
Day 2: Beach day (my favourite kind of day) meant it was time for a vegan picnic! Olives and bread and houmous and tomatoes and fruits and crisps. The Irish countryside was genuinely breathtaking. I've never been anywhere so green and I grew up in the countryside. We saw wild horses and so many sheep and goats and cows (tagged sadly, but I enjoyed watching them all the same). We hit Buddha Bar for dinner and ate noodles on noodles. Their tofu was pretty bland, I feel like they might have forgotten to season, but I wasn't too disappointed. The portions are decent and the ingredients are fresh. The green tea was delicious and served beautifully.
Day 3: A rainy day, but it didn't stop play... because we spent a few hours in Dungeons and Doughnuts. For a fiver you get a drink, a doughnut and a board game session. Unfortunately vegan doughnuts haven't made it to Galway so we opted for crisps instead, paired with a coffee in my case. We played Ticket To Ride twice and I was hooked. The Saturday Market is worth a mention, too. I bought some seaweed soap and some bamboo cotton buds from The Soap Room, and we grabbed some food to eat by the river. I opted for a "chip butty" which consisted of almost-too-many chips, salad and spicy sauce in a pitta, Elliot had a curry pot and an empanada (what a combo). Meg and Ali cooked a delicious chilli pasta for dinner, and as I was having a sober week, we enjoyed some Belvoir Shiraz (posh grape juice) on the side.
Day 4: We said goodbye to Galway and Hello to Dublin. Having missed out on a doughnut in Galway, we took Love Dublin's recommendation and headed straight for The Rolling Donut after checking in. You know it's a good day to be a vegan when you get so much choice that it's hard to pick. I went for a classic raspberry and Elliot picked a peanut butter chocolate treat. Highly recommend a visit (they're not all vegan, just in case you're a phobe). TOKEN is the place to go if you fancy some vegan junk food. It's a video game arcade, with a brilliant vegan menu. We ordered battered sausages with curry mayo, chick*n burgers and loaded fries and it was all delicious. I had a fruit slushy but their cocktails sounded great, too, if you fancy an alcoholic bev. We also took the boat trip along the river when we arrived, which was cute. Who knew there could be so much to say about bridges..
Day 5: Is it a city break if you don't have a basic bitch brunch at least once? To be fair, calling POG basic is a bit insulting, because it was great. I had chocolate pancakes with "clean-tella", strawberries and walnuts. Elliot had a burger (yes, a burger, at 10AM). It's a cute place, I liked it a lot. We decided to pick between the Guiness Storehouse and the Jameson Distillery, rather than doing both. We opted for the distillery and it was so fun! Really informative, our tour guide was great (and a real looker..) and you get a cocktail at the end. It was my one and only drink for the week, and although I'm not a whisky fan at all, it was delicious paired with ginger beer.
We were pretty full but ate some chips by the river in the afternoon, like true Brits. Aperitivo is a self-proclaimed vegan pizza specialist. It's a tiny little place, and we probably would have missed it if we hadn't been Googling "best vegan food Dublin". The pizzas are delicious, and huge, almost too big in fact. They have so much choice, too, with various vegan meats on offer. I had a pesto base with vegan ham and cheese, Elliot went for a carbonara-esque option. Not your typical Irish food, but if you're vegan but want to eat like the Irish, you're going to starve. Sorry.
Day 6: Home time! But not before one last brunch. The Happy Food Yoga Hub is hidden away in a part of Dublin we wouldn't have found by chance, but is only a 15 minute walk from Temple Bar. Thank god for Google, hey. I'm so glad we decided to wander over there - just look at that stuffed croissant! We shared the chickpea scramble and tofu bacon croissant, and the bean bowl with sourdough. So delicious! Of course we got coffee and I got a pear juice, too. It's such a pretty little spot, I can imagine it's a lovely place to do yoga. A couple of people were remote working from there, too, which I totally understand. It's very peaceful.
And that's it! My summary of the vegan goodies of Ireland. There are so many other places on my list for if we ever go back, but you can only eat so much in six days. I actually only drank one drink (at the distillery) all week, which I was super proud of. I had such a fun few days, no alcohol needed, and to be honest it's a good job I didn't drink given that I ended up sick. Dublin is home to lots of little design stores, I could easily spend a tonne on gorgeous homeware pieces and prints, but we live in a house share and have no need for anything new. So, I spent a lot of time window shopping.
Now I just have to shift this cold. I'm having a pedi and a hot stone massage today, finally using my voucher that I got for Christmas! And then we're throwing a family party for my Grandma's 80th, so that will be cute.
Have a lovely weekend. Hope you're feeling healthier than I am xo
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| How gorgeous is this set up at Happy Food, Dublin? |
Day 1: Arrival day! Ali tried falafel for the first time at Gourmet Offensive Falafel (falafel wraps packed with salad etc, and vegan cheese if you want it!). We had chips too, definitely not needed, the wraps are huge. For dinner we had a BOOJUM, standard vegan beany tacos, but tasty. Coffee Werk + Press do a bloody lovely oat milk hot chocolate and an equally great coffee. They also have a lovely gallery/design store. Well worth a visit. There are so many pubs in Galway it's crazy, but it's worth checking out as many as possible. There is live music everywhere, it's just the best.
Day 2: Beach day (my favourite kind of day) meant it was time for a vegan picnic! Olives and bread and houmous and tomatoes and fruits and crisps. The Irish countryside was genuinely breathtaking. I've never been anywhere so green and I grew up in the countryside. We saw wild horses and so many sheep and goats and cows (tagged sadly, but I enjoyed watching them all the same). We hit Buddha Bar for dinner and ate noodles on noodles. Their tofu was pretty bland, I feel like they might have forgotten to season, but I wasn't too disappointed. The portions are decent and the ingredients are fresh. The green tea was delicious and served beautifully.
Day 3: A rainy day, but it didn't stop play... because we spent a few hours in Dungeons and Doughnuts. For a fiver you get a drink, a doughnut and a board game session. Unfortunately vegan doughnuts haven't made it to Galway so we opted for crisps instead, paired with a coffee in my case. We played Ticket To Ride twice and I was hooked. The Saturday Market is worth a mention, too. I bought some seaweed soap and some bamboo cotton buds from The Soap Room, and we grabbed some food to eat by the river. I opted for a "chip butty" which consisted of almost-too-many chips, salad and spicy sauce in a pitta, Elliot had a curry pot and an empanada (what a combo). Meg and Ali cooked a delicious chilli pasta for dinner, and as I was having a sober week, we enjoyed some Belvoir Shiraz (posh grape juice) on the side.
Day 4: We said goodbye to Galway and Hello to Dublin. Having missed out on a doughnut in Galway, we took Love Dublin's recommendation and headed straight for The Rolling Donut after checking in. You know it's a good day to be a vegan when you get so much choice that it's hard to pick. I went for a classic raspberry and Elliot picked a peanut butter chocolate treat. Highly recommend a visit (they're not all vegan, just in case you're a phobe). TOKEN is the place to go if you fancy some vegan junk food. It's a video game arcade, with a brilliant vegan menu. We ordered battered sausages with curry mayo, chick*n burgers and loaded fries and it was all delicious. I had a fruit slushy but their cocktails sounded great, too, if you fancy an alcoholic bev. We also took the boat trip along the river when we arrived, which was cute. Who knew there could be so much to say about bridges..
Day 5: Is it a city break if you don't have a basic bitch brunch at least once? To be fair, calling POG basic is a bit insulting, because it was great. I had chocolate pancakes with "clean-tella", strawberries and walnuts. Elliot had a burger (yes, a burger, at 10AM). It's a cute place, I liked it a lot. We decided to pick between the Guiness Storehouse and the Jameson Distillery, rather than doing both. We opted for the distillery and it was so fun! Really informative, our tour guide was great (and a real looker..) and you get a cocktail at the end. It was my one and only drink for the week, and although I'm not a whisky fan at all, it was delicious paired with ginger beer.
We were pretty full but ate some chips by the river in the afternoon, like true Brits. Aperitivo is a self-proclaimed vegan pizza specialist. It's a tiny little place, and we probably would have missed it if we hadn't been Googling "best vegan food Dublin". The pizzas are delicious, and huge, almost too big in fact. They have so much choice, too, with various vegan meats on offer. I had a pesto base with vegan ham and cheese, Elliot went for a carbonara-esque option. Not your typical Irish food, but if you're vegan but want to eat like the Irish, you're going to starve. Sorry.
Day 6: Home time! But not before one last brunch. The Happy Food Yoga Hub is hidden away in a part of Dublin we wouldn't have found by chance, but is only a 15 minute walk from Temple Bar. Thank god for Google, hey. I'm so glad we decided to wander over there - just look at that stuffed croissant! We shared the chickpea scramble and tofu bacon croissant, and the bean bowl with sourdough. So delicious! Of course we got coffee and I got a pear juice, too. It's such a pretty little spot, I can imagine it's a lovely place to do yoga. A couple of people were remote working from there, too, which I totally understand. It's very peaceful.
And that's it! My summary of the vegan goodies of Ireland. There are so many other places on my list for if we ever go back, but you can only eat so much in six days. I actually only drank one drink (at the distillery) all week, which I was super proud of. I had such a fun few days, no alcohol needed, and to be honest it's a good job I didn't drink given that I ended up sick. Dublin is home to lots of little design stores, I could easily spend a tonne on gorgeous homeware pieces and prints, but we live in a house share and have no need for anything new. So, I spent a lot of time window shopping.
Now I just have to shift this cold. I'm having a pedi and a hot stone massage today, finally using my voucher that I got for Christmas! And then we're throwing a family party for my Grandma's 80th, so that will be cute.
Have a lovely weekend. Hope you're feeling healthier than I am xo
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