O'Connells in Donnybrook - Donnybrook

Tom O'Connell and partners have relocated their gem of a restaurant from the Ballsbridge Court Hotel on Lansdowne Road to Donnybrook, it's now called O'Connells in Donnybrook but it still runs along the same lines as before. It's the kind of place that thrives on flexibility and has a naturally open-minded attitude: it's emphatically child friendly, the menu is also predominantly gluten-free and prices are kept firmly in check.

The instinct for true Irish food must be in Tom O'Connell's blood (he is brother to Darina Allen, gastro-heroine of the Allen family dynasty) and his menus are peppered with the best that regional, artisan producers have to offer. Here you can sample Kelly's of Newport black pudding, Monaghan duck, organic salad leaves from Gold River Farm, and much more besides.

To start, you might also be tempted by duck liver pâté with port wine jelly and soda bread or gravlax of Irish salmon with potato salad, and it's worth finishing with O'Connell's 'little desserts' (two pots per person, perhaps rhubarb compote or warm apricot and almond pudding); otherwise a plate of Gubbeen cheese with quince paste and Robert Ditty's cheese crackers goes down splendidly. Also check out O'Connell's 'communion' lunches – special culinary bonanzas for all the family.