Cornucopia has been feeding Dublin from Wicklow Street since 1986, which makes it one of Ireland’s longest-running vegetarian restaurants. Today it is fully plant-based, and it has plenty of company: a burger joint down a Temple Bar lane, a cinnamon roll café on Aungier Street and a mushroom grower who cooks street food in Portobello on weekends.
Most of the places below sit in the compact centre around Grafton Street, so breakfast, lunch and dinner can all happen on foot. Each entry tells you what to order first, then the practical details. For more cities, browse all the vegan travel destinations on the site.
Vegan Dublin at a Glance
- Best burgers: The Saucy Cow
- Best all-day classic: Cornucopia
- Best special dinner: Glas
- Best quick falafel: Umi Falafel
- Best bakery: It’s a Trap
- Best for a mixed group: Nutbutter
- Best weekend outing: Mushroom Butcher
- Best cheap, filling lunch: Govinda’s
Best Vegan Restaurants in Dublin
1. The Saucy Cow: Big Dirty Burgers in Temple Bar Vegan
Order the Hot Papi, a burger built on crisp fried oyster mushrooms that fools a fair few diners into thinking it is chicken. The Buckfast BBQ burger is the other favourite (Buckfast is a sweet tonic wine with a cult following in Ireland), and plenty of people add vegan bacon. Get garlic parm fries or waffle fries on the side.
The wraps have their own fans, especially the spicy chick wrap and the Caesar wrap, and mushroom popcorn or salt and chilli tofu make good plates to share. The Saucy Cow is small, loud and colourful, tucked down a lane off Dame Street, with good music and friendly staff. Everything is vegan, and it opens 7 days a week.
💡 Tip: It is walk-ins only, so eat early on Fridays and Saturdays. Brunch runs on Saturdays and Sundays from 11AM, and the kitchen stays open until 9PM most nights and 10PM on Fridays and Saturdays.
📍 19 Crane Lane, Dublin 2, D02 R891 | Temple Bar | 🌐 thesaucycow.com | 📸 @thesaucycow_
2. Cornucopia: Dublin’s Plant-Based Veteran Since 1986 Vegan
Cornucopia is all about generous plates. Pick a hot main with two or three salads from the counter and you will struggle to finish it. Regulars rave about the moussaka and the potato cakes, and the potato salad has a fan club of its own. The soup with bread is the light option, and it still fills you up.
Finish with a slice of cake from the in-house vegan bakery or a cone of vegan soft serve. Cornucopia opened on Wicklow Street in 1986 as a vegetarian wholefood restaurant, is owned by a mother and daughter, and now cooks a fully plant-based menu. It works like a canteen: order at the counter, carry your tray and find a seat upstairs.
💡 Tip: It opens at 8AM Monday to Saturday and 9AM on Sundays, which makes it an easy breakfast before the Grafton Street crowds arrive. It closes at 7:30PM Monday to Wednesday, 8:30PM Thursday to Saturday and 7PM on Sundays.
📍 19-20 Wicklow Street, Dublin 2, D02 NX23 | City centre, off Grafton Street | ☎️ +353 1 677 7583 | 🌐 cornucopia.ie | 📸 @cornucopia_restaurant
3. Glas: Gluten-Free Vegetable Cooking off Grafton Street Vegetarian
Diners at Glas keep coming back for the cauliflower and the oyster mushroom main, and the polenta fries are the side people mention by name. The menu changes with the seasons, so the dishes rotate, but recent reviews agree on bold, balanced flavours and beautiful plates. The weekend lunch menu is the well-priced way to try it.
Glas, the Irish word for green, is a vegetarian restaurant with plenty of vegan dishes; dairy appears on some plates, so tell your server you are vegan and they will guide you. The whole kitchen is gluten-free and safe for coeliac diners. The cocktails and the wine list get almost as much praise as the food.
💡 Tip: Book ahead, because Glas takes a €20 per person deposit that comes off the bill. Dinner starts at 4:45PM every day, and lunch runs 12PM to 2:30PM Friday to Sunday. Children under 10 are not allowed at dinner.
📍 15/16 Chatham Street, Dublin 2, D02 FV50 | City centre, off Grafton Street | ☎️ +353 1 672 4534 | 🌐 glasrestaurant.ie | 📸 @glasrestaurant
4. Umi Falafel: Palestinian Falafel on Mary Street Vegetarian
The Palestinian falafel is the order here, wrapped up with salad and sauce or served as a plate with hummus. Reviewers also go back for the lentil soup, the baba ganoush (a smoky aubergine dip) and the sweet potato fries, and the plant-based shawarma has a following of its own. It is fast, filling and easy on the wallet.
Umi calls itself vegetarian and mostly vegan, and halloumi is the main dairy item, so skip the halloumi wraps and plates. The Mary Street branch sits in the shopping streets north of the river, a short walk from the Ha’penny Bridge. Umi also runs a branch in Rathmines plus restaurants in Cork and Belfast.
💡 Tip: The Rathmines branch at 180 Rathmines Road Lower is handy if you are staying south of the Grand Canal. Both Dublin branches open daily from 12PM.
📍 4 Mary Street, Dublin 1, D01 T0C3 | North City | ☎️ +353 1 445 4344 | 🌐 umi-falafel.ie | 📸 @umifalafel
5. It’s a Trap: Cinnamon Rolls on Aungier Street Vegan
Come for the cinnamon rolls. They are the reason most people find this café, and reviewers treat them as a Dublin must. Then add a marshmallow cookie or a slice of tres leches, a sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk, made plant-based here. Breakfast with coffee and a roll is the classic way to do it.
For something savoury, the seitan wrap and the honey hot sambo (Irish slang for a sandwich) are the popular picks, and the Reuben has its loyal fans. Everything is plant-based and baked fresh every day. The café is small, with limited seating inside and a little terrace, so plenty of people take their rolls to go.
💡 Tip: Go in the morning for the best choice of bakes. It opens at 8AM on weekdays, 9AM on Saturdays and 10AM on Sundays, and closes at 5PM every day.
📍 81 Aungier Street, Dublin 2, D02 DK50 | City centre | 🌐 itsatrap.ie | 📸 @its_a__trap_
6. Nutbutter: Californian Bowls and Tacos by the Docks
Order the jackfruit tacos, the vegan dish reviewers single out most, and pair them with one of the big, colourful bowls; ask which ones can be made fully vegan. Kimchi turns up across the menu and the banana muffins are a popular takeaway. Diners like that it feels like a healthy lunch and a treat at the same time.
Nutbutter cooks from scratch with Irish ingredients and a Californian twist, and the menu mixes plant-based dishes with meat and fish such as brisket tacos and poke, so order with care. The Grand Canal Dock branch has outdoor seating on the quay, and there are two more in Smithfield and Dundrum Town Centre.
💡 Tip: All three branches are walk-ins only and open every day from 11:30AM to 9:30PM. The Smithfield branch is handy if you are staying north of the river.
📍 2&3 Gallery Quay, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2, D02 R205 | Grand Canal Dock | ☎️ +353 87 194 4266 | 🌐 nutbutter.ie | 📸 @nutbutter.ie
7. Mushroom Butcher: Weekend Mushroom Street Food in Portobello Vegan
The crème brûlée doughnut is the thing people cross town for: burnt caramel on top and vegan crème pâtissière (vanilla custard) inside. The savoury menu changes every couple of weeks around a theme, and past ones include Korean BBQ, Japanese and Vietnamese, with oyster mushrooms in everything from bánh mì (Vietnamese baguette sandwiches) to meatball subs.
Mark Senn, an Australian chef, grows the gourmet mushrooms himself, and you can buy fresh ones to cook at home alongside your lunch. Everything is vegan and served as takeaway from a food truck. Reviewers describe it as the spot everyone in Dublin talks about, and the regulars come back every weekend for whatever the new menu is.
💡 Tip: It only trades on Saturdays and Sundays from 10AM to 3PM. Check the Instagram for the current menu before you go, and arrive early, because popular items sell out.
📍 90 South Circular Road, Dublin 8, D08 R2DD | Portobello | 🌐 mushroombutcher.com | 📸 @mushroombutcher
8. Govinda’s: Heaped Vegetarian Plates on Middle Abbey Street Vegetarian
Govinda’s serves canteen-style plates of lentil curry, brown rice, tofu and salad, and the most common complaint is that they are too big to finish. The small plate is plenty for most appetites. Add a samosa on the side, and reviewers describe the food as homely, wholesome and exceptional value.
The cooking is vegetarian, in the Hare Krishna tradition, and paneer, lassi and some of the cakes contain dairy, so ask the staff to point out the vegan dishes. Govinda’s shares its building with the Krishna temple on Middle Abbey Street, a few minutes from O’Connell Street, and the generous, cheap plates make it a favourite lunch for locals.
💡 Tip: It opens at 12PM every day and closes at 7PM Monday to Thursday, 8PM on Fridays and Saturdays and 6PM on Sundays.
📍 83 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1, D01 EV91 | North City | ☎️ +353 89 212 5950 | 📸 @govindas.dublin
Odd North, Even South: How Dublin Postcodes Work
The River Liffey splits Dublin in two, and the old postal districts mostly follow it: odd numbers on the northside, even numbers on the southside. Dublin 1 covers the north inner city around O’Connell Street and Mary Street, Dublin 2 the south centre around Grafton Street, and Dublin 8 takes in the Liberties and Portobello.
Northsiders and southsiders have teased each other about which side is better for generations, and you will hear it in pubs on both banks. Since 2015 every address also carries an Eircode, a seven-character code such as D02 R891, and typing it into a maps app takes you straight to the right door.
Vegan Dublin: What to Know Before You Go
- Guinness has been vegan since 2018, when the brewery stopped using isinglass (a fish product) to clear the beer, so a pint in any pub is fine.
- A full Irish breakfast comes with black and white pudding, which are made with pork, and traditional soda bread is usually made with buttermilk.
- The Leap Visitor Card gives unlimited travel on Dublin Bus, the Luas (the city’s tram) and the DART (the coastal train) for 24 hours, 72 hours or 7 days.
- The Saucy Cow and Nutbutter are walk-ins only, while Glas needs a booking with a deposit.
- At sit-down restaurants, a tip of around 10% is normal, and some places add a service charge for larger groups, so check the bill first.
- Rain is possible in any month, so carry a light waterproof even in summer.
When to Visit Dublin
Dublin rarely gets very hot or very cold, so any season works for eating your way around. May to September brings the longest days, with June sunsets close to 10PM, which makes evening walks along the Liffey after dinner easy. The week around St Patrick’s Day on 17 March is great fun but packed, and tables fill fast.
Plan at least one weekend day in the city, because Mushroom Butcher only trades on Saturdays and Sundays and The Saucy Cow serves brunch on both.
Vegan Dublin FAQ
Is Dublin good for vegans?
Yes. Dublin has fully vegan spots such as The Saucy Cow, Cornucopia, It’s a Trap and Mushroom Butcher, and most of them are a short walk from Grafton Street.
What is the best fully vegan restaurant in Dublin?
For burgers and fries, go to The Saucy Cow in Temple Bar. For a sit-down plate of salads and hot mains, Cornucopia on Wicklow Street has been serving since 1986 and is now fully plant-based.
Where can I get a vegan breakfast in Dublin?
Cornucopia opens at 8AM Monday to Saturday, It’s a Trap opens at 8AM on weekdays for cinnamon rolls and coffee, and The Saucy Cow serves brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.
Where should I go for a special vegan dinner in Dublin?
Book Glas on Chatham Street. It is vegetarian with plenty of vegan dishes, fully gluten-free, and takes a deposit when you book.
Where can I eat vegan in Dublin on a budget?
Govinda’s on Middle Abbey Street serves huge vegetarian plates for little money, and Umi Falafel on Mary Street does filling falafel wraps and plates.
Is Guinness vegan?
Yes. Guinness has been vegan since 2018, when the brewery stopped using isinglass, a fish product, to clear the beer.
Do I need to book vegan restaurants in Dublin?
Glas needs a booking with a deposit. The Saucy Cow and Nutbutter are walk-ins only, and Mushroom Butcher is takeaway.