The Dublin food tour so good I did it twice

Most tours you do once, tick off and never think about again. This one changes its stops often enough that going back felt like a different day out, which is exactly why I'm telling you about it rather than quietly moving on.

We are OBSESSED with Kevin. I first did this tour on my own in 2021, loved it enough that when we both went in November 2023 it went straight to the top of the list, and I mean the actual top: we checked availability for the food tour before we booked flights or a hotel. Not the other way round. If Kevin hadn’t been running that week I think we’d have moved the trip.

We booked this before we booked the flights

That sounds unhinged written down and I stand by it!

The thing worth understanding is that you are not really buying a food tour. You’re buying a few hours with someone who knows Dublin better than any guidebook is ever going to. Kevin’s local knowledge is genuinely unmatched, and it comes at you sideways: the history of the city, the stories the locals actually tell each other, and a steady drip of insider gossip from his time working at the Guinness Factory. You’ll see the major sights while you’re at it, but the sights are the backdrop rather than the point.

Three attempts at the same photo. We peaked in the middle one.

Because he switches the stops around, a repeat isn’t a repeat. Different places, different stories, same guide. That’s rarer than it sounds and it’s the whole reason this one earns a second booking.

Top tip: sort your hotel around the tour rather than the other way round. Availability moves faster than a Dublin hotel does, and we’d rather walk fifteen minutes to a meeting point than miss the slot.

What you actually eat

A proper run at it, and no small samples.

We started at a local coffee shop for a caffeine hit and some sausage rolls, which is the correct way to begin anything! Then Griolladh, for the juiciest fried cheese and brisket stuffed sandwich you’ll have all trip, or a “sambo” as everyone there calls them. After that, one of the oldest chippies in Ireland, walls absolutely covered in references to the rich and famous who’ve been in for the same fish and chips.

Top tip: ask for half and half on your battered fish. You get the smoked haddock and the traditional side by side and you don’t have to pick. Kevin gave us this tip because he’s a legend and it is the single best decision I made all day!

Then it turns sweet. Baileys cheesecake, an Irish coffee that had us more than ready to take on Temple Bar afterwards, and locally made Irish ice cream with a flavour board worth reading twice. Dingle Sea Salt, Honeycomb Caramel and Butterscotch are the three I’d send you to. Irish Brown Bread is the one everyone talks about and you should try it once, but I wouldn’t order it again.

Scoops were €6 for a small, €7.50 for a medium and €9 for a large when we went, and here’s the bit you have to look closely at the menu to see mentioned: you can put more than one flavour in any size. Even the small so go wild with your choices!

Read the whole board before you commit. Chocolate Whiskey is right there.

The Americans, and the black pudding

The bit I did not expect to be the funniest part of the day.

Apparently Americans don’t have sausage rolls? What are you talking about. Pigs in blankets aren’t even close, they’re not in the same postcode! So watching a group of adults be introduced to a sausage roll for the first time, like a brand new food, was genuinely one of the highlights, and I say that having eaten a fried cheese and brisket sandwich the same morning.

Then came black pudding, and the faces. Credit where it’s due though, Kevin told them exactly what it was before anyone handed over any money, which he absolutely did not have to do and which tells you a fair bit about how he runs the thing.

Your ticket buys Kevin, not the food

Here’s the money bit, because it’s worth knowing before you go.

The ticket is £23.50 at the time of writing, and that buys you the guide and nothing else. You pay for your own food as you go. I know that reads like a catch and I’d argue the opposite: on tours where the food is included you get a small sample of something chosen for you, and more than once I’ve stood there wishing I’d been given the other thing. Here you get recommendations from someone who knows, then you order what you actually fancy. I’d take that trade every time!

Worth being straight about what that means for your budget though: the £23.50 is the floor, not the total, and you’ll want cash or a card ready at every stop. The ice cream alone was €6 to €9 depending on size, and that’s one stop of several. Turn up hungry and treat the tour as lunch and possibly dinner depending on how strongly you order.

The one genuine downside, and it happened on both of my tours: it ran over. Not by a small amount either. One couple had to peel off just after the last stop because they had something booked after it. I’m not going to pretend that’s a scandal, everyone made it to every stop and we got well past our money’s worth, but don’t put anything in the diary straight afterwards. Give it a buffer and you’ll never notice the problem.

Final verdict

Worth it. 5 out of 5.

£23.50 for the guide, your own money for the food, and a few hours with the best guide either of us has had anywhere. The stops rotate, so it survives a second go, which is not something I can say about any other tour I’ve done. The only things I’d change are on you rather than on him: leave a gap in your afternoon, and don’t waste your one ice cream on the brown bread.

There’s a traditional pubs walking tour that Kevin also runs, and it’s the one I’m booking next time. We haven’t done it, so that’s not a recommendation from us, it’s friends who did it telling us it was fantastic and me believing them on the strength of this one. If you get to it before we do, I’d love to know.

Dublin has a lot of tours competing for the same afternoon. Spend it on this one!

Dublin Street Food Tour FAQs

Is food included in the Dublin street food tour price? No, and this is the one to get right before you go. The ticket buys your guide. You pay for your own food at each stop, so bring a card and go hungry.

How much is the Dublin street food tour? £23.50 at the time of writing for the ticket itself. The food you buy along the way is on top, so budget for a proper lunch’s worth on top of the ticket.

Is the Dublin food tour worth it? Five out of five from us, and I’ve paid for it twice. The food is good, but you’re really paying for a guide whose knowledge of the city is better than anything you’ll read beforehand.

How long does it run? Longer than scheduled, on both of ours. Everyone got to every stop, so it’s overdelivering rather than running late, but don’t book anything immediately afterwards. One couple on our tour had to leave just after arriving at the last stop.

Is it worth doing twice? Genuinely yes, which surprised me too. The stops change regularly, so a second tour is different food and different stories with the same guide. That’s why we went back rather than trying something else.

What should you order on the tour? Ask for half and half on the battered fish so you get smoked haddock and traditional together. On the ice cream, go sea salt, honeycomb or butterscotch. Try the brown bread once for the story, then order something else.

Is there a pub version of the tour? There is, and we haven’t done it yet. It’s the traditional pubs walking tour, and it’s top of the list for our next Dublin trip on the strength of the food one.

Prices are what we paid in ticket checked 2026, food prices from the November 2023 visit. Things move, so check before you book.