The Winding Stair

The Winding Stair occupies the upper floor above the Winding Stair bookshop, on Lower Ormond Quay overlooking the River Liffey and the Ha'penny Bridge. The Winding Stair Bookshop and Café was a meeting place for writers, musicians and artists in the 1970s and 1980s, and its closure was announced in 2005. In 2006 Elaine Murphy reopened the upstairs room as a restaurant, keeping the bookshop on the ground floor, and the name, taken from a poem by W. B. Yeats, stayed the same.

The menu is unapologetically Irish, built around named producers and familiar dishes cooked with care. Starters have included a Scotch egg with bacon dust mayonnaise, a board of Ispíní Irish charcuterie for sharing, and potted Dingle Bay crab. Main courses feature Doyle's hand-smoked haddock, a Young's Black Angus Irish striploin and a Dublin boxty, the traditional potato pancake. For dessert, the menu has offered a bread and butter pudding with whiskey sauce. Dishes change with the seasons, so expect variations on these.

The view of the Ha'penny Bridge is a large part of the appeal. Ask for a window table when you book. It suits couples, small groups and visitors who want a sit-down meal of Irish food in a setting with a sense of the city's literary past. It is relaxed enough for a casual lunch but works well for a celebration dinner too.

Lunch is served from Wednesday to Sunday between 12:00 and 15:00, and dinner every day from 17:30, until 21:00 from Sunday to Wednesday and 22:00 from Thursday to Saturday. Book through OpenTable on the website, by phone on +353 1 872 7320 or by email at [email protected]. Weekend evenings fill quickly. Note that the restaurant is up a flight of stairs, as the name suggests, so contact it in advance if you have mobility needs.

The restaurant is on the north quays, a couple of minutes from the Ha'penny Bridge and Temple Bar on the other side of the river. Browse the bookshop downstairs before or after your meal, then walk along the quays to O'Connell Bridge or west towards the Four Courts.

Lunch is a good option if you want the river view in daylight.