Balfes

You'll find yourself on Balfe Street in Dublin 2, just off Fade Street where all the design shops are, and Balfes sits there unpretentiously serving up the kind of food that makes you wonder why more places don't bother with simple execution. It's the sort of spot locals actually return to rather than photograph—dim lighting, packed tables, the kind of buzz that tells you people are here because the food's worth it, not because it's Instagram-famous. Think seasonal Irish ingredients treated with respect: quality meat, fish that tastes like it came from somewhere, vegetables cooked properly. Nothing fusty about it, but nothing trying too hard either.