Café Paradiso

Café Paradiso is just that — a little corner of a vegetarian’s paradise tucked away in a bustling city. We came across the restaurant nearly by accident, through the Google machine’s serendipity while looking for a vegetable farm stay for our Ireland adventure.
We’ve never eaten at a Michelin guide recommended place before, and it was absolutely worth every minute in the car and every euro spent. The food was rich, but not overly decadent; garden fresh, but exciting. And the service was friendly, accommodating, and relaxed.
We also stayed the night as part of the dinner/​bed/​breakfast package, and oh my goodness, the room! The breakfast! Beautifully done, all around. The best night stay we’ve had on our whole trip.
It seems silly to say that one restaurant could make us want to come back to an entire county, but it is true. We hope to be able to celebrate another milestone at this little slice of paradise.

This is a very nice place, the inside is comfortable and the people welcoming and friendly. For having such a large reputation it is not pretentious at all. This is the first vegetarian restaurant I have found during my stay in Ireland, and it was a welcomed surprise. The menu choices were all tempting, very difficult to decide on what to order. After a minor misunderstanding about the order, which can happen, dinner arrived… and it was delicious. The flavors were not overpowering, but they flowed together and did it beautifully. The presentation was all done, and worth taking in before eating. Whatever minor issues there were in the beginning did not detract from my dining experience, and I would go back again. Even if you’re not a vegetarian this is a restaurant worth checking out.

What a fantastic little place.
I’m a meat eater, although so are many people on the review list.
My meal began with a halloumi starter, fantastic, incredible mixture of tastes and great texture, I had a glass of the malbec to compliment the food, very good.
For the main, I had the beetroot risotto, I have to say, some of the best risotto I’ve ever had and to top it off the service was attentive and the plates were delivered very quickly.
Recommended for anyone coming to Cork.

My favorite vegetarian restaurant ever! I’m from Boston, but I’ve been there three times and each time the food is fantastic! Fresh, beautifully prepared, deliciously balanced sauces. A taste sensation in every sense of the word. I’ll be in Cork again in March, and going to this restaurant is number one on my list of things to do. I agree with another review that it is one of the world’s best vegetarian restaurants. A MUST if you are in Cork. But make reservations. It’s always busy.

Love the place. I go ever time I’m down in cork. Great quality food, very tasty. Rich and comforting. Loving restaurant interior and staff are nothing but pleasant. Recommend to all fellow Unilocalers

We came to have lunch (only Saturdays). This place is probably one of the best restaurant I have ever been to. The food is so fresh and tasty. We even thought about getting the books and start making this stuff at home. Two people could have a really good dinner for about 50 Euro in total, which is a bit pricy. It is worth it!

Probably the best restaurant in Cork and it’s vegetarian! Everything tastes fresh and full of flavour. The atmosphere is a mix of slightly hipster and classy and the servers have always been great.
It is a bit more pricey than other places in town but it is definitely worth it!

Lets be honest meateaters, there are very few restaurants now that are something completely different; an actual experience. But this is the first time the I can remember where everything was fresh and new and great. The menu will throw you like an unexpected leaving cert exam paper as the panic of not knowing what the dishes will taste like takes hold, but that is why its great– there was nothing on there that I had ever tasted before and every bite was amazing.
You know what was also nice? walking into a high-​end restaurant and not feeling like it had been designed and staffed by Brown Thomas. The place is very nice and its not cheap, but they have somehow managed to miss out on all the stuff that doesn’t really make a difference in the end when the food and service can speak for itself.

I’m a firm carnivore, but this place lives up to the hype — a vegetarian restaurant that even meat eaters will love. I had the cauliflower soup, aubergine gratin for entrée, with truffle fries and braised fennel sides, and vanilla ice cream dessert. The aubergine gratin and ice cream were the standouts — both packed full of interesting flavors. The other stuff was good but not amazing.

It’s funny that one of the world’s best vegetarian restaurants is in my very own hometown. Funnier that I’d never been till yesterday, especially as I had been a vegetarian for 14 years.
Café Paradiso is very famous in Cork, my friend took me there for a 3 course birthday lunch. I started with the blood orange salad, beets and blue cheese. I have no idea how they make a salad burst with so much flavour but it was fantastic.
I had the risotto with pine nuts which was also amazing but had a little too much oil and was a little too small. I tried my friend’s couscous with feta and butternut squash. I’m not a huge fan of couscous but this may have converted me.
Dessert was a decadent chocolate pot and orange cake. Both amazing.
This is one place that is definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in my part of the world.

I am sure I would give this place 5 stars if I was remotely a vegetarian, or into the vegetarian scene in the least bit.
Truth is, this place is amazing. i went with a party of 4 and we all shared our plates. Everything was great and I found it hard to believe the dishes could taste this good without any meat.
Service was great too. The price fits the product, so you wont leave feeling like you payed too much.
If you are in Cork, make it a stop.

Having been a vegetarian for about 15 years, and spending some time in the restaurant business, I was always on the look out for good vegetarian food in restaurants.
I have found few good ones in Sweden and today I do eat meat and fish again. That is simply the only way I have found to get food that someone actually has spent some time and heart into preparing.
On our trip to Ireland to visit family and friends over christmas, me and my girlfriend decided to check out Café Paradiso in Cork together with her sister and husband before heading back to Sweden.
Looking at the menu, you realize that there is simply too many interesting combinations to try out. We went for different starters and mains and spent the dinner trying each others food out.
Simply put, this is not only the best vegetarian restaurant I have found so far, it is also one of the best I have been too.
Many of the dishes manages to combine ingredients in ways I have never thought of, to create a mix of flavour yet with distinct differences in taste that can individually be noticed. That is a sign of a truly great chef.
I am sure to return to this place and lure many meat eaters to try it out so they can see that vegetarian food is only bland and boring when made by bad chefs.
It is not a cheap place, but reasonably prices for what you get.
Treat yourself to some art and just go here!

I am a meat eater, but this is probably my favourite restaurant in Ireland. I’ve taken other meat-​eaters here too and they have come around to my point of view.
Each course is like a work of art and utterly delicious. Vegetarian sushi and tempura vegetables for starter? Spectacular. I was very impressed with the creativity of the chefs.
A cracking wine list and very helpful, well-​informed staff all added nicely to the experience.
If you stay overnight in their rooms, you can be one of the lucky few to have a Café Paradiso breakfast– amazeballs!

Woohoo! As good as it gets!
That sums it up. Stuck in Cork on business and asked folks what the best restaurant in town was. They sheepishly said, «this vegetarian restaurant on the way into town.»
No need to feel ashamed; this was the best restaurant I’d ever eaten in. Hands down. Unique dishes, truly cared for and served beautifully. A warm welcome and great service.
So good that, on a later trip, I drove my family down from Donegal, where we were attending a wedding and everyone loved it.
I read in the NYTimes that Unilocal reviewers consider the 5 best restaurants in Ireland to be in Dublin. That is simply not true. Café Paradiso is, if not the best restaurant in Ireland — and it might be, surely in the top 3. No, I take that back. It is the best restaurant in Ireland.

A superb restaurant. Top quality food most of which is very exotic. It is a definite 5 star for anyone who can live without meat for one meal. Should be the obvious choice for any vegetarians looking to dine in Cork.

Simply amazing! This could be one of the best restaurants in Ireland, certainly Cork at least. I’m a dedicated carnivore and never thought vegetarian food could be this adventurous or tasty. I too found myself purchasing one of the chefs (Dennis Cotter) cookbooks after eating here.

Café Paradio bietet alles, was man sich von einem Restaurent gehobener Klasse erwartet. Das Essen ist erstklassig und sehr lecker. Dabei kommt sehr gut die Detailverliebtheit des Chefkochs Denis Cotter zum Ausdruck; die Gerichte sind nicht einfach nur eien Aneinanderreihung exotischer oder besonders teurer Zutaten, sondern überzeugen in ihrer Gesamtkomposition. Jedem, der das erste Mal dorthin geht, würde ich das 3-​Gänge-​Menü empfehlen, für jeden Gang kann man aus jeweils 3 verschienen Gerichten wählen. Zusätzlich gibt es noch einen Willkommenssnack vor der Bestellung Das Personal ist sehr freundlich und hilfsbereit, man kommt sich als Gast wirklich sehr willkommen vor. Alle Weine können vor der Bestellung eine Karaffe oder Flasche vorgekostet werden. Auch zu erwähnen ist die sehr angenehme Lichtstimmung und Atmosphäre, die irgendwo zwischen niedlich und modern angesiedelt ist. Wer nach Cork kommt, sollte unbedingt das Café Paradiso besuchen, ob er nun Vegetarier ist oder nicht! Denn auch wenn es sicher nicht die günstigste Wahl ist, um satt zu werden, ist der Besuch hier sein Geld voll und ganz wert.

Cork is really lucky to have Café Paradiso. The food is so amazing and inventive. It’s always a real struggle to order, because I spend more time just drooling over the menu. My eyes glaze over, and instead of choosing food, my lizard-​brain kicks in and just says «All of it».
The restaurant has a informal vibe to it, which is a little at odds to the prices. On the other hand, the atmosphere compliments the food quite well. If you’re going to go culinary sky-​diving, you might as well be comfortable!

If want to feel posh and waste more than 50 € for a bunch of boiled vegetables that won’t be enough even as a preliminary taste, then it’s the place for you.
Food sure is good, but is way overrated. 13 € for 3 (yes, three) tortelloni and 25 € for a quarter of a portion of risotto were my meal. Hoping the 9 € dessert was worth it, but it was just a 1 inch wide cake.
Restaurant is one room, very dark, with lots of tables and seats in a very small place so that it gets almost impossible to read the menu in the evening and to talk to each other when it’s crowded.
I am a vegetarian and after a 100+ € dinner for two at Café Paradiso I almost wanted to get an hamburger!
Waiters are kind. Food take LOOOOOOOOOOOONG (more than 20min for each course on average) to get to the table, but the bill took just seconds.
We took a sandwich in a take-​away after dinner.
Was impressed by online review and decided to give it a try, but I felt joked. Being Italian and vegetarian, I tried dozens of very good vegetarian restaurant over the world. I am not very fussy, but I know what really good vegetarian food tastes like.
I ate way better for ¼ of the price!

The food here is incredible. While it can be a bit expensive (I feel I spent about 50 euro there for 3 courses and some wine), it was well worth it. Not that anyone needs to «forget» they are eating vegetarian food but for those people who cringe at the thought of a meatless affair, you hardly notice with the outstanding creations put on their menu.
For a cheap sampling, try out going there for lunch.

Not being a vegetarian, it is odd that the best meal on our trip to Europe (including Paris) would be at a vegetarian restaurant in Cork, Ireland. I’d read about the place in several guidebook and on-​line commentaries and decided to try it.
It is quite a small place and we were fortunate to be able to get a table on short notice. It consists of a small, warm dining room and an equally small kitchen in the back, where you can watch the staff working away.
The staff has that cheery, healthful, righteous look common in those of the vegetarian persuasion. Our server was quite helpful in navigating us through some unknown items and describing flavor profiles.
A great thing about this place is that they make no attempt whatsoever to mimic meat dishes. They use no meat stand-​ins like soy turkey and they do not make veggie burgers and the like. The kitchen is proud of the vegetables, cheese, fruit and other ingredients they use; they make no concession or apology. Every course we tried was perfectly crafted, impeccably fresh and masterfully seasoned.
The standout dish for me was their beet-​root risotto. The arborio rice was cooked to exactly the right toothsomeness, but the vibrant purple-​fuscia color is what really got my attention. I love beets and the flavor was of pure beet bolster with onion and other savory components to add depth.
We were so impressed with the place that we bought one of Chef Dennis Cotter’s cookbooks. We also found out which farm supplied most of their produce. The next day we drove about ten miles outside of town to Gort-​Na-​Nain Farm. We chatted at length with the farmer and his wife about their farm and how they grow their crops.
We were blown away by Café Paradiso and the farm that supplies them. It is a must stop next time we are in Cork.

The best vegetarian restaurant ever!
Denis Cotter’s vegetable creations HAVE to be tried. Those who think they have to have meat to enjoy a meal, go to Paradiso and you will think again.
The restaurant is rightly named CAFE Paradiso as it has a casual bistro atmosphere and friendly informal staff.
The wines are a bit pricey but good, the couscous cake with chickpeas is great!
Paradiso also have a B&B next door — Paradiso Rooms — 4 or five guest rooms, beautifully, yet understatedly decorated, with coffee-​maker, organic tea and coffee, fantastic CDs, beautiful shutters on the windows, which overlook the quays.
Breakfast is a treat, which demands a page of its own — try the poppy-​seed bagel with poached egg, spinach and tomato salsa.
Café Paradiso has to be experienced to be believed.
All ingredients are locally sourced from organic farms. Unbeatable!

Das Café paradiso bestach in seiner Auswahl in meiner Zeit in Irland vor allem durch Fleichfreie Mahlzeiten die sehr lecker sind. Die Einrichtung und Ausstattung sind für ein Café normal. Das WC war sauber die Bedienung nett.
Ich kann es nur allen empfehlen die mal etwas anderes Essen wollen. Nebenan müßte noch ein Pub sein der zu einem Besuch einlädt grins.
Viel Spass im Café Paradiso

C’est un endroit très particulier, très chaleureux et la carte végétarienne est très reconnue dans toute l’Irlande. Ils ont publié un livre qui porte le même nom où ils dévoilent quelques uns de leurs secrets… Même le pain à l’huile d’olives est délicieux! C’est un petit endroit à né pas manquer :)
(vous pourrez découvrir les livres également sur amazon).