Caffè Caira

A fish and chips place that does without the fanciness. Food and prices are honest. The fish is good, but the fries are not well-​baked and the salad is simple. The service is very basic, as is the interior.

Exceptional fish and chips to go!
An enormous portion at a very reasonable price. Forget all about your diet and fuel up on fresh cod! Fish comes in a veeery big chunk, so forget your manners, too. You can add as much salt and vinegar as you like — isn’t that a bliss?
Just cross the street and enjoy your Irish meal at the pier.
Ice cream, burgers and more options available.

I’ve been to Howth lots of time but never noticed this chipper. Ok, I’m not usually up for Fish and chips /​fast food so that might’ve been the reason.
This time after a four hour walk along the cliff we went there to defrost and recharge.
You can either take the food outside or sit in their small enough restaurant with I think 10 tables maximum. We had to wait a bit for a table but that was fine.
I went for a chicken burger and whilst it wasn’t outstanding it was perfectly fine.
The staff was quick even though theowner (?) that particular day wasn’t in the best of moods and even was rather grumpy to some guests. But that might have had a history that we missed and might have just been the one day and that wouldn’t hold me back going there again. They do have a lot of signs «Don’t do this, don’t do that, only one invoice /​payment per table» though. So I assume especially in summer and with lots of tourists around they might be even stricter with their customers.

A must for a first time visit to Howth. There is a sit down area but it is best to get a single to go and take a walk along the sea front.
Best thing is they leave the salt and vinegar on the counter so you can salt to taste. And they offer double bags for those who like to overload on vinegar!
Get a 99 on your way back for dessert.

This chipshop is located close to the pier and has that more traditional look than the other chipshop beshoff’s which is further up the road. There is also a café in which you can sit down to enjoy your fish and chips assumedly caught fresh in Howth bay. The counter area for ordering is small and the queue on the day i was there came around the counter and out the door which is a good sign. You can’t come to Howth and not have fish and chips and there is no better place in my opinion but to sit in the open air watching the ships come in and out and enjoying some smoked cod and salt and vinegar covered chips.

Honestly, after hearing this place was better than Leo Burdock’s, I was disappointed. I expected to be able to sit down with a pint while feasting, but that wasn’t the case since alcohol isn’t served here.
Anyways, two orders of fish and chips with a 500mL cost is around € 22. Not too bad I suppose. However, I thought it was kind of funky that we only got one dipping bowl of ketchup between the two orders. It felt like a hassle to have to get up an ask one of the employees for more ketchup. The fish and chips itself didn’t really blow me away. Yes it was crunchy, hot, and filling, but for the reputation it fell short.
The location is also on the other end of the Dart station, so expect a walk. Worth going to see for yourself. Hopefully my experience was only a result of the moment.

Queuing for excellent and cheap crispy fish and hot smooth chips (~EUR7 combo) takeout served by angry and possibly inebriated local women across the age spectrum: what could be more Irish? (There is a small dining room as well but it was closed.)
I have no idea what this place is like during the months of four seasons per day but during a warm summer’s day it is glorious. In that sense my experience probably wasn’t that authentic because it didn’t come with a dose of rainy gloom but I’d still come here under those conditions if I again found myself in Howth.

When my wife and I moved to Howth, the young fellow unloading the truck told us «Caffe Caira has the best bag of chips in town.» That was all he said. The entire sum and substance of his advice to us on leaving us here in Ireland for our first week. Chips it was. Imagine.
Well, it took us a little while to find out where Caffe Caira was, and even longer before we actually went inside and ordered a bag of chips. Ooohhhhh. Now we remember! The guy on the truck! This is what he was talking about. Oh hell yeah. These ARE really good. Not too greasy. Firm, not soggy. I freaking hate soggy chips. Soggy chips are worse than bad sex. Worse. How about that? On the counter at the take away section, there are two big plastic squeeze bottles. One is salt, the other is vinegar. Salt and vinegar, like Justice and Vengance, there to be dealt out in the quantities you see fit, because no one is really watching anyway, so indulge yourself…
These chips are in fact the stuff truck drivers talk about. And the rest of the food is good, take-​away diner food, but to be perfectly honest, it’s the chips I remember most.
Imagine a cold blow and rainy night in Howth. 100km/​hr winds, with the waves breaking OVER the pier. Wind from the east, its icy grip tearing the skin off your skull as it blasts over from England. Even the lifeboat crew would think twice about going out – (well, actually they wouldn’t…) or so it seems. But you, dear friend, found plentiful parking at the foot of the East Pier in Howth, and as you stepped out of your 8-​series BMW, the wonderful aroma of hot oil and chips grabbed you – grabbed you and shook you like a terrier shakes a rat! Oh, Lord, the pain!
So you say, I’ll get some of those chips, and you do. And you have a few, and the hot chips almost, but not quite burn the living hell out of your tongue. But you know, it’s just your own impatience the chips are reminding you of… to really enjoy them, you have to delay gratification. Not used to that, are ye buddy?
So you wait and have a few more, and pretty soon, you’re all warm and wonderful inside from the heat of these chips My god you’re on fire, and loving every minute of it. You say, «Hell, I can walk out on that pier in that wind and wave on the great and wasteful ocean – me and my chips!!» And you know what? You can!
That’s what it’s like for me, all winter in this place. I’m so glad I can go and have a bag of those chips in any storm the gods may summon. Right up to the stroke of midnight.
Caffe Caira. Chips. Jayziz!
Because we can.

Best chipper I’ve found in Dublin. You don’t have to be drunk to eat them! Its worth checking out when you come out to Howth for one of the cliff walks and then reward yourself with a bag of chips!

It’s rare that you get a good bag of chips these days. Even the trendy tourist trap that is Beschoff’s chipper in Howth does not deserve the crown of best chipper in town. If you, like me find things like batter burgers dripping with curry sauce the ultimate in shameful delicacy then try Caffé Caira. Their unapologetically greasy food will fill that need you may well have after a walk around Howth harbour. The décor is dated but who cares for a place like this, it’s clean and well run. On a sunny day, take a short walk down to the harbour, sit and digest.