"What's your favourite restaurant?" is a question food writers are asked regularly. We reveal our new top 100 here. But what about our favourite dishes? We're answering that question in this series. Today: vegetarian dishes. Here are the ones that Lisa Cope, Ali Dunworth and I will travel for, and will order regardless of what else is on the menu.
Salad bowl at Tang
€7.50; 23C Dawson Street, Dublin 2, and 9a Abbey Street Lower, Dublin 1; 01-8733672; tang.ie
There is so much that I love about this small, affordable cafe which makes getting your five a day (perhaps even seven) so much easier. The daily salads are chalked on a blackboard, three for €7.50, with beetroot hummus and tzatziki, and you can add Lebanese beans for an additional €2.25. Or you can get all of that goodness wrapped in a flatbread. Corinna Hardgrave
Cauliflower wings at Vish Shop
€8, Vish Shop, 1 Blessington Street, Dublin 7; 01-5582938; vish.shop
I know, I know, cauliflower doesn't have "wings", but this dish is less about the wings and more about re-creating that unctuous southern-US buffalo-wing flavour. These plant-based "wings" certainly do that. Chunky cauliflower florets are panko crusted, fried and then coated with a smokey barbecue sauce with just the right amount of chilli, topped with mustard aioli and diced pineapple. I would choose these over chicken wings any day. Ali Dunworth
Plum and tarragon terrine at Glas
Starter as part of a three-course dinner for €44, 15/16 Chatham Street, Dublin 2; 01-672 4534; glasrestaurant.ie
Glas has taken vegetarian food out of the doldrums of gloopy soups and sad stews, and given vegetables the same attention that a wagyu steak or whole turbot might get. You would swear there is meat in their plum and tarragon terrine (the clever addition of jackfruit), and every dish will make you see the star vegetable in a new light. Barbecued celeriac, flamed kohlrabi, confit radishes – it's all original, inventive and delicious, and the plating is as beautiful as at any Michelin-starred restaurant. Lisa Cope
