Nowhere gets on this list of Ireland's best vegetarian restaurants – part of our 100 best restaurants, cafes and places to eat in Ireland 2018 – through anything other than a commitment to great food. These are the places we have loved, that made us swoon, grin, relax, and feel hopeful, awed and, above all else, happy.
We've marked this year's newcomers and used a € to flag every place that serves a main course for less than €15.
The Happy Pear Café € NEW
The only Dublin branch of this Greystones-born operation, the Clondalkin Pear is a great spot. The cafe is the heart of the beautiful Round Tower visitor centre and garden. They're on a mission to beguile you into a more plant-based diet with an onslaught of cheerful optimism. But you won't notice any of that philosophy, because the food isn't just vegetarian (and a lot of it vegan); it's very tasty too. CC
The Happy Pear, Round Tower centre, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, thehappypear.ie/food-craft/clondalkin
Iyer's Cork €
The bad old days when vegetarian food tasted of brownness and denial are entirely absent in this wonderful Cork city cafe. Gautham Iyer posts pictures on social media of lush patches of wild garlic and then turns it into spinach masala in his brilliant vegan cafe. CC
Iyer's, 38 Popes Quay, Cork, 087-6409079, facebook.com/iyerscafe
Paradiso
Sometimes the rest of the world falls into step with the trailblazers, and Paradiso is a restaurant where that feels as if it's beginning to happen. When it opened, a quarter of a century ago, this vegetarian restaurant was an oddity. Now it's a veteran of an Irish food scene where the mark of a good place is becoming the ability to make vegetables feel like a treat. CC
Paradiso, 16 Lancaster Quay, Cork, 021-4277939, paradiso.restaurant
Sweet Beat Cafe
You can eat a truly unhealthy vegan diet of processed crap or you can go down the Sweet Beat path, cooking food from scratch and bringing flavours and vegetables to a new level. This gorgeous cafe in Sligo town is an inspiring place to eat. It's vegan, but you could eat there quite happily and not notice that fact. CC
Sweet Beat Cafe, Bridge Street, Sligo, 071-9138795, sweetbeat.ie
