The connection between Ireland and Spain runs deep and long. Our growing appreciation for Spanish food and wine reflects centuries of importing fine Spanish fare to these shores via ancient ports like Galway, with its famed Spanish Arch, as well as decades of holidaying to discover the regional diversity of landscapes, people and culture that Spain offers.
Spain has continued to help us Irish expand our gastronomic horizons, from exploring Seville’s tapas trails or Basque pintxos to adopting the wines of Rioja or Rías Baixas as our go-to tipples.
Now, thanks to two international quality certifications, food and wine lovers can seek out the best of authentic Spanish gastronomy and produce at home in Ireland.
Restaurants from Spain and Colmados from Spain are two international certification programmes under Foods and Wines from Spain, the international food and gastronomy brand of ICEX, Spain’s government agency for trade and investment.
RM Block
Six restaurants in Ireland currently enjoy the seal of approval that comes from a Restaurants from Spain listing. This quality recognition cannot be paid for but comes after a detailed assessment of rigorous criteria to ensure an authentic culinary offering featuring genuine Spanish ingredients, wines and beverages.
The second seal to look for is Colmados from Spain, which indicates grocers and online retailers where customers can source premium Spanish food and wine products with a trusted guarantee of authenticity and quality.
These certifications are overseen by ICEX Spain Trade and Investment, who also run the annual Eat Spain Drink Spain Ireland 2026 campaign. Running nationwide this year from September 11th–27th, this celebration of Spanish food and wine will bring consumer events and tastings, special menus and in-store promotions to venues across Ireland, including some Restaurants from Spain and Colmados from Spain certified establishments.
Restaurants from Spain
Las Tapas de Lola
12 Wexford Street, Dublin 2
Las Tapas de Lola was set up by co-owners Anna Cabrera and Vanessa Murphy in 2013 to celebrate their Spanish-Irish partnership and mutual love for both cultures. Las Tapas De Lola is a buzzy Dublin spot to gather with friends and family for authentic tapas. Think Cantabrian anchovies, cured tuna from Cádiz or Galician style octopus. Or for carnivores - albóndigas (meatballs), marinated pig cheeks or pan-fried Navarran sausage. Look out for their special vermutillo menu that pops up regularly, featuring Spanish vermouth with conservas of razor clams, mussels, cockles and the like, typically served before a long lunch in Anna’s hometown of Badalona, Barcelona.
La Gordita
6 Montague St, Dublin 2
Opened in 2023, and sister to Las Tapas de Lola, La Gordita is all about small plates, sharing dishes and big flavours. Co-owners Anna and Vanessa’s favourite past-time is sourcing incredible products from all over Spain. In La Gordita, you can enjoy sharing platters of rib-eye on the bone, whole fish baked in salt or Spain’s beloved rice dishes. Or simply order waves of small plates, from their classic house gildas to the finest hand-filleted, salted, cured anchovies served with Valdeón blue cheese butter or other regional treats like Salamanca’s acorn-fed jamón ibérico, black pudding from Burgos with caramelised piquillo peppers, garlicky gambas from Catalunya, cured smoked pork belly from Barcelona or a traditional Andalucian tapa of lightly battered fresh cod with their house allioli. Top it all off with an extensive Spanish sherry and wine selection.
Cava Bodega
Middle St, Galway
There’s a creative twist to the 70 regional Spanish tapas offerings at this long-running tapas restaurant (established in 2008) that hints at co-owner JP McMahon’s status as one of Ireland’s most innovative fine-dining chef-restaurateurs, with sister restaurant Aniar pushing the boundaries of terroir-driven Irish food. Pinchos of black pudding and panceta iberica are elevated with a little saffron mayonnaise; a pica of pork crackling with some mushroom salt; a salad of courgette and tomato with elderflower; or a salad of beef cheek and favas with smoked yoghurt. But at its heart, the menu and the cookbook it inspired are love letters to authentic Spanish gastronomy, complete with a daily changing paella marinera and an excellent selection of Spanish wine, sherry and beers.
The Port House tapas bars
Various locations in Dublin
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, what began in 2006 as a tiny intimate cave of a tapas restaurant on Dublin’s South William Street has expanded to three restaurants, with sister spots in Temple Bar and Dundrum. Open from breakfast through a speedy lunchtime offering where diners can enjoy two tapas for €14.95. The true experience is best enjoyed with a leisurely evening exploration of their extensive menu of tapas and Basque pintxos. Start with a sangria or port and tonic before a deep dive into their range of Spanish wines, sherries, and ports, many of them served by the glass for easy pairing.
Colmados from Spain
Fallon & Byrne
Exchequer St, Dublin 2
This bright and breezy food hall is the place to source the finest gourmet ingredients, whether you’re looking for regional delicacies like the sweetest, plumpest Cantabrian cured anchovies, or hard-to-find Spanish rarities like traditional almond nougat, short-grain rice for an authentic paella, or first-day-of-harvest Arbequina olive oil from Castillo de Canena, consistently rated the best olive oil producers in the world. The team here work hard to seek out producers such as FoieGood and Ibericos Montellano who value ethical production and animal welfare as much as gastronomic quality, as well as importing directly from Spanish wineries.
Vera Foods
From Instituto Cervantes to some of the best restaurants, wine bars, wine shops and grocers around the country, a quick scroll through the stockists of this wholesaler importer gives you a sense of their impeccable standards. You’ll meet owners Damian and Jenny with a selection of bestsellers at many regular markets but you can also now buy online from their full range, which includes chilled gazpachos, La Lola pistachios from Toledo, Quillo crisps in myriad flavours, La Bomba D.O. Valencian Paella Rice, Guadalajaran lavender honey, D.O.P Vinagre de Jerez made using the Solera System and Ines Rosales individually wrapped tortas – plus all sorts of olives and picky bits, cured chorizo, Iberian charcuterie and seafood conservas.
Heart of Spain Market
Since 2017, this family-run business has been carefully curating and speedily delivering premium hampers from Castilla y León at the heart of Spain to food-lovers in Ireland who value supporting generational food producers and preserving traditional artisanal methods and gastronomic heritage.
The deal is simple: choose one of the many hampers on offer to be delivered to an Irish address in three business days. Think figs in brandy, sweet roasted peppers, sheep’s cheese with paprika flakes, wholegrain breadsticks, pickled pheasant, confit suckling pig and many other lesser-spotted delights.
Many of Ireland’s Restaurants from Spain and Colmados from Spain certified establishments will take part in Eat Spain Drink Spain, running nationwide from September 11th to 27th. With special menus, tastings and promotions taking place throughout the campaign, it’s the perfect time to discover – or revisit – these certified destinations for authentic Spanish food and wine.
To discover the full programme of events and participating restaurants and shops, visit the Eat Drink Spain Ireland website. See certified establishments worldwide at foodswinesfromspain.com
