From UL to UCD, these college restaurants are open to the public
Semesters come and go, students transform from freshers to graduates, but appetites always linger.
Did you know a number of universities around Ireland offer lunch and dinner to the paying public beyond the student body? From fine dining in a palatial mansion in Limerick to Sichuan specialities in UCD, even Trinity College flings open its doors to public diners every weekday with a classic and value-focused lunch menu.
When we were in university over a decade ago, the extent of gourmet cuisine was chicken tenders and chips in the bar or a breakfast roll from the shop deli, but times have certainly changed.
If you fancy delving into the culinary arts, here are six for starters…
East Room at Plassey House, University of Limerick
A fine dining restaurant that belies its university setting, Plassey House is a resplendent Georgian villa — known locally as "The White House" — overlooking the River Shannon, which sits at the heart of the University of Limerick campus just a couple of kilometres from Limerick city centre.
This mansion has been part of UL's footprint since 1970, but dates back 200 years prior to the late 1700s, while The East Room opened to the public in 2017.
The original idea was to root a dazzling fine dining destination in the university's pristine surroundings to help elevate Limerick's gastronomy, with its whimsical and enchanting settings including ornate statues and a grand dining room full of art from the likes of Jack B. Yeats and Paul Henry.
The kitchen is led by Head Chef-Proprietor Derek Fitzpatrick, and the menu reflects the season with lots of Irish produce sprinkled with international flavours and inspiration. The lunch set menu costs €45 per person, while the dinner menu is €75 per person. Book a table via eastroom.ie.
Elsewhere on North campus, over on the Clare side, a family-friendly Sunday roast is served weekly and open to the public at The Pavilion.
Restaurant 1592, Trinity College Dublin
It is estimated that over two million tourists visit Trinity College annually, but how many visitors to the hallowed halls of Ireland's oldest university know you can pre-book a table at the elegant 1592 Restaurant for lunch any weekday?
Titled for the university's founding year under Queen Elizabeth I, the restaurant — now in its 25th year in operation — is open Monday to Friday weekly with service running between 12pm and 3pm (last orders 2pm) for students and non-students alike with a three-course lunch menu followed by tea or coffee a steal at €30 per person (before VAT is added or any optional service).
Given the setting, the menu leans unapologetically classic with starters like Honey Dew Melon with Parma Ham or soup of the day, while mains might take the form of baked Hake with pea purée and tarragon sauce or roast pork belly with apple sauce and a five-spice jus. Finish on classic desserts like a lemon tartlet or crème brûlée.
Located in the heart of the Trinity campus in Dublin city centre, adjacent to the Dining Hall and off the Front Square, the restaurant has been recently renovated for a more contemporary feel and décor while retaining original historical features and the unique collection of art. Bookings are taken via enquiry form.
Academy, Ulster University, Belfast
Academy is Ulster University's state-of-the-art educational hub, which comprises a culinary school, beverage school and a public-facing restaurant on York Street in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter. The space is facilitated by the students to get on-the-job service experience from paying customers whilst also recently being awarded a Green Key by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) for its sustainability and environment-focused practices.
Lunch service takes place between 12.30pm and 2.30pm Monday to Friday weekly, where a three-course lunch sitting averages around. £25 per person.
Expect starters like Confit duck leg or salmon tartar with horseradish and apple; mains of sea bass, fishcake and pok choi in a Thai curry cream or chicken supreme with celeriac, pickled wild mushroom and tenderstem broccoli before desserts such as pear and almond frangipane tart, crème Anglaise or rhubarb Eton mess.
Dinner service runs from 7pm to 8:30pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and on select evenings during the college semester the Culinary Arts Management students create unique tasting menus for special dinners. The space is closed every weekend. Bookings are taken via ResDiary on the restaurant website.
Confucius Institute Restaurant, University College Dublin
Where can you find some of Dublin's most authentic Chinese food? In Belfield of all places where within the Confucius Institute on the campus of Dublin's largest university, UCD, you will find a canteen-style restaurant that's open to the public, not just the student body, serving everything from regional delicacies like hot pot and spicy clay pot dishes to healthier options of steamed fish and even their take on the ubiquitous spice bag.
The restaurateurs behind Hakkahan in Stoneybatter, Nan Chinese near Stephen's Green, China Tang in Monkstown and the pair of Little Dumpling spots on either side of the Liffey in the city centre are also the team behind this unlikely, but very welcome, outpost.
The great value menu changes daily, but expect Sichuan specialities like fuqii feipian (spicy offal), mapo tofu (tofu in a fermented bean and beef sauce), smashed cucumber in chilli and Kung Pao chicken alongside other Cantonese specialities like steamed scallops with ginger and Siu Yuk (red-braised pork belly).
The kitchen runs from 12pm to 8pm, seven days a week, more casual canteen-style in the daytime, but post 5pm you can order whole dishes.
Elsewhere, find a street food container selection at the Gather and Gather-run UCD Walkway with the likes of Chimac, Bombay Pantry and Burritos and Blues.
UCD Village is also home to a new market-style, global-focused food hall — open to the public seven days a week from early breakfast to late dinner — with a range of street food and casual dining options.
Expect mammy-style roasts at Blasta, smashburgers and wings at Mikeys, toasties at MELT Toastie Bar and Hong Kong-style barbecue at Bullet, which is another outlet from the same Hakkahan-Nan-China Tang team.
Find two public-facing restaurants in the Grangegorman campus of TU Dublin, the Ballymaguire Foods restaurant and the Musgrave Marketplace restaurant, both in the Central Quad Building, while over in the Tallaght Campus, visitors will find the Scholars restaurant within the Main Building on the ground floor. Students from the courses in Culinary Arts, Hospitality Management.
These student-led training spaces are really classrooms in action under the guise of a restaurant, where the lecturers stress the primary objective is to facilitate student learning while offering the public the opportunity to pre-book a lunch or dinner service.
Lunch tickets cost between €20 and €30 per person while dinner tickets run from €35 to €45 per person. Timings dovetail to term time so when semesters are not in session these are not run and bookings open annually to coincide with classes resuming from September onwards.
Pop-Ups at DKIT
In Louth at Dundalk Institute of Technology, the DkIT Culinary Arts, Event Management, and Hospitality Management students have run special weekend pop-ups in both March 2024 and 2025, most recently hosting seven-course tasting dinners and Bridgerton-inspired afternoon teas. One to watch for March 2026, keep an eye on their Instagram for more details.
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