Eating in Dungarvan: How a Town This Size Got This Good

Dungarvan eats far better than a harbour town of around 9,000 people has any right to, and most of the credit traces back to one restaurant and the cooks it trained. If you are planning a trip here around food, here is how the town fits together.

The Tannery, and why it matters

The Tannery, at 10 Quay Street, is the restaurant that started it. Chef Paul Flynn and his wife Máire opened it in 1997 in a converted leather tannery, and it became one of the most respected restaurants in Ireland over the years. Flynn himself learned to cook locally: he did a training stint as a teenager in Merry's here in Dungarvan, then went on to work in serious London kitchens before coming home. The Tannery runs as a restaurant, a townhouse for staying over, and a cookery school.

One important thing to know if you are travelling specifically to eat here: 2026 is the Tannery's final full year as a restaurant, with last restaurant service scheduled around the start of January 2027, after which it continues as a seasonal townhouse and cookery school. If eating at Flynn's table is on your list, this is the year to do it, and you should book well ahead. Check the restaurant directly for current opening days, as a place in its last year tends to fill up.

The pubs and the gastropub end of things

Merry's, the pub where Paul Flynn first learned to cook, is still going, set in a historic building in what locals half-jokingly call the Georgian quarter. It does proper pub food: expect things like a beef burger and beer-battered cod fried in Dungarvan Brewing Company beer, the kind of menu that pairs a day on the Greenway with a pint. It sits a short cycle from the trail, which is no accident. Dungarvan has a good run of traditional pubs generally, and on a weekend you will find music in several of them.

A town with its own brewery

The Dungarvan Brewing Company is the town's craft brewery, and you will see its beers on tap and in bottle around the area, including battered into the fish at Merry's. They run tours and tastings by enquiry, so it is worth checking what is on while you are in town. A pint of something brewed a few streets away is the right way to end a day here. One practical warning: the brewery's correct website is dungarvanbrew.com; an old similarly-named domain now redirects to an unrelated gambling site, so go straight to dungarvanbrew.com.

The Thursday market and the April festival

Two fixtures anchor the food calendar. The first is the weekly farmers market in Grattan Square, every Thursday, roughly 9:30 to 14:00, where you can buy from local producers directly in the middle of the Georgian square: Barron's Bakery breads, Knockalara sheep's cheese, free-range eggs, honey from An Rinn. The second is the big one: the Waterford Festival of Food, held in Dungarvan and west Waterford every April, with over 150 events across a long weekend. In 2026 it runs around 24 to 26 April. On the Sunday, Grattan Square is given over entirely to what the organisers bill as one of the largest outdoor food markets in Ireland, with dozens of producers, a stage, and music all day. If you can time a visit to that weekend, do; if you cannot, the Thursday market is the everyday version of the same idea. Check festival dates and the programme before you build a trip around it, as the schedule is confirmed fresh each year.

How to plan a food day

The town centre is small and walkable, so you do not need a car to eat well here. A good rhythm: the Thursday market in the morning for picnic supplies, lunch in one of the square's cafes or pubs, an afternoon on the Greenway to earn your dinner, and an evening table booked in advance. Reservations matter more than the town's size suggests, especially in summer, at weekends, and over the food festival, so book ahead rather than chancing a walk-in.