Restaurant in Dublin, Ireland
Serious French cooking, surprisingly easy to book.
Forêt earned its place on the Sunday Times Ireland 2025 100 Best Restaurants list with serious French bistro cooking above a Dublin 4 pub. The team behind Forest Avenue next door brings genuine technique to a menu of pâté, rillettes, and precise tart work. Book for Sunday service if you can — it is the right format for this kind of food.
If you want French cooking in Dublin's Southside, the instinct might be to head straight to Patrick Guilbaud on Merrion Street and pay for the full white-tablecloth experience. Forêt is the more interesting argument against that reflex. Sitting above M. O'Brien's pub on Leeson Street Upper, it delivers the kind of cooking — pâté, rillettes, vin jaune, au poivre — that reads like a French bistro menu and delivers on that promise with genuine skill and produce quality. The Sunday Times Ireland named it one of Ireland's 100 Best Restaurants in 2025, which is the credential you need to take it seriously as a destination rather than a neighbourhood convenience.
The address is part of the story. You are, literally, above a pub in Dublin 4, and the room carries that context: this is not a cavernous hotel dining room or a design-forward tasting-menu space. It is contained and intimate, which makes it a better fit for two or a small group than for a party of eight looking for theatre. The team behind Forest Avenue next door runs the kitchen, so the cooking has a clear pedigree without the room needing to signal it through décor. If you want visual drama, look elsewhere. If you want a room where the food does the talking, the scale works in your favour.
The editorial angle here is worth making explicit. Forêt's French bistro format translates particularly well to weekend daytime visits. A menu that leans on pâté, rillettes, and tart cookery is well-suited to late-morning or midday eating , these are dishes built on technique and produce rather than drama, which means they hold up as well at noon as they do at eight in the evening. The tomato tart with piperade, noted specifically in the Sunday Times Ireland recognition, is cited as a prime example: direct in concept, precise in execution, and genuinely flavour-dense rather than plate-decorating. That kind of cooking rewards the unhurried pace of a Sunday visit rather than requiring the performance context of a dinner out.
For weekend brunch specifically in Dublin 4, Forêt has few direct French-format competitors at this level. The combination of a bistro-register menu, the Forest Avenue kitchen team's track record, and the 2025 Sunday Times Ireland recognition makes it the most defensible choice in this part of the city if French technique is what you are after on a weekend morning.
The awards data points explicitly to the tomato tart with piperade as the dish to order. Beyond that, the menu language , rillettes, vin jaune preparations, au poivre execution , tells you this kitchen is working classical French references rather than chasing trends. Order accordingly: lean into the charcuterie and the technique-led dishes rather than treating it as a general European bistro. The wine list, given the vin jaune reference, is likely to reward attention if you drink with lunch or dinner.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy. Given the venue's 2025 Sunday Times Ireland profile and its position as one of a relatively small number of serious French kitchens in Dublin, that may not hold permanently , particularly for prime Sunday slots. Book ahead for weekend visits; weekday lunch is likely more flexible. No online booking details are available in the current record, so contact via their address at 8/9 Sussex Terrace, Leeson Street Upper, Dublin 4, or check for updates directly.
Quick reference: Forêt, above M. O'Brien's pub, 8/9 Sussex Terrace, Leeson Street Upper, Dublin 4. Easy to book; advance reservation recommended for Sunday service.
If you are making a trip specifically around eating, Forêt fits naturally alongside a wider Ireland itinerary that could include Liath in Blackrock, Aniar in Galway, Campagne in Kilkenny, Bastion in Kinsale, Terre in Castlemartyr, and dede in Baltimore. Within Dublin itself, it sits in a different register from Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen, Glovers Alley, and D'Olier Street , those are tasting-menu or fine-dining formats; Forêt is the bistro alternative that earns its place on merit rather than by default.
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| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forêt | Easy | ||
| Patrick Guilbaud | Irish - French, Modern French | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Bastible | Modern Irish, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Host | Nordic , Modern Cuisine | €€ | Unknown |
| mae | Southern, Modern Cuisine | €€€ | Unknown |
| Matsukawa | Kaiseki, Japanese | €€€€ | Unknown |
A quick look at how Forêt measures up.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy, so you are unlikely to need more than a week's notice for most sittings. That said, following the venue's inclusion in the Sunday Times Ireland's 100 Best Restaurants 2025, weekend slots will fill faster than they used to. Book a few days out for weeknight visits and at least a week ahead for weekend brunch or dinner.
The tomato tart with piperade is the dish cited directly in the awards recognition — order it. Beyond that, the menu signals classic French bistro territory: rillettes, pâté, vin jaune preparations, and au poivre sauces. Follow the French-language signposts on the menu and you will be on the right track.
The menu is rooted in classical French bistro cooking, which leans heavily on meat, fish, and dairy. There is nothing in the available venue data to confirm dedicated vegetarian, vegan, or allergen menus. If dietary requirements are a concern, check the venue's official channels before booking — the address is 8/9 Sussex Terrace, Dublin 4 for written enquiries.
For a bigger-budget French experience with Michelin credibility, Patrick Guilbaud is the obvious comparison. If you want something closer in ambition and price but with a broader modern-Irish focus, Bastible on Leonard's Corner is worth considering. Host and mae both offer tighter, more contemporary Irish-led cooking if French bistro format is not the priority.
Yes, with the right expectations. The setting is a first-floor room above a pub rather than a formal dining room, so it suits a relaxed celebration over a stiff one. The cooking — awarded a place in the Sunday Times Ireland's 100 Best Restaurants 2025 — is serious enough to carry a birthday dinner or anniversary lunch, particularly if the group appreciates French bistro cooking.
The address is slightly counterintuitive: you are walking into a pub entrance on Sussex Terrace and heading upstairs. The team behind Forest Avenue next door runs the kitchen, which gives it a track record beyond a standalone debut. The menu reads classically French — pâté, rillettes, vin jaune — so arrive expecting bistro, not brasserie.
There is no confirmed bar-seating arrangement in the available venue data. Given the first-floor format above M. O'Brien's pub, the ground-floor bar is a separate operation. Check directly with Forêt when booking if bar or counter seating matters to your visit.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
