Restaurant in Dublin, Ireland
Small room, Michelin star, no menu choice.

Variety Jones holds a Michelin star, the top Star Wine List ranking in Ireland, and a spot in the Sunday Times Ireland's 100 Best Restaurants for 2025 — all earned since 2024. The six-course Chef's Choice menu changes monthly, cooked over open fire in a small, informal room in the Liberties. Open Wednesday to Saturday evenings only. Book several weeks ahead.
Variety Jones is the right call for a couple or small group who want a genuinely personal dining experience at the leading of Dublin's independent restaurant tier. If your evening calls for a Michelin-starred meal in a room that feels nothing like a formal Michelin-starred room, this is the booking to make. It earned its star in 2024, landed the number one spot on Star Wine List Ireland the same year, and appeared in The Sunday Times Ireland's 100 Best Restaurants for 2025 — so the credentials are current and stacking up. Book Wednesday through Saturday, 5 PM to 10 PM, because those are your only windows: the restaurant is closed Monday, Tuesday, and Sunday.
From the moment you walk into the long, narrow space on Thomas Street in the Liberties, you can see the shape of the evening ahead. The open kitchen is right there , no partition, no theatre curtain. Chef-owner Keelan Higgs works at it calmly, visible throughout your meal, cooking over open fire alongside a small team. The room carries a funky, informal energy that sits at odds with the price point in the leading possible way: this is €€€€ pricing in a space that feels closer to a neighbourhood favourite than a special-occasion set piece. For a first-timer, that contrast is the thing to understand going in. You are not walking into white tablecloths and hushed reverence. You are walking into a tight, characterful room where the service is run by Aaron Higgs and a laid-back team who treat the formality dial as permanently set to relaxed.
The format is a six-course Chef's Choice menu divided into Snacks, Cold, Warm, Pasta, Mains, and Finish. There is no à la carte. You eat what Keelan is cooking that night, and because open-fire cooking is central to the kitchen's approach, no two visits will produce an identical plate. The menu changes monthly, built around mostly organic produce. The wine list changes at the same pace , monthly, mostly organic, passionately compiled according to the restaurant's own description , and the Star Wine List recognition suggests this is not a token gesture. The wine programme here is a genuine reason to visit, not an afterthought.
This question has a simple answer: there is no lunch at Variety Jones. The restaurant opens at 5 PM Wednesday through Saturday and closes Sunday through Tuesday entirely. For first-timers hoping to try a tasting-menu lunch as a lower-stakes or lower-cost entry point, this is not the venue for it. Your visit will be an evening commitment at full €€€€ pricing. That narrows the occasion profile: this is dinner, full stop. If you are comparing evening tasting-menu options in Dublin and want a lunchtime alternative in the same quality tier, Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen and Glovers Alley both offer lunch sittings at Michelin level and are worth checking if daytime works better for your schedule.
Within the dinner format, arriving earlier in the service , at or near 5 PM , gives you the room at its quietest and the kitchen at its freshest. The open-fire cooking means the room gains warmth and atmosphere as the evening progresses, but for a first visit, an earlier table lets you see the kitchen at work without the full noise of a packed room around you.
Getting a table at Variety Jones is genuinely difficult. The restaurant is small, the format is chef's-choice-only, and the combination of a Michelin star, a leading wine list ranking, and a Sunday Times listing in the same twelve-month window has made it one of Dublin's harder reservations. Plan for a booking lead time of several weeks at minimum, and check availability across all four service nights (Wednesday through Saturday) rather than holding out for a specific evening. No booking method, phone number, or website is confirmed in current data, so check the restaurant's direct channels or third-party reservation platforms to find the current booking route. Showing up without a reservation is not a practical strategy given the room size.
See the comparison section below for how Variety Jones sits against Dublin's peer venues.
If you are planning a broader trip around Ireland's starred restaurant circuit, Variety Jones sits in strong company. Liath in Blackrock and Aniar in Galway share a similar commitment to Irish produce and chef-driven tasting formats. dede in Baltimore, Bastion in Kinsale, Campagne in Kilkenny, and Terre in Castlemartyr round out a serious Irish starred circuit worth planning around if you have the time. Back in Dublin, allta, Amy Austin, and D'Olier Street represent the broader scene worth knowing. For the full picture, our Dublin restaurants guide, Dublin hotels guide, Dublin bars guide, Dublin wineries guide, and Dublin experiences guide cover the rest. For reference points outside Ireland, Frantzén in Stockholm and FZN by Björn Frantzén in Dubai represent what the open-fire tasting-menu format looks like at its most elaborated international expression.
Book Variety Jones if you want a Michelin-starred tasting menu that does not perform formality, a wine list that earns its own separate recognition, and a kitchen that changes what it cooks every month over an open fire. The Google rating of 4.7 across 484 reviews suggests the experience consistently lands. The room is small, the booking is hard, and dinner is the only option , but for the right occasion and the right diner, it is one of Dublin's most compelling evenings at this price tier.
Quick reference: Michelin 1 Star (2024) | Star Wine List #1 Ireland (2024) | Sunday Times Ireland 100 Best Restaurants (2025) | Google 4.7/5 (484 reviews) | €€€€ | Wed–Sat, 5 PM–10 PM only | Hard to book , reserve weeks in advance.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Variety Jones | Variety Jones is a restaurant in Dublin, Ireland. It was published on Star Wine List on September 18, 2024 and is a White Star.; You’ll find charming chef-owner Keelan Higgs working calmly in the open kitchen of this tiny restaurant. The long, narrow room has a funky style and the relaxed atmosphere is helped along by brother Aaron and the laid-back service team. Highly original yet unfussy dishes burst with freshness and flavour, and many are cooked over the open fire; Keelan loves this concept, as no two dishes will ever be exactly the same. The 6 course ‘Chef’s Choice’ menu is divided into Snacks, Cold, Warm, Pasta, Mains and Finish, and the monthly changing, mostly organic wine list is passionately compiled.; You’ll find charming chef-owner Keelan Higgs working calmly in the open kitchen of this tiny restaurant. The long, narrow room has a funky style and the relaxed atmosphere is helped along by brother Aaron and the laid-back service team. Highly original yet unfussy dishes burst with freshness and flavour, and many are cooked over the open fire; Keelan loves this concept, as no two dishes will ever be exactly the same. The 6 course ‘Chef’s Choice’ menu is divided into Snacks, Cold, Warm, Pasta, Mains and Finish, and the monthly changing, mostly organic wine list is passionately compiled.; The Sunday Times Ireland’s 100 Best Restaurants (2025); Star Wine List #1 (2024); Michelin 1 Star (2024) | €€€€ | — |
| Patrick Guilbaud | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
| Bastible | Michelin 1 Star | €€€€ | — |
| Host | €€ | — | |
| mae | €€€ | — | |
| Matsukawa | €€€€ | — |
A quick look at how Variety Jones measures up.
There is no ordering decision to make. Variety Jones runs a single 6-course Chef's Choice menu covering Snacks, Cold, Warm, Pasta, Mains, and Finish — that is the only format available. The menu changes regularly and much of it is cooked over an open fire, so no two visits produce exactly the same dishes. If you want to choose your own dishes, this is the wrong restaurant.
Yes, provided the occasion suits an intimate, relaxed setting rather than a formal one. The room is small and narrow, the service is laid-back (run by chef-owner Keelan Higgs's brother Aaron), and the atmosphere is deliberately unfussy despite the Michelin Star. It is better suited to a dinner for two or a small group than a large celebratory party. For more formal occasion dining in Dublin, Patrick Guilbaud is the comparison to consider.
The open kitchen format and narrow room make solo dining workable — you can watch Keelan Higgs cook throughout the meal. That said, the restaurant is tiny and tables fill quickly, so booking ahead is essential regardless of party size. The 6-course Chef's Choice menu is priced at €€€€, which is a meaningful solo spend, but the format is engaging enough to justify it if you are comfortable with tasting menus alone.
Dinner only. Variety Jones opens at 5 PM Wednesday through Saturday and is closed Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. There is no lunch service. If you are planning a visit, Wednesday through Saturday evenings are your only options.
Only small groups. The restaurant is described as tiny with a long, narrow room, and the format is a set Chef's Choice menu for everyone at the table. Large parties or groups expecting flexibility on dietary formats will find the constraints difficult. For group dining in Dublin with more logistical headroom, Bastible or Host are more practical alternatives.
At €€€€ for a 6-course tasting menu with a Michelin Star (2024), a Sunday Times Ireland Top 100 (2025) ranking, and a wine list that earned a Star Wine List #1 recognition (2024), the price is in line with what the credentials justify. The value case is strongest if you are specifically after open-fire cooking, an organically focused wine list, and a personal rather than formal dining experience. If you want more conventional fine dining for the same spend, Patrick Guilbaud is the alternative.
Book well in advance — the combination of a Michelin Star, a tiny room, and a Wednesday-to-Saturday schedule makes availability tight. You will not choose your food: the 6-course Chef's Choice menu is the only option, and no two visits are identical because much of the cooking happens over an open fire. The atmosphere is relaxed and personal, not formal, and the wine list is a serious draw in its own right — Star Wine List ranked it number one in Ireland in 2024.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.