2 Jul 2020 new opening times and menu format read more…
The Paradiso dining room is open again and for the foreseeable future we will be operating within health guidelines and according to best practice regarding table distancing, single use menus, cleaning and sanitising. Because of the reduced seating capacity this imposes, we will be open for dinner on only five days per week - Tuesday to Saturday - and we will be offering just one menu of three courses priced at €48. Our lower priced pre-theatre menu is suspended until the seating capacity fo the restaurant returns to pre-Covid levels.
Maximum table size is 4 people.
Please note that, due to the size and nature of the dining room, we cannot accommodate infants and small children.
About Paradiso
First opened in October 1993, Paradiso has long attracted international acclaim for the innovative and groundbreaking vegetable cuisine of Denis Cotter, founder and executive chef. With its emphasis on rich, complex flavours and a focus on seasonal ingredients, the Paradiso kitchen delivers an exciting and pleasurable dining experience while putting vegetables front and centre. This unique food is matched by a carefully curated list of wines, all open and available in four measures.
Now something of an iconic institution in the Cork dining scene and the wider Irish food culture, Paradiso is operated by co-owners Denis Cotter and Ger O’Toole. It continues to evolve and develop, working with local farmers and cheesemakers to allow a strong supply of local produce to influence the seasonal menus. In particular, the kitchen works closely with Ultan Walsh of Gort-Na-Nain Farm near Nohoval, south of the city.
Four acclaimed cookbooks by Denis Cotter are available from the Paradiso online shop and in the restaurant. Denis also has extensive experience in teaching, writing and food consultancy.
Refurbished in 2009 — not once but twice due to the massive flooding of the western end of the city — the intimate dining room retains much of the comfortably warm feel of the original cafe style, designed to emphasise the effect of placing high quality food and wine service in a casual, relaxed setting; an idea that happily seems to be taking root again in the wider restaurant scene.
Over the restaurant, two spacious guestrooms are available as part of a dinner/stay package. In a city as rainy as Cork, you simply cannot exaggerate the pleasure of skipping upstairs to bed after dinner over traipsing off down the street.
Denis Cotter — executive chef
Dave O'Mahony — manager
Meadhbh Halton - head chef