How Do You Rate Café's In Dublin City?

WetDaddy

Any particular suggestions? Always like spending time in café's, moreso than pubs, although I'm not a French poet or a Drama student...

I have a bunch of haunts myself (Kaffe Moka near Stephen's Green SC; Gloria Jean's just off South William St. & Grafton St; Coffee Society on Liffey St...)

Just wondering where everyone goes and why...

Rate it for the coffee, but also the atmosphere and comfort!

Nala

O'Brien's on Liffey St do the best cappuccinos ever.There's a place upstairs above a newsagent's on Grafton St.Haven't tried the coffee but it's a nice place and great 4 people-watching!

magpie

They're nearly all ****e "Central Perk" wannabe bungholes, with overpriced coffee and terrible food.

What we need are some French-style cafes: i.e. somewhere you can get coffee, a glass of wine, a beer, decent food etc all under the one roof.

Johnny Versace

I love cafes myself...

I go to Sufi's (beside Capital bar), Cafe Rio and Nude.

fitz

Originally posted by neev
O'Brien's on Liffey St do the best cappuccinos ever.

You've never been to Italy then...
I've only ever had a handful of good cappuccinos in this country.
If it comes in a large cup, it's not cappuccino.
Coffee in this country is generally awful.

WetDaddy

Hmmmm... Having been to Italy and experienced the coffee there too (to say "tasted" is to do it an injustice!), I would be inclined to agree.

But then, a big cup of coffee in the morning to warm you up on the walk up to work is very different to a genuine Italian espresso. I don't really think you can compare them.

Magpie, Kaffe Moka does coffee, food and wine too. And the food is actually quite nice (just ate there a few hours ago myself!)... They do 2 pizzas and a bottle of wine for €29.95, which is pretty good.

Thing is though, I think if they started serving beer it might just turn into a place where people actually get drunk and rowdy, instead of tipsy and relaxed

Of course, that would only ever happen in this country with our drinking culture. Shame.

Actually, what is the story with licensing laws? Can you get a wine license when serving food and wine, but you can't serve beer? I'm not really up to speed on these things...

magpie

Deathfunk, thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out.

Though for wine, pizza, beer and italian coffee it's got to be Pizza Stop off Chatham Street. Dirt cheap, delicious, red & white tablecloths and italian staff. Proper! (I don't rate Steps of Rome much)

BendiBus

The new Steps of Rome does a top class espresso and a very drinkable house red. Food is fine too.

MiCr0

la corte does the best italian coffee and food in the city...
more than likely the country........

dudara

Is La Corte the cafe in the Epicurean, because I think that does just about the nicest coffee in the country.

I spent the last 4 days in England near Birmingham and Coventry and I couldn't get a decent cup of coffee anywhere

Tazz T

I'm with Magpie. The gov were going on about introducing licences for cafes to encourage sensible continental style drinking, but it seems very slow in coming in.

robbie1876

i'll second magpie's suggestion of Pizza Stop. Fantastic place, great food and staff, wine is reasonably priced too. I would kill for their chilli oil!

ArthurG

Groan.... Gloria Jean's should be wiped off the face of the earth for crimes against coffee beans....

For what its worth, I reckon one of the best cappucinos in a city of poor imitators is to be got from that place Bar Italia or whatever its called, there on the corner just down from Parliament street. And that cafe/restaurant in the Powerscourt centre, not sure of the name, on the ground floor, do fantastic hot chocolate.

As for O'Briens..... shudder.

BendiBus

Anyone tried the new cafe on the new pedestrian street at the Millennium Bridge? Or the wine bar for that matter? I think a new Bar Italia is about to open there too.

Mick Wallace the builder owns the whole place and has retained the retail outlets himself. As he's a huge fan of all things Italian, I suspect this will be THE place to get your espressos & cappuccions from now on.

Third_Echelon

i've always liked 'joy of coffee' in temple bar across the road from milano's... staff are nice and there's a nice atmosphere in there...

Skr4wny

I love Il Caffe Di Napoli on pearse street, they do lovely coffee, they do some lovely pannins for lunch Spanish Chorizo, sundried tomatoes and swiss cheese....mmmm....I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

WetDaddy

Upon MiCr0's recommendation (and others' support) I went for a coffee in La Corte on Thursday.

The very first thing that struck me about the place is how "Italian" it was. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not slating Italians / Italy (my ex is from Venice!), but for example there was no queue, just a free for all with the customers all fighting for the staff's attention.

The staff didn't make any effort to make a queue, and were their usual "not-quite-as-friendly-as-we're-used-to" Italian selves. But I'm not complaining, I actually found this kind of endearing.

The part I didn't like, however, was this: I ordered a large mocha. It's a small place, so I could see the guy making the coffee. After he'd heated the milk, he went to get a take-away cup from on top of the coffee machine. Typically, 2 of the cardboard cups stuck together (as they tend to do) so now he had a jug of hot milk in one hand and 2 cardboard cups together.

So what did he do next? Put down the jug of milk and pull apart the two cups? Pour the milk into the cups and then remove the bottom one? Oh Heavens, No! Nothing like that.

What he did was use his mouth to take the top cup away, poured my coffee into it, and gave it to me.

All inches from my face

To be honest, this doesn't bother me too much. It bother's me enough to mention it on boards, but not enough for me to complain on the day. I still drank the coffee anyway, by the way.

I've had a nasty chest & throat infection for the past 5 weeks, so I really wish what happened happened the other way around...

And, for the record, the coffee was damn good. Even if he put sweet F.A. chocolate in it.

Skr4wny

Where abouts are Cafe Moka and La Corte??

WetDaddy

Both Kaffe Moka and La Corte are in The Epicurian Food Hall (or is that Centre?), which is on Liffey St, just up from Spar.

There's also a Kaffe Moka on South William St, just up by Stephen's Green Shopping Centre and near The Hairy Lemon.

On a totally unrelated note, Hilary Duff's new single is on the radio and it makes me angry.


-S

Skr4wny

Hmmm Liffey St is a bit far to go for lunch from work but must check out Kaffe Moka on South William St. Cheers.

Also anyone recommend a coffee to buy for at home, normally get the bewleys stuff for the plunger but is there any nicer stuff around I should be getting??

The Brigadier

Il Corte is the best without a doubt. They use Palombini beans from Rome which are fantastic.

Sleepy

Are there any decent Café's that don't charge the earth though? The price of a coffee and slice of cake or whatever is ridiculous in this country!

WetDaddy

LavaAzza coffee is always a good bet. I presume it comes perculator ground, plunger ground, etc. I'd imagine it'd be quite easy to find in shops too.

Maybe you should check out those Palombini beans that James Melody mentioned. They sell loads of coffee and coffee-related paraphernalia in "La Corte" (that's the one in the Epicurian), so that'd be a safe bet.

By the way, did some people mention that they'd been to Italy before? Because in Italy, they have a drink called "Crodino". It comes in small orange bottles in packs of 10 (usually). It's bitter in taste, and non-alcoholic. You mix it with Martini bianco and it tastes incredible.

Anybody any idea where I might find it in Dublin? It's kind of the equivalent of TK, availability-wise, so we might be talking specialised European food stores here...

The Brigadier

they carry it from time to time in Il Corte in the Epicurean

Skr4wny

If people are looking for any Italian stuff I can't recommend Il Caffe Di Napoli on Pearse St enough, apart from great coffee and pastries they do piles of ingredients for Italian cooking and other stuff.

Must check out that LavaAzza coffee cheers for the tip DeathFunk, I'll give a look in Il Caffe Di Napoli when I go in for my Cappucino in the morning.

The Brigadier

Il Cafe di Napoli is on Westland Row for anyone going there.

WetDaddy

James, you're not talking about Crodino, are you?

Cos if you are, I may have to send you a giant bouquet of flowers with a donkey attached. That would be a good thing.

Or are you talking about the coffee?

Skr4wny

Originally posted by James Melody
Il Cafe di Napoli is on Westland Row for anyone going there.

Apologies yeah, just up from Pearse St station I should have said.

dee mm

no one mentioned Metro yet, a very cool place with really really nice people! as for coffee for home, can't beat Hawaiian Kona.

catho_monster

Originally posted by Skr4wny
If people are looking for any Italian stuff I can't recommend Il Caffe Di Napoli on Pearse St enough, apart from great coffee and pastries they do piles of ingredients for Italian cooking and other stuff.

nyummy nyummy nyummy
i just started working nearby to this place, and found it by accident.
have now started drinking espresso's for breakfast lunch, dinner etc. (never drank it before as it always tasted too strong/burnt, but this place rocks)
and the pain au chocolat. oh sweet mother of the divine, my life is now fulfilled
and the staff are so friendly

Skr4wny

Ah it's a class spot, the panninis in there are lovely aswell as are the pastries.