Cafe restaurants in Ireland
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Cake Café
Dublin's best-kept pastry secret is this great little cafe on a tiny lane parallel to Camden St. The easiest way in is through Daintree stationery shop; through the back is the self-contained yard, which in good weather is the best spot to enjoy a coffee and a homemade cake.
reviewed
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Caffe Formenti
This buzzing cafe combines the talents of an Irish-Italian husband-and-wife team. In addition to daily lunch specials and wholesome soups, there's a tempting selection of Italian pastries, freshly made gelati (yum!) and aromatic coffees.
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Blueberry Tearoom
A perennial local favourite, this cosy cafe serves up simple, honest food in hearty portions. Expect soup, toasties, quiche, panini, sticky cakes of all descriptions and a warm, friendly atmosphere.
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Avoca
The waiters are easy on the eye for a reason: the upstairs cafe of the city's best designer crafts store has long been the favourite spot of the Ladies Who Lunch. Designer bags can get very heavy, so there's nothing better to restore flagging energy than the simple, rustic delights on offer: organic shepherd's pie, roast lamb with couscous, or sumptuous salads from the Avoca kitchen. There's also a takeaway salad bar and hot-food counter in the basement.
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Panem
Pasta, focaccia and salads are the standard fare at this diminutive quay-side cafe, but the specialities are wickedly sweet and savoury pastries, which are all made on-site. The croissants and brioche – filled with Belgian chocolate, almond cream or hazelnut amaretti – are the perfect snack for a holiday stroll along the Liffey Boardwalk. Lunchtimes are chaotic.
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Maggie May's
This is a classic little cafe with cosy wooden booths, colourful murals of old Belfast, and a host of hungover students wolfing down huge Ulster fries at lunchtime. The all-day breakfast menu runs from tea and toast to eggy bread and maple syrup, while lunch can be soup and a sarnie or steak-and-Guinness pie; puddings include Dime Bar and sticky toffee. BYOB.
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Cafe Hans
Competition for the 32 seats is fierce at this gourmet cafe run by the same family as Chez Hans next door. There's a fantastic selection of salads, open sandwiches (including succulent prawns with tangy Marie Rose sauce) and filling fish, shellfish, lamb and vegetarian dishes, with a discerning wine selection and mouthwatering desserts like homemade caramel ice cream with butterscotch sauce. Arrive before or after the lunchtime rush or plan on queuing.
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Poppies Country Cooking
If the service wasn't so slow and the organisation so frustratingly haphazard, this poky little cafe on the main square would be one of the best spots in Wicklow. The food – when you finally get a chance to eat it – is sensational: wholesome salads, filling sandwiches on doorstop-cut bread and award-winning ice cream will leave you plenty satisfied.
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Sage Cafe
The decor at this licensed cafe says it all: superb taste that doesn't call attention to itself. Breakfast treats and baked goods give way to a line-up of lunch sandwiches, salads such as tiger prawn and cashew nut, and hot plates like lambs liver with apricot stuffing and black pudding potato cake.
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SkyView Cafe
Whisk up to the 3rd floor of Wexford's snazzy opera house for salad bowls, brilliant sandwiches, muffins and many specials. Or just sneak up for tasty tea and amazing cake, accompanied by panoramic waterfront views.
reviewed
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Idaho Café
It looks like a traditional old caff from the outside, but take a gander at the menu and you'll find all sorts of creative takes on Irish standards. The tea selection includes scads of herbal numbers and there's a good per-glass wine menu. Tight seating means nothing is private. Idaho Café makes a good place to regroup while touring or shopping.
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Quay Co-op
A gathering spot for the People's Republic of Cork proletariat, this nonflash cafe offers a range of self-service vegie options (all organic), including big breakfasts, hearty soups and casseroles. There's daily specials; dishes cater for gluten-, dairy- and wheat-free needs. The bulletin board has news for and of the masses.
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Cobalt Café & Gallery
A splendid little cafe just opposite the James Joyce Cultural Centre, the Cobalt occupies the ground floor of an elegant Georgian building and serves honest-to-goodness sandwiches stuffed with lots of lovely fillings. The big fireplace is the spot to warm those winter toes.
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Morelli's
Morelli's is a local institution, founded by Italian immigrants and famous for its mouth-watering ice cream since 1911. The menu includes breakfast fry-ups, pizza, sandwiches, omelettes, and fish and chips, as well as good coffee and cakes, and there's a great view across the bay to Mussenden Temple, Benone Strand and Donegal.
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Simon's Place
Simon hasn't had to change the menu of doorstep sandwiches and wholesome vegetarian soups since he first opened shop two decades ago – and why should he? His grub is as heartening and legendary as he is. It's a great place to sip a coffee and watch life go by in the old-fashioned arcade. Downstairs is dingy and appropriately popular with Goths and other types with an aversion to sunlight.
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Cafe Odhráan
Small and cosy, with a warm, friendly atmosphere, this simple little place serves up a tempting selection of salads, quiches, crostini, panini and wraps, as well as homemade cakes and scones. Ingredients are locally sourced and include such delicacies as Ballacolla blue brie and Mossfield goat's cheese.
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Blackberry Cafe
Superb thick-cut sandwiches and warming soups are served with pumpkin-seed-speckled soda bread here. Much is organic and the tarts and cakes are baked daily. Between noon and 2pm, great-value multicourse hot lunches see the place squeezed to bursting. It's right in town.
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Old Post Office Tearoom
The thatched cottage that once housed the village post office has been lovingly converted into a tearoom and art gallery, with walls of cream plaster and bare stone, pine furniture and a wood-burning stove. It serves great coffee and home-baked scones, plus lunch specials such as lasagne and lovely fresh salads.
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Honest to Goodness
Wholesome sandwiches (made with freshly baked bread), tasty soups and a near-legendary Sloppy Joe, all made on the premises using ingredients sourced from local producers, have earned this lovely spot in the George's St Arcade a bevy of loyal fans who want to keep it all to themselves. No place this good can stay secret for long.
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Pantry
Housed in a former printer's shop with a lovely original black-and-white mosaic floor, this brisk and cheerful cafe serves a wide range of sandwiches, from pitta to panini and bagels to baguettes, as well as cappuccino and homemade cakes. It's uphill from the Diamond.
reviewed
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Queen of Tart
Diet dodgers rejoice, for this doughty little cafe is to cakes what Willie Wonka was to chocolate, and you'll think you're in a dream when you see the displays of tarts, meringues, crumbles, cookies and brownies, never mind taste them. There are also great brekkies – such as potato-and-chive cake with mushroom and egg, plus the coffee is splendid and the service sweet. This is a treasure so popular that they opened a bigger version around the corner on Cow's Lane
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Aroma
Hidden in the far corner of Donegal's craft village, this small cafe has a big reputation for fine food. Along with the excellent coffee and luscious cakes, the blackboard specials feature seasonal local produce whipped up into tantalising soups, salads and wholesome hot dishes. There's seating outside for extra space on fine days.
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Maud's
Maud's is a bright, modern cafe with picture windows framing a stunning view across the river to the Mournes. It serves breakfast, good coffee, a range of tempting scones and sticky buns, plus salads, crêpes, pizzas and pastas; there's a kids menu, too.
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Wild Onion
This blue-fronted cafe and bakery is famed for its full-bore American breakfasts (that means no black pudding, but plenty of hash browns, American pork sausages and three-egg omelettes). Hot open sandwiches are the order of the day come lunchtime. No credit cards.
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Muck 'n' Muffins
A 19th-century rough-stone grain store now houses this waterfront cafe and craft shop. Even on rainy winter days, it's packed with locals tucking into healthy sandwiches, quiches and hot specials, tempting cakes and, of course, muffins.
reviewed