Dublin Eats: Best Hipster Cafes
“Hipster” is perhaps the most excessively used term on the Dublin social scene, these days it is used to describe nearly everywhere. Though this is not without reason! The city has firmly eschewed big brand names in favour of small independents that are rampant with exotically named green lattes and foods reminiscent of the hunter gatherer era.
A perfect example is the recent closure of the Starbucks on top of BT2 and now in its place is Alchemy Juice Co, a hardcore health cafe serving vegetarian, vegan, celiac, ketogenic, dairy free, sugar free, paleo, low carb foods… whatever happened to a cup of tea and a ham and cheese sandwich?
What has become of the world?
As much as I make fun of this new bohemian trend I have well and truly jumped on the bandwagon, so here is a round up of the places I just can’t get enough of in this city!
Slice Cafe
Located in the newly hip area of Stoneybatter, this place feels like you are eating in your kitchen, except it is just that bit cooler than your actual kitchen. On display as you walk in is a selection of homemade chutneys and behind them is an array of home baking equipment, all adding to the homey feel. Of course my eyes are always immediately drawn to the cakes… all delicious, especially the courgette and lemon curd cake.. heaven!
Treat Yo Self – Slice Cafe Dublin
The menu is small enough but one of their specials nearly always involves Gubbeen Chorizo which is hard to resist. They are also creative with their daily hot plate special, their lamb tagine with creme fraiche went down a treat!
Cake Cafe
This might be considered as cheating as Cake Cafe is actually a sister restaurant of Slice, but their menu’s although similar, do have some differences so I think that qualifies them as two separate entries! Cake Cafe is located off Camden Street in a very unsuspecting alley way.
Outside of Cake Cafe.. eeek
The Cafe is somewhat of an oasis of lush greenery after the boarded up windows and dinginess of the immediate surroundings.
As the name suggests they serve lots of cake here, but they also have a selection of sandwiches, salads, and soups. They also have an excellent range of teas served in eccentric clash of teaware.
Tea at Cake Cafe
Cross Cafe
Very few people know about this little gem of a place that is tucked away quietly on Francis Street in Dublin 8. If you haven’t been to Francis Street you are missing out. It is the home of Dublin’s antique scene as well as to several artsy shops selling vintage clothes, neon lights, and canvases from local artists. I have even spotted an old disco ball from the Sugar Club being sold here.
Cross Cafe itself is located in a gallery, its set up reminds me somewhat of Junk Cafe in Penang. Art and hipsterness aside, this place serves the best coffee in Dublin! Forget 3fe (though that place is still good don’t get me wrong!), Cross Cafe is by far my favourite and the flapjacks are to die for.
Try The Flapjacks… Do Do Do! – Cross Cafe Dublin
Kaph
A short stroll from Grafton street, Kaph is perfectly located to get a quick hit of hipster-ness right in the centre of town. Their Matcha was voted as the best in Dublin recently by LovinDublin and their funky beats were also recommended.
Inside Kaph: photo from Kaph.ie
I haven’t had Matcha in too many places but I have tried paleo cakes all over the place and Kaph is so far the only place that makes these healthy ‘treats’ taste edible, in fact their brownies are actually very nice. They also have coconut milk for us lactose intolerant peeps who are not fans of soya milk.
Matcha at Kaph
Brother Hubbard The north side of Dublin’s city centre is surprisingly lacking in places to go for coffee. Thankfully Brother Hubbard has stepped in to fill the void. It is a tiny owner run cafe (though now expanding due to their success) that prides its self on the quality and freshness of the produce they use.
Morning Fix at Brother Hubbard
They have a terrific selection of cakes and treats that caters to all the weird and wonderful diets out there.
Sweet Treats at Brother Hubbard
All those carbs
I am also a fan of their lunch and brunch menus which include dishes from Morocco, Turkey, and the Middle East… oh so foreign and exotic 😉 Though as much as they taste great don’t expect exact replications of your favourite meal from your holidays, the Turkish menemen I had was great but just not the same as the menemen in Turkey.
Menemen at Brother Hubbard
Fumbally Cafe
No list of hipster hangouts in Dublin is complete without mentioning this place, it is literally the hipster heartland. I occasionally wonder if having a beard and looking like you just spent six months with a tribe in a remote part of the Sahara is a requirement to work here.
Borek at Fumbally
That being said nothing beats their pulled porchetta, mouth-wateringly delicious! In fact every thing I have had here was great and you can’t beat them for value, their all day breakfast comes in at €5 euro for the Fumbally Eggs.
Porchetta at Fumbally
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i[‘GoogleAnalyticsObject’]=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,’script’,’//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js’,’ga’); ga(‘create’, ‘UA-59648263-1’, ‘auto’); ga(‘send’, ‘pageview’);
.jpg)
Comments