The ingredients are just as Irish—including smoked salmon, hearty brown bread, and farm fresh eggs. What’s new is the preparation, a slight focus on healthy options over greasy ones and a pleasant atmosphere in which to enjoy it all.

Here are three of my favorites in Dublin City Center:

1. The Canal Bank Café
146 Upper Leeson Street, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
Tel: 353 (01) 478 9966
Web site

This leisurely café is the perfect place for groups. Inevitably, one person wants breakfast while another wants brunch. One wants only a fruit plate while another craves a hearty burger. The Canal Bank Café has it all—on a lovely corner in Dublin, where light streams through the windows and locals read newspapers at the tables.

I also like how spread out the tables are. Your chair won’t be bumped and you don’t need to listen to the next table’s conversation while you dig into your Eggs McSwiggan (similar to Eggs Benedict, but replace the ham with Irish smoked salmon). They aren’t in a rush here though, so if you arrive hungry be sure to order an appetizer (like their divine buffalo chicken) while waiting for your meal.

2. Junior’s
Bath Avenue, Dublin 4
Web site

This neighborhood favorite has the best interpretation of brunch in the city. Menu items are perfectly sandwiched between breakfast and lunch—think steak and eggs—and are hearty enough to carry you through until dinner. Open for brunch only on the weekends, the tables fill up fast when this spot opens at 11 a.m.

The best tables are outside on the sidewalk, especially if you’re in a small group. Inside can feel quite cramped, as there are only eight tiny tables for two. On the inside, however, you have the perfect view of the chef as he creates your meal. I love Junior’s take on French Toast—this is a dish I would wake up craving on a Sunday.

3. The Lennox Café
31 Lennox Street, Portobello, Dublin 8
Tel: 353 (0)1 478-9966
Web site

The most stylish of these three brunch options is the Lennox Café, tucked into the Portobello neighborhood amongst prime examples of historic Georgian architecture. The best tables here are outside on the patio, or upstairs on the second floor, where you can get a glimpse of this building’s former life.

Everything on the menu is delicious and beautifully presented, but one of my favorite dishes is their take on huevos rancheros. Perfectly poached eggs, cheddar, chorizo and avocado all find a home with a little salad on top of a toasted tortilla. Spicy and nourishing, this is a meal I always find myself reurning to.

Don’t believe the rumors that Irish food is bland and boring. By venturing away from the Irish breakfasts on offer at pubs, you can find cafés that are bringing serious brunch culture to Dublin.

Your favorite breakfast spot?

Do you have a favorite brunch or breakfast spot in Dublin? Tell us about it in the comments section.

The post Dublin: Breakfast and brunch spots with a twist appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Pastries for breakfast?

That’s right. I’m not talking about the old doughnut and drip coffee ritual (although you can simulate that with a caffe’ americano and a ciambella, if you please) but a nice cornetto (croissant) or sfogliatina (clam-shaped sugary pastry) with fancy foamy cappuccinos.

Yum. Photo: Virytum

For breakfast a cappuccino is the classic choice, however any type of caffe (espresso) without or with milk (macchiato, caffe latte, etc.) is standard fare. Pastries here come in all shapes and sizes with fillings ranging from none (vuoto) to those with cream or chocolate (crema or cioccolato) or yummy marmelades (marmellata). You’ll also find some rice-based pastries that are rich and sugary, but a lighter flavor than regular cream or even ricotta-filled delights.

Where to find breakfast

Your best bet for a good coffee and pastry are in pasticceria (pastry shops), rather than a regular coffee bar. Espresso in Italy is generally good as long as it’s made fresh from a high pressure machine and served scalding hot, although locals analyze and debate the quality of coffee at each bar.

Here are a few places that are centrally located and that offer delicious pastries and coffee. Do note that the standard price for an espresso ranges from 80 cents to €1, so avoid spending too much on this liquid gold and beware of extra charges for sitting down at tables!

Sieni
Via dell’Ariento 29

This pastry shop has a prime location on the corner of the San Lorenzo market and a quiet side street heading towards the train station. It’s renowned for its delicious confections. Offering range from standard croissants and other danishes to cookies, chocolates, cakes and tiramisu, as well as sandwiches for a quick lunch.

Look out for seasonal sweets that are definitely worth the wait. These include the traditional Carnival munchies of cenci (available in February), crispy fried dough covered in powdered sugar, and frittelle di riso, small fried balls of rice pastry with amaretto liqueur.

Corona Cafe
Via Calzaiuoli, 72

Despite its position on the main tourist and shopping thoroughfare of Via Calzaiuoli (leading from the Duomo to Piazza Signoria), the Corona Cafe is not a tourist trap! It’s usually packed and has only a few stools or shelves to rest your goods, but it’s worth any inconvenience. The pastries are incredibly good, especially the chocolate and ricotta sfogliatina. While the coffee isn’t cheap, it’s still affordable for this area.

Caffe’ Alinari
Largo F.lli Alinari 28

Located a few steps from the train station and a hub of bus stops, you’ll find the discreet Caffe’ Alinari bar and pastry shop. The cafe boasts a traditional look, and the delicious pastries are all made fresh on the premises. Considering its proximity to the train station, whether you’re arriving or departing it’s the perfect stop for a quick, filling and sugary breakfast.

American-style savory breakfast

Can’t take that much sugar in the morning? American-style breakfasts are scrambling their way into the Florentine breakfast scene.

One of your best bets for a hearty meal is The Diner on Via dell’Acqua 2, not far from Palazzo Vecchio. This American-themed restaurant offers extensive eggs, pancakes, bagels and breakfast sandwich options.

For something lighter there is Mama’s Bakery in Via della Chiesa 34, across the Arno river. The bakery is a bit of a walk, but it’s worth it for the bagels alone (the best you’ll find in in Florence, although still nothing like H&H Bagels back in New York). Also of note are their yummy muffins.

The post Where to find a cheap breakfast in Florence appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

The cafeteria conundrum

Without shame, I admit to being a fan of cafeteria food. I find the whole process, from lining up with a tray, to choosing a prepared entree and selecting accompanying vegetables, both fun and weirdly satisfying. (And let’s not even talk about the dessert and drink process.)

Perhaps it’s simple nostalgia for the grade-school cafeteria experience of decades past. Perhaps I like to see my food before I decide on what to eat. Or perhaps it’s a rebellion against “foodie” culture. Whatever it is, to this day I find something irresistible about cafeterias.

Many of my friends, of course, do not share this enthusiasm. They find a trip to a cafeteria to be a depressing experience—one of cattle-call lines, hospital-quality food, and bleak ambiance. Even worse, it could be a missed opportunity. After all, a meal at a cafeteria in Paris is a meal not at a cafe, or a crepe stand, or a boulangerie … or anything typically “French.” This has led to several “one tray at the table” moments for me.

No matter, when I travel I like to drop in on cafeterias and sample their wares. When living in Berlin, I ate frequently in the city’s Mensa cafeterias–and have written my own love song to that slide-and-pay experience. Mensa cafeterias not only offer a cheap lunch option, but also an opportunity to sample German-style (albeit somewhat institutionalized) dishes.

flunch it down?

In France, the flunch restaurant chain takes its name from mashing up “French” and “lunch.” (And not, as I previously thought, from “fast” and “lunch.”) It has even led to the coining of the verb “fluncher,” although I have yet to hear it used in a sentence.

Like most French restaurants, flunch offers several plats du jour, which change daily. Flunch prices them rather low—at €9.45 for one of the five available plats du jour and a drink (which includes a soda, water, beer or a glass of wine). Notably, the plat also includes an unlimited vegetable buffet, where you can graze all day on haricots verts, carottes, pommes de terre, epinards and so forth. Desserts and salads are extra.

And thus, flunch makes Cheapo sense, if it sounds appetizing to you. After all, flunch offers a cooked dish with unlimited veggies and a drink for the same price as a hamburger and a Coke next door at a McDonald’s. And the cafeteria set-up makes sense for non-French speakers. Just point and say, “s’il vous plait”. (And “merci!”)

flunch in Paris

The chain operates 200 restaurants in France, most of which can be found in shopping centers and along the highway. In Paris, however, several flunch outlets are located in super-central locations, including just next to the Pompidou Center and nearby on the street level of the Les Halles shopping center.

So, they’re cheap, convenient, and offer a healthier fast meal option than typical fast food. Why have I encountered so much “flunch-fobia”? A couple of thoughts:

Food quality:

Typical flunch. Photo: Denn

Considering my several flunch experiences, I have certainly never been wowed by the food. The entrees, usually chicken, beef, or fish, have been French classics of a quality that’s acceptable while certainly not exceptional. (Americans could think of it as a sort of Ponderosa Steakhouse “a la Francaise”.) My meals have been a bit salty, and I’ve found the vegetables quite tasty—because they’ve been smothered in butter. It’s not exactly a light meal.

Ambiance:

It’s hard for a room to escape the cafeteria aesthetic when there are tray rails lining every fixture. But they try to make the serving area cheery.

The dining areas, however, strike me as rather grim. In my experiences in the central Paris flunches, the dining rooms have been extremely crowded during the lunch hours. Sharing tables is not strange—in fact, during busy hours you’ll probably be seated next to and across from complete strangers. (But then again, I was dining alone!) These locations are also quite popular with bus and student groups—leading to sudden crowding, occasional horseplay and bathroom lines.

Prices:

Really, this place is cheap. If you’re fine with tap water, you can have a full meal for around €6.45.

Final thoughts

Clearly, flunch isn’t for everyone, but it does provide a fast, central, and cheap alternative to typical fast food. If you decide to “flunch it,” don’t expect fine French cuisine. Expect, instead, to experience another country’s cafeteria culture. And then head back for some more buttered veggies.

Have you flunched?

Have you been to a flunch restaurant in France? Have you experienced another cafeteria in the country? Tell us about your experience in the comments section.

The post Paris Cafeterias: To “flunch” or not to “flunch”? appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.