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Readers Recommend: Dublin and Donegal

Breakfast by the Grand Canal

Breakfast by the Grand Canal

From Damian:

Just had a very agreeable brekkie in Herbstreet on Grand Canal Square (it’s on Hanover Quay, I think). A bap with bacon, a good quality sausage, egg and nice relish plus a tea or coffee for €5. Really good coffee.  The offer seems to run until 11.30 or therabouts. Definitely recommend it.

From Chris Mahon:

This is the only opportunity that I’ve found to make a few people aware of a fantastic feast that a friend and I enjoyed mid August. I don’t know if it was a one off or if it is available throughout the year. We were travelling to Derry when hunger struck. Passing through Ballybofey and Stranorlar we didn’t notice anywhere with parking and lunch as opposed to a fry up. However we stopped further along at An Grianán. All looked so magnificent we thought it would cost a lot. Wrong. We had a huge buffet choice which included salmon cooked in 5-6 different ways including smoked and a whole salmon where we could cut off as much as we wanted. There were other offerings plus salad, potatoes, bread etc. Everything was so freshly prepared. We had juice and coffee and didn’t bother with wine. It cost €7 each which is the best value I’ve ever had in Ireland. I have told a number of friends about it. Perhaps the people of North Donegal want to keep it a secret because I’ve not seen any publicity.

6 Comments

  1. Chris – is that An Grianán theatre in Letterkenny, or another place?

  2. I definitely second the recommendation for Herbstreet. We went there a couple of weeks ago following a Twitter recommendation on a Saturday morning and was pleasantly surprised.

    Service was brilliant and the food very good as well – 2 full breakfasts. Very nice – not your usual greasy fry.

    Will definitely be going back – saw the pancakes as we left so they’re next to be tried.

    Diarmuid

  3. And I’d ‘third’ the recommendation for Herbstreet. Haven’t been in a little while but every time I have been it’s been consistantly excellent. Perfect in the summer for long lazy brunches too.

  4. Not a fan of herbstreet per se – had a burger there one day that was definitely ‘gone off’ and I am not enamoured of their pricing.

  5. Wondering if the deal your reader got was a school day one?

    Was there at the weekend and was, yet again, flabbergasted a the prices. Where you do that little startled, die-in-your-throat chortle when your outrage is slightly over-ridden by the fact that you’re actually kind of impressed at the unapologetic chutzpah of the person who evidently sat down and consciously put these figures down on a menu in the current economic climate.

    Example: Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine were 11.95, as far as I remember. 12 euros for Eggs Florentine? And I’m talking a *small* dish here. But, the fun part was that if you wanted to add a sausage or a rasher? 3 euros extra, please. Perhaps you’d prefer salmon and creme fraiche? 4 euros!

    That said, the owner seems like a nice guy, the service is good and the food is consistently good in the breakfast department – burgers are nothing to write home about at all – but not something you can easily justify splashing out on regularly when you can get a breakfast bagel from Cafe Java nearby for less than a fiver.

    If the deal above is true, then I whole-heartedly endorse it. Didn’t see it myself, though. Otherwise, the price : value ratio is way too high for me and probably a lot of other people at the moment.

  6. Your comment made me laugh Vincent, but you’re completely right – €15 for a small portion eggs, bread and bacon is completely outrageous.