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Review: Breakfast at Herbstreet, Grand Canal Dock

herbstreet 2It was the morning of the dreaded SNOW. We were due at Lombard Street to register our intent to marry at 12pm. Once I got up and looked out the window, I freaked out – remembering how awful 2010 was – what if we missed our appointment and then we couldn’t get married and all hope would be lost forever?! I made Jim get up and dressed in jig time and we set off at 9am. I was perhaps a little over-zealous: we arrived at Grand Canal Dock at 9.45. Nice try, snow! After Jim stopped laughing at me and my worry-wart ways we decided we’d nip into Herbstreet for some breakfast to kill a bit of time.

I love Grand Canal Dock and even though I work around the corner, there’s a great canteen in my workplace so I rarely take the short stroll over there. There seems to be a good selection of places to eat, and on a pleasant day, it’s a really lovely place to be. Lots of people I work with live in the area and many of them have recommended Herbstreet, especially for breakfast and brunch. Luckily, it was fairly empty on this miserable Monday morning so we got a nice table by the window. The restaurant is nicely kitted out, with a modern but comfortable feel.

herbstreetJim ordered the Herbstreet Full Irish, €8.50 and I ordered Pancakes (American style), €4.50 for three, with maple syrup, €2, and bacon, €3. The food was fantastic. The pancakes were perfectly fluffy, it was a very large portion, how anyone orders the stack of six, €6.50, is beyond me. I could only eat two of the three I was served. Jim’s breakfast came with two huge herby pork sausages, homemade baked beans, rashers, scrambled eggs, plum tomato and toast. I tasted the sausages and beans and can report that they were mightily delicious, Jim said it was the perfect fry up as it didn’t feel too greasy or unhealthy.

The staff were incredibly pleasant, on our way out our server seemed genuinely keen to know if we had enjoyed our meal. We were more than happy to give our positive feedback and left with a skip in our steps. Including tea and a very good coffee, our bill came to €20.40. Maybe a little on the expensive side for breakfast but the portions were large and we had no need for lunch that day. Herbstreet is a shining example of a contemporary Dublin café and somewhere other eateries could definitely take a lead from.

8 Comments

  1. I wouldn’t exactly call Herbstreet a cheap eat. It is good quality but their brunch menu is pricey.

  2. They charged €2 for syrup?!

  3. maple syrup is expensive, you usually get the golden syrup. I wouldn’t mind paying an extra 2€ for it (providing it’s a decent portion, not these teeny-weeny pots)
    And congratulations on your future wedding 🙂

  4. Yes, it’s expensive for a regular punter to buy in a shop, but charging extra for maple syrup on pancakes is like being charged extra for a bun or sauce with your burger; the two just go together. No, I don’t usually get golden syrup with pancakes, I always get maple syrup in a bottle when I get pancakes for breakfast in my local cafe and no extra charge. A surcharge is ridiculous.

  5. €20.40 for breakfast! €20.40 would feed the two of us for two days, at least.

  6. As I mentioned in the article already it was on the expensive side. But it was so delicious, really high quality ingredients, home-made baked beans etc, so worth splashing out on for a treat (it was an important day after all!). We really enjoyed it and, while it won’t be too frequently, we’ll definitely be back, lovely place, gorgeous food and we were *stuffed* until dinner-time.

    Thanks for the congrats Nanazolie! <3

  7. Rebecca, spend what you like on a good breakfast, it does look very very tasty but I think it’s gouging to charge extra for syrup for pancakes.

  8. I had brunch there, and yet hit 6-stack pancakes, I couldn’t finish it all, left say 10%, tried my best! Their egg benedicts pretty good too! Hope to be back soon!