Ireland must be the only place where people help lost tourists with directions by bringing them to the place they're looking for. I've seen this a few times and have even done it myself, well last weekend it happened to me, except I'm not a tourist anymore.
Mr. FFID and I were standing in the drizzly rain in Rathmines wondering how to find Fia Cafe, I was given out about not having the Google Maps app on my phone when a lovely man asked if he could help, somehow guessing that we were looking for Fia cafe without us even saying it. Ok, we were looking for 'Rathgar Road' but still how the hell did he guess we were going there for brunch? He walked with us half way, telling us all about how delicious the food was.
When we got to Fia the place was packed to the brim and there was just one table left just for us, this must have been fate, the gods of brunch were on our side! They're open from Tuesday to Friday (8.00-16.00) and serve brunch all day at the weekend from 10.00 to 16.00.
The room is quite small and the decor is modern and minimalist. I spotted some great cookbooks on the shelf and from what I saw they also seem to be into fermented foods.
In terms of food there is a focus on seasonality with some great local producers mentioned on the menu. There was a choice of seven dishes on the brunch menu ranging from €3 for Le Levain toast (my favourite bread) with rhubarb and vanilla compote / peanut butter to €10 for a summery salad.
I went for the olive scrambled eggs with grilled organic greens which were served on a thick slice of toasted sourdough bread and topped with a lemony garlic yoghurt (€6.50). I ordered Iberico chorizo for an extra €2 and there were some big chunks of it. Overall the dish was simple, well cooked and flavoursome.
Mr. FFID had the pastrami hash (€10). The new season queen's potatoes were perfectly cooked and served with Irish grilled pastrami, a salsa verde and a soft fried egg topped with chervil and dill.
I ordered an apple juice (it was from Llewellyn's) but noticed they had homemade cherry kombucha advertised on the board. I was gutted not to have ordered it. I cheered myself up with a little orange syrup cake at the end which was soft and moist.
Fia cafe is a nice spot if you're looking for unfussy food made with good ingredients. Go whenever you can, you might even find a friendly local to show you the way!
Fia Cafe
155b Rathgar Road
Dublin 6
Fia Cafe's website
This is an independent review, I paid for my meal.
