Exactly a week after I had eaten in Storyboard, Catherine Cleary wrote about it in the Irish Times and titled her review 'This is the best cafe food I've eaten in Ireland'. This was over 4 months ago and shows how bad of a blogger I've been lately. Yes, I'm only writing about my visit now.
I'll be honest and tell you that unlike Cleary, I believe I've had food just as good in other cafés but food experiences are subjective and the world would be a very boring place if everyone agreed with each other. I was grateful for Cleary's review though, for revealing the name of the chef behind Storyboard's food: Laura Caulwell.
You see, Laura was one of my 63 classmates when I did the Ballymaloe course in 2015. I didn't really hang out with Laura but I can tell you one thing about her, this girl always smiled and seemed in a serene, happy mood. In a previous life she was an interior designer and left her job to do the course. After her Ballymaloe adventure Laura worked in the Fumbally cafe for a few years before becoming the chef behind the menu of Storyboard in 2017.
Storyboard is a bright and spacious cafe located at the bottom of an apartment building in Islandbridge. It is open from Tuesday to Friday from 7.30am to 5pm and from 10am to 4.20pm at the weekend. Their menu is compact and changes regularly enough; their coffee is supplied by 3FE and their food menu features some great Irish produce like sourdough bread from Le Levain, Gubbeen chorizo and vegetables from Mc Nally's Farm.
The rice bowl of black rice porridge with date caramel, toasted coconut, crystallised ginger with mint and fruit (€6) sounded very tempting but I set on something more lunchy. My bowl of harissa baked beans was tasty and wholesome. The beans were coated in a thick spiced sauce and topped with a preserved lemon yogurt, pickled onions, dukkah and coriander leaves with a thick slice of sourdough bread on the side (€8).
Mr. FFID's sandwich consisted of sliced pork and fennel sausages with smoked Gubbeen cheese, a red cabbage kraut, dill cucumber pickle and a smudge of caraway mayo in toasted bread. This came with a side of lightly dressed fresh green leaves and more red cabbage. He described it as a 'satisfactory sandwich' but I just think he'll never love a sausage sandwich as much as the one from the Pepper Pot.
In terms of food Storyboard definitely shows the influence from the Fumbally and reminds me of places like Fia Cafe or Two Pups Coffee. It's nourishing food made with good ingredients, totally worth venturing to a neighbourhood I'd never been to before.
Storyboard
Clancy Quay
Islandbridge
Dublin 8
Storyboard's website
Disclaimer: this is an independent review, I paid for my food.
