Canal Bank Cafe, Dublin 2

Review

When Trevor Browne and Ger Foote launched Dish Restaurant in Dublin's Temple Bar in 1997 it became an instant success. An emphasis was placed on providing food of the highest quality coupled with enthusiastic and convivial service at a reasonable price. They soon became the ideal standard of start-up restaurants in the city providing a top class experience in a no-fuss environment at a time when there was a dearth of like minded restauranteurs.

2001 saw them make the move to Leeson St. and, though the name and the location have changed, the philosophy remains the same. International and local favorites are served alongside both rustic and the more adventurous dishes. The rooms are charming, well lit and extremely comfortable.

Having recently missed out on brunch in Tribeca we decided to make up for it. Sunday brunch is busy in CBC and the Gods smiled as we got a parking spot right outside the door, and followed this by getting the last available table on the back wall. Three more minutes and we would have been talking a stroll around the block, or maybe just going over to O'Briens to wait our earlier diners out. On this Sunday, starving was the order of the day so with complete disregard to the size of the portions, I decided that nothing less than two dishes would suffice.

The Brunch menu features several varations on eggs benedict, you can have them with spinach, ham or smoked salmon. I chose the smoked salmon, which if memory serves is Eggs McSwinney. One of these for me, along with a calamari salad. Deirdre, as ever, didn't feel the need to pig out and ordered the chicken wings with blue cheese dip and fries. Fresh orange juice and sparkling water completed the order.

As I said CBC is a busy place and while we waited for our food we spied on our fellow customers to see if they had ordered anything nicer than us. The tables were laden with food, no small portions here, and the range of dishes went from bowls of mussels to steak sandwiches to omelettes. Some hardier souls were indulging in champagne or bellinis, obviously not suffering the effects of an overindulgent Saturday night! We stuck to the soft stuff.

The food arrived quickly and the eggs were delicious, two poached eggs on bagels, with plenty of smoked salmon and lashings of homemade hollandaise. The calamari salad was crisp, tasty and came with fresh lime to squeeze over the top. Deirdre's wings were large and meaty and after swapping tastes and bites, we were both happy. The service was quick throughout and the bill came to just under forty euro including service. All that was left was to walk it off on the canal.

I for one could get used to this alternative to a traditional Sunday lunch. If you are out and about at lunchtime on Sundays, CBC is an excellent choice. They do of course open the rest of the week, and I noticed that Trevor White has them in his latest Dubliner 100 Best. Quality food, professional service and no sting in the bill - you could be in New York.