Village Cafe Rathmines Restaurant Dublin 6

The Village Café is in the heart of Rathmines, just a few doors down from the Town Hall, facing the new leisure centre. While it has been in Rathmines for twenty years or so, earlier this year it had a total refurb and now have the kitchen space and the dining room to offer very good evening dining alongside the super all day menu.

The Village Café is owned and run by Aodan Marnell, who is on hand most of the time to make sure everything is running smoothly. Outside there is a large patio area with covered tables, while inside it is light, airy and contemporary. The room seats about forty and the young staff move about quickly to keep up with the customers, who come and go at very regular flow from opening at 8am.

The breakfast menu is great – there is the traditional full Irish with carefully sourced sausages and puddings, scrambled eggs three ways, ridiculously thick French toast with berry compote and maple syrup or a choice of mueslis and several omelettes. The coffees are good too.

Lunchtime sees the workers and shoppers of Rathmines descend for ciabatta, cured meats, cheese plates or warm dishes like the sirloin steak sandwich or pancetta and baby spinach linguine. Afternoons are kept going with people dropping in for coffee and cake, and as the evening draws in they start to get ready for the evening service.

I recently popped along with my friend from our advertising days, Peter Mansfield for a spot of dinner and a chat. It was a mild October evening and there were one or two hardier souls lingering over coffees outside while we took ourselves inside. The predominately blue colour scheme is softened blue the neutral wooden floors and the soft lighting make it very cosy and inviting. We are shown to a table against the wall, a banquette on the inside. We are given menus, some very nice garlic and cheese bread arrives, as does our bottle of Pellegrino and we settle down to order. The waiter tells us that although there is now early bird or set menu, we can order any two courses for 2 courses for €16.95 or 3 courses for €20.95. This is valid Monday to Friday, 6pm to 8pm. And seems like excellent value.

For starters I chose the pan fried garlic king prawns while Peter decided on the grilled goats cheese. We could also have picked a soup of the day, Greek salad or fish cakes. The main courses provided some indecision – Peter promptly went for the 21 day aged strip loin, but I was torn between the rack of lamb and the cod, before deciding to keep with my maritime theme and choosing the cod.

The starters were very well made, the prawns served with a mango, bean sprout and avocado salad were very tasty, but Peter’s grilled goats cheese was the star, the cheese was really very flavoursome and delicious. The main courses continued the high standard; Peter’s steak was perfectly cooked pink, and served on new potatoes and with green beans with red wine gravy. The cod was perfectly cooked, still nicely moist and the chive mash and baby courgettes were delicious. We shared an excellent pannacotta with red berries for dessert, and it finished off a very good meal indeed.

The bill only came to €42, which even by today’s standards is ridiculous value for food of this quality. The Village Café is one of the better neighbourhood restaurants we have tried recently, and if Rathmines is within striking distance, you will be hard pressed to find better food and value.