Café owners Domini and Peaches Kemp have form when it comes to creating atmospheric locavore cafes in St Stephen’s Green basements (think the excellent Hatch & Sons) as well as serving above-average food in national cultural institutions, but they have surpassed themselves with the beguiling daytime café at the Museum of Literature Ireland (or MoLI, in honour of she who gets the last word in Joyce’s Ulysses).
The room itself sets the tone beautifully, with light spilling in from the Stephen’s Green side onto banquette seating and pale marble-topped tables. Olive green walls are adorned with intriguing still life photographs, commissioned from photographer and stylist combo Trevor Hart and Eleanor Harpur and curated by artist and designer Nicky Hooper. These sumptuous scenes take their cue from famous quotes in Irish literature – such as the magnificent tableau of the Feast of the Epiphany goose that Gabriel carves in Joyce’s masterful short story, ‘The Dead’ – and are reason enough for return visits.
If these walls could talk, they would surely gossip, in a room that was once one of Dublin’s most chi-chi starred restaurants and, before that, the original student dining halls of UCD’s Newman House, through whose hallowed halls such writers as James Joyce, Flann O’Brien, Kate O’Brien and Maeve Binchy have passed. And it’s not just the walls that have stories to tell here – or indeed the trees in the back garden where the ash tree that James Joyce was famously photographed under still stands. The food itself is full of compelling stories, as testified by their listing of some of the island’s best suppliers, from long-standing heavyweights like Glenilen Farm, Gubbeen Smokehouse and Sheridan’s Cheeses to more recent disrupters like Bread 41, Toonsbridge Dairy and Forage & Cure.
The menu is cleverly pitched to suit a range of appetites, from lighter plates such as the excellent Burren Smokehouse salmon with fermented potato bread and horseradish crème fraiche topped with Goatsbridge trout caviar (Ireland’s answer to beluga, only far more affordable and sustainable). At the other end of the scale, a steaming bowl of smoky and savoury beef tea filled with thick, satisfying slices of spiced beef and sweet, tender root veg is the kind of dish that’ll set you up for the rest of the day. Vegetarians are particularly well served with riotously colourful dishes like perfectly roast heritage carrots and an organic buttermilk and dill dressing with crunchy hazelnut dukkah and root crisps.
There is a decent selection of wines by the glass or bottle – including a Burgundy to match the gorgonzola and braised beef blaa, a nod to Leopold Bloom’s lunchtime repast in nearby Davy Byrne’s – or kombucha if you’re feeling so inclined. Sweet treats like treacle tart served with a proper jug of cream or a savoury selection of Sheridan’s cheese with oat cakes and damson jam could happily turn this into a two or three course affair.
Already well known for the excellent breakfasts that this team serves at Hatch & Sons (beneath Little Museum of Dublin and at the Hugh Lane Gallery), Domini and Peaches soon introduced a dedicated breakfast menu at The Commons Café and, true to form, it's a winner.The porridge alone would be enough temptation for many; served with sour cherries, maple and nut butter and toasted almond brittle, it's a real treat and it's well worth getting in early to enjoy it. Then there's the breakfast blaa (fried free-range egg, Whole Hogg sausage, bacon & home-made relish), brunch-style dishes like shakshukka with sourdough or 'anytime' Sheridans cheese with oat cakes and apple chutney and some seriously delicious home bakes for that mid morning cuppa.
Whether you make a full meal of it, or just pop in for a breakfast blaa or a rock bun with Glenilen butter, some downtime spent in this welcoming space should be an essential part of any visit to this treasure of a museum – ideally concluding with a stroll into the wonderful Iveagh Gardens to which that pretty back garden connects.
