Coffee and Brunch in Drumcondra: Sit Down for Both

Coffee is better sitting down, with something to eat on the way. That is how we do it at The Lovely Food Company: a coffee bar that runs all day, a kitchen behind it, and a table to take your time at. This is a guide to coffee and brunch in Drumcondra from our side of the door. What we pour, what to eat with it, and when you can get both.

We are at 94 Drumcondra Road Lower, Dublin 9, a short walk from Croke Park. If what you want is a coffee to take with you, our sister café Bread & Butter is two doors up and is the better door for that. If you want to sit down with it, keep reading.

Coffee and brunch in Drumcondra at a glance

If you only want the short version, here it is:

• Where: 94 Drumcondra Road Lower, Dublin 9, on the main road, a short walk from Croke Park.
• When: seven days a week. 10am to 4pm Monday to Wednesday and Sunday, 10am to 11pm Thursday and Friday, 9am to 11pm Saturday.
• Breakfast until: 12.30 Monday to Friday, 1pm at the weekend. The all day menu takes over after that.
• Coffee: espresso €3.10, Americano €3.65, flat white, cappuccino or latte €4.10.
• Milk: oat or coconut €0.50 extra. Syrups €0.50.
• Iced coffee: made to order, so ask your server.
• Seating: inside and out, table service, dogs welcome.

What is on the coffee bar

The hot drinks list is short on purpose. These are the ones people order, made properly, all day:

• Espresso, €3.10. The short one, for when you have five minutes.
• Americano, €3.65. The long one, and the one that travels best in a cup.
• Cortado or macchiato, €3.65. A small amount of milk, so you still taste the coffee.
• Flat white, €4.10. The one we make most of.
• Cappuccino, €4.10.
• Latte, €4.10.
• Mocha, €4.20. For when you cannot decide between coffee and chocolate.
• Chai latte or matcha latte, €4.65. No coffee in either, and both are busy at brunch.
• Hot chocolate, €4.15.
• Breakfast and herbal teas, €3.50.

Milk, syrups and iced coffee

Oat or coconut milk is €0.50 extra, and so is a syrup. If you want your coffee cold, ask your server: iced coffees are made to order rather than listed, so tell us what you are after and we will sort it.

Two small ones worth knowing about. A babyccino is €1.50, which is warm frothed milk and no coffee, and a puppuccino is also €1.50 if your dog has come along. Both are a good way to make a coffee stop feel like an outing for everyone at the table.

There are cold drinks beyond coffee too: fresh orange juice (€4.15), still water (€2.50), San Pellegrino sparkling or flavoured (€3.00), flavoured waters (€3.00), Coke, Coke Zero and Diet Coke (€3.00), and a Happy Monkey smoothie (€3.00).

Brunch with your coffee

This is the part that makes sitting down worth it. Breakfast runs until 12.30 Monday to Friday and until 1pm at the weekend, so a late start still gets you eggs.

• The Lovely Irish, €15.50. Our full Irish: Annalitten free range eggs, smoked middle back rashers, Wicklow black and white pudding, P O’Connell’s sausages, vine tomatoes and a portobello mushroom sauté. There is a vegetarian version as well. We went through the whole plate in our guide to the full Irish breakfast.
• Lighter breakfasts. If a full plate is too much before noon, there are smaller options and add-ons on the breakfast menu.
• After the breakfast cut-off. The all day menu carries tartines, toasties, soup and bowls, so the coffee still has something to sit beside at three in the afternoon.

Everything, with prices and allergens, is on the menu page. A coffee and a full Irish is the order we make most on a Saturday morning, and the tables on the path are the ones people want for it.

What to have with your coffee

If you are not after a plate, the counter does the job. From it:

• Plain croissant €3.60, almond croissant €3.65
• Scone, plain or fruit, €3.00
• Cinnamon bun €4.25
• Banana bread slice €4.50, lemon or marble cake slice (gluten free) €4.50
• Millionaire square €4.95, rice krispie slice €4.95, brownies €4.95
• Cookies €4.00

The dessert counter changes, so ask your server what is in.

Coffee to go, or coffee to sit down with

There are two doors at this end of Drumcondra Road Lower, and they do different jobs. Which one you want depends on whether you are stopping or moving.

Bread & Butter is the coffee shop. Speciality coffee and tea, baking done in house, and an artisan lunch menu built to take away. If you want a coffee shop in Drumcondra in the usual sense, a flat white and a bun on the move, or you are heading for the train or the stadium, that is the door to go in. It is two doors up from us at the same end of the road.

The Lovely Food Company is the café you sit down in. The coffee bar runs all day, but it sits alongside a full kitchen, so a coffee here usually comes with eggs, a tartine, a toastie or a slice of something. We have table service, seating inside and out, and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings from 6pm the room becomes The Lovely Wine Bar.

Same family, same street, different jobs. If one of us is full, try the other.

When you can get coffee and brunch

The coffee bar is on whenever the café is, seven days a week:

• Monday to Wednesday: 10am to 4pm
• Thursday and Friday: 10am to 11pm
• Saturday: 9am to 11pm
• Sunday: 10am to 4pm

Saturday is the early one at 9am. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the late ones, so an evening coffee is only possible on those three days. Breakfast stops at 12.30 Monday to Friday and at 1pm on Saturday and Sunday, so if brunch is the plan, come before then.

Where to sit, and who is welcome

There is seating inside and out. The tables on the path are the ones people go for on a dry morning, and they are the reason a coffee here can take an hour without anyone minding.

• Dogs are welcome, inside and out, and there is a puppuccino at €1.50 if you want to spoil them.
• Families are welcome, with baby chairs, baby changing and room for prams.
• The Lovely Little Club meets here every Wednesday from 10.30am to 12pm, a weekly get together for local mums and little ones, with no booking needed.
• Groups are easier if you ring ahead on (01) 830 9549, and the café can be booked for private hire in the evenings.

More on the dogs, the families and both clubs is on our Life at Lovely page.

Coffee near Croke Park and the Botanic Gardens

Drumcondra Road Lower is a useful road to need a coffee on. Croke Park is a short walk away, so we are busy before a match and before a concert, and our guide to breakfast near Croke Park goes through the timings. If you have an hour before the gates open, a coffee and a plate here beats queueing inside.

Drumcondra train station is on the same road, which makes us an easy meeting point if someone is coming in on the train. Plenty of Dublin Bus routes run past the door as well.

Walk the other way and you are in Glasnevin, with the National Botanic Gardens and Griffith Park both close by. A walk first and a coffee after is one of the better ways to spend a morning around here, and we wrote that one up in our Botanic Gardens and brunch guide.

Frequently asked questions

That is coffee and brunch in Drumcondra from our side of the door. Come in, take a table inside or out, and give yourself the hour. If you want to see what else is on, have a look at the full menu or ring us on (01) 830 9549.