Bread - where to buy in Dublin?

blorg · 06-01-2006 1:23am #1

It is so difficult to get good bread in Dublin yet so easy in France; I'm suggesting this thread as somewhere that we can keep a record of where good bread is available?

So to start here are a handful of places that IMHO do good bread. (My taste tends to be French-style crusty bread; perhaps others could add good examples of other styles, Irish, German, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Eastern Europe, etc?)

Note the following is my personal opinion only, feel free to disagree! (Note: just about any of these breads will taste infinitely better if warmed in the oven for five minutes immediately prior to consumption. and splash a little water over them before warming if bought on a previous day.)

Good bread

Les Maison des Gourmets, 15 Castle St., Dublin 2. Bread widely available from Dunnes and elsewhere. Used to be better, since they expanded not as good but still perfectly palatable and certainly easier to get hold of. Probably the best French-style bread that is easily available in Dublin. Good pastries. Favourites: Breton Baguette, Walnut and Raisin.
Blazing Salads, 42 Drury Street, Dublin 2. Bread also available at some other shops, including Donnybrook Fair. Really excellent Ciabatta.
Bretzel Bakery, 1a Lennox Street, Portobello, Dublin 8. I think it would be fair to say, the best kosher bakery in Dublin? Also available in some other shops. Not my favourite style but I do remember a good muffin last time I went there.
The Best of Italy, Dunville Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Do an excellent multi-cereal bread, some of the lighter ones are nothing special though (great shop, to be seriously recommended for everything else they sell).
Panem, 21 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1. Some breads better than others. Focaccia is a good deal.
Meeting House Square Market, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Saturdays. A number of good options here, including the Maison and others unavailable elsewhere.

Gone downhill

Cookes. Around for a long time and widely available in Tesco. _Very_ expensive for what you get and while certainly better than some of the alternatives, frankly not worth it anymore. Their tomato and fennel isn't bad at the price; the price of their focaccia would give you a heart attack.

To be avoided at all costs

Cuisine de France. Kudos for being the first to promote half-edible French bread in Ireland but just doesn't cut it any longer. On the plus side, it is cheap and available everywhere.
La Brea. 'Artisan bread' half-baked in California, frozen, flown over here and finished off - not the traditional definition of 'artisan', and no, it doesn't work. Ludicrously expensive and just plain bad. Owned by IAWS (Cuisine de France.)
Tesco 'Finest'. The bread certainly isn't, although I must admit I find their ciabatta good for making hot dogs or burgers (and by that token not really a ciabbata!) Well overpriced, around the same price as the Maison bread and for that you are getting cardboard.

tj-music.com · 06-01-2006 1:24am

Tell me all about it.

I find that lately AVOCA offers a fine selection of bread.

Shabadu · 06-01-2006 1:48pm

Excellent thread. Stickied.

Maison de Gourmet & Blazing Salads bread are also available in the Deli in the Italian Quarter on the millenium lane.

Maison de Gourmet also stock the late-night Dunnes on George's street.

Dellgirl · 06-01-2006 1:51pm

Suppers Ready in Clontarf ( and other locations in the city - just cant rem where) do really nice baguettes. Pricey tho.

Enii · 06-03-2006 12:01am

There is a bread shop in Ongar Village, Dublin 15. They do a huge variety of breads.

tSubh Dearg · 06-03-2006 6:06pm

The Deli Boutique in Rathgar village does excellent baguettes and pastries that are fresh baked every morning. They also do lovely muffins and cakey things.

Raytown Rocks · 06-03-2006 6:07pm

Roly's Bistro in Ballsbridge sell lovely bread.
Just ask at the reception area of the Restaurant.

Shivvv · 22-05-2006 1:46pm

There's a new bakery - can't remember the name tho - on Terenure Road North. Seems to be owned by a youngish Eastern European Couple and the bread is very good. Downside is that its difficult to park around there.

Software Guru · 01-06-2006 3:51pm

Invest in a good bread maker. ;-)

Misty Moon · 20-06-2006 11:26am

The Corner Bakery on Harolds Cross Road, just before Terenure. Excellent bread - have tried a few different ones and liked most of them. Their Irish stick (as they call it - described as like a French stick only made with Irish ingredients and therefore better) is lovely, very hard to resist when you go in and they're still hot. Also the best, IMHO, bagels in Ireland - love to call in on a Sunday morning and get 'em while they're hot. And everything is reasonably priced.

luckat · 27-06-2006 2:24pm

Butler's Pantry in Rathgar has lovely bread.

killbillvol2 · 06-09-2006 9:09pm

blorg wrote:

[*]La Brea. 'Artisan bread' half-baked in California, frozen, flown over here and finished off - not the traditional definition of 'artisan', and no, it doesn't work. Ludicrously expensive and just plain bad. Owned by IAWS (Cuisine de France.)
[/LIST]

Interesting observation. I haven't tried it but was about to look out for it. There was an article an the Technology section of the Irish Times about this very bread last week! It's apparently a Bay Area Sourdough. The writer (threw out the paper so don't know her name) is a native of the area and was raving about it for the entire article. She reckoned it was close to the real thing. She must've really liked it since she was supposed to be writing about IT!

Just shows, bread will always attract different opinions. Now I'm going to have to spend a fortune to see if I agree with you or her!

blorg · 06-09-2006 9:47pm

hi killbill, La Brea have a range of breads one of which is the sourdough. Not 100% if I tried the La Brea sourdough but have definately tried other sourdoughs which I did like (so it's not the style), and have worked through a good amount of the La Brea range (due to it being stocked down in Donnybrook Fair and sometimes all that is left.) They are better than something like Cuisine de France or Tesco I guess but they are also horrendously overpriced and with every one it was easy to imagine how this style of bread could just be so much better, so much - fresher.

The La Brea bread may have been good if you were buying it freshly baked in California back when La Brea were a small operation, I just don't think the whole par-freezing and shipping halfway across the world does it any favours. Bread to me is meant to be something that is freshly made that morning and eaten the same day.

I think when a baker goes massively commercial (like La Brea) something also suffers. Their continued use of the word "artisan" to market their bread is flat out fraudulent; it suggests a level of personal attention that I just don't believe is there at the level they are producing at.

Similarly, the Maison des Gourmets bread, while still good for Dublin, is not a patch on what it used to be before their bakery burnt down and they rebuilt as a much bigger operation. It's probably now quite similar to French supermarket bread (which is effectively what it is on the scale they are producing.) On the flip side, it does now mean that you can pick up half-decent bread in any branch of Dunnes, which is a plus.

Of course I do admit to having particular tastes in bread, and there are styles that I'm not so fond of, so do go ahead and form your own opinion! I guess I would also have a bit of a principled objection to the idea of something like bread being produced in that way though, I feel it is something (one of the very few things) that should be produced locally.

eoinf · 06-09-2006 9:52pm

clarkes bakery on cabra road in dub 7

if your just looking for fresh white loafs , rolls , baguettes . nothing too fancy but good cheapish fresh bread . a few nice cakes also

killbillvol2 · 07-09-2006 5:09pm

blorg wrote:

The La Brea bread may have been good if you were buying it freshly baked in California back when La Brea were a small operation, I just don't think the whole par-freezing and shipping halfway across the world does it any favours. Bread to me is meant to be something that is freshly made that morning and eaten the same day.

I think when a baker goes massively commercial (like La Brea) something also suffers. Their continued use of the word "artisan" to market their bread is flat out fraudulent; it suggests a level of personal attention that I just don't believe is there at the level they are producing at.

Point taken. Can't see how mass produced bread that's shipped half way around the world could be up to scratch myself. I'll just stick to Bretzel - it's only around the corner!

Thanks for the reply, by the way.

sudzs · 23-09-2006 4:01pm

Tesco do a brown "Batard" which is really good! (IMHO!)

It has a proper real-bread flavour.

Flourpower · 02-10-2006 11:38am

Have followed the discussion on bread and the variety available in shops. Over 80% of all bread produced in Ireland is made in a factory (the plant bakeries are actually factories). As a nation we eat far less bread than anybody esle in Europe (except the British - their bread is just a bad). There are a few bakeries trying to supply good old fashioned breads but they usually have pricing difficulties with the supermarkets. The best bread is made by students at the National Bakery School. The school is located at DIT, Kevin Street, Dublin 8.

snickerpuss · 14-10-2006 8:02pm

Can anyone tell me of somewhere to get good pain au chocolats?
I love them oh so much, but know of nowhere good in town / northside to get one?
Didn't see any in maison des gourmets, though i must recommend their bagettes eaten with garlic butter....sooo good.

Mr. Presentable · 14-10-2006 8:06pm

tSubh Dearg wrote:

The Deli Boutique in Rathgar village does excellent baguettes and pastries that are fresh baked every morning. They also do lovely muffins and cakey things.

I've not tried it, but my French friend says their produce is "merde". I think he doesn't rate it:D

Dundalk Daily · 14-10-2006 8:19pm

Excellent thread. Home bakery in Dundalk does a few nice bits but nothing tooo exotic. I usually pick up bread when in the capital in places like Avoca or the french place behind powerscourt centre off Grafton street.

Dundalk Daily · 14-10-2006 8:20pm

Very difficult to get good fresh bagels, Im not talking about the crap sold in supermarkets. Its a bagel are prob best but v expensive to buy a bag of 5.

blorg · 15-10-2006 10:14pm

snickerpuss wrote:

Can anyone tell me of somewhere to get good pain au chocolats?
I love them oh so much, but know of nowhere good in town / northside to get one?
Didn't see any in maison des gourmets, though i must recommend their bagettes eaten with garlic butter....sooo good.

The Maison des Gourmets does do them (must have been out) and probably the best I've had in Dublin, not as good as France though. I think Dunnes may also carry them. Another place that does good ones but more particularly very good almond croissants is the purple Italian cafe in Ranelagh, Er Buchetto. Not sure where they are getting them from.

Huggles · 15-10-2006 10:20pm

Andersons, The Rise, Drumcondra, just off Griffith Avenue.

Fab!

athas · 14-11-2006 8:35pm

snickerpuss wrote:

Can anyone tell me of somewhere to get good pain au chocolats?
I love them oh so much, but know of nowhere good in town / northside to get one?
Didn't see any in maison des gourmets, though i must recommend their bagettes eaten with garlic butter....sooo good.

panem on lower ormond quay

good bread available at the hopsack in rathmines, they do a few diff kinds, blazing salads amoungst them, will try and remember the varieties

i also find mortons do good bread

Adeptus Titanicus · 04-12-2006 11:23pm

nipplenuts wrote:

I've not tried it, but my French friend says their produce is "merde". I think he doesn't rate it:D

Having lived down the road from them for 8 years, and bought there a fair bit, I'd agree with your friend. Much €€ for very plain and boring bread...

europhile · 18-12-2006 7:04pm

Itsabagel sell excellent frozen bagels imported from the US. A couple of different varieties.

Do not buy Maison des Gourmets bacon and onion bread if you have any respect for your waistline. We had to ban the stuff in our house. Drool.

Good small Polish bread shop on Capel Street (at the Bolton Street end). All the stuff is made in Dublin

Aedh Baclamh · 07-01-2007 3:15am

Where can you get proper wholemeal bread?

europhile · 21-01-2007 3:06pm

Blazing Salads?

NextSteps · 31-01-2007 6:05pm

Has anyone seen good Italian focaccia? the oily, salty, slightly flaky stuff - can't find it anywhere. All help appreciated!!

europhile · 31-01-2007 6:42pm

Don't know if Panem on Ormond Quay selsl bread retail.

But the stuff they make on the premises for use in their sandwiches is divine.

Nordie · 19-05-2007 8:18pm

Superquinn's own bakery in Blanchardstown do a vast range of breads including contential breads, they all very good and the best I've tried in a long time.

Bread - where to buy in Dublin?

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