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Why are there not more Veggie restaurants in Dublin?

  • 14-04-2011 04:27PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭


    I know that there's a few and the ones we have are good, but on the whole I find the selection a little sparse. What is worse, is the selection of veggie food in mainstream restaurants in Dublin. (One choice, ususally risotto, or a stuffed vegetable, not that I don't like them, but seriously....again?)

    I've just returned from a couple of days away in London and Brighton and I've just had the most amazing food ever. Was in Camdem for a bit and ate at a vegan/raw food restaurant that was packed to the rafters. Then I headed down to Brighton to specifically go to Terre a Terre, which I have no words to describe the food. There was a huge selection of veggie restaurants and even mainstream ones, had a wide variety of options for veggies/vegans.

    Is there just a smaller proportion of the Dublin population that is veggie/vegan and that there is no market? Or is it that many Irish people can't envision a meal without meat so that when you go out with friends or family, you envariably have to go to a meat-serving restaurant before they have palpitations, and teh veggie restaurants lose out on business?

    Have a great weekend of that feeling of veggie indesciveness in which I stood gazing at the menus for about twenty minutes, becuase there was more than one option. :D


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,851 ✭✭✭PurpleFistMixer


    I believe Brighton is, for whatever reason, particularly veggie-friendly, so I wouldn't compare it to Dublin.


  • Posts: 11,928 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I find the standard of restaurants in Dublin is generally poor.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,017 ✭✭✭Leslie91


    Take it you know Cornucopia just off Grafton St?. I always find it great if a little pricey.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,571 ✭✭✭Aoifey!


    I've never been in a vegetarian restaurant. I'd love to go to one some day, it'd be great not to have to worry about choices too much or have to question the waiter.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,851 ✭✭✭PurpleFistMixer


    The choice is terrible in a way. I like when I only have to decide between two things on a menu...


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭diddlybit


    Yeah, love Cornucopia. Never can finish the whole meal though, portions are huge! It would be nice to have the choice between somewhere casual and somewhere a little more formal for special occasions.

    @PurpleFistMixer Sometimes it can be a really bad thing! I find myself an indecisive wreck when faced with a choice of more than two dishes. :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,173 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    You have to remember that London in particular has almost twice the population of Ireland, jammed into an area smaller than Co. Westmeath. In other words, take all of the veggie restaurants in Ireland, double them and move them all to Westmeath and it'll certainly feel like westmeath has a lot of veggie restaurants. :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭diddlybit


    seamus wrote: »
    You have to remember that London in particular has almost twice the population of Ireland, jammed into an area smaller than Co. Westmeath. In other words, take all of the veggie restaurants in Ireland, double them and move them all to Westmeath and it'll certainly feel like westmeath has a lot of veggie restaurants. :)

    :) Then I'd have to travel to Westmeath to eat...:eek: I understand London, but Brighton's got a population of about half a million, which is about half of dublin, and the variety of restaurants is a lot more diverse. It's quite young, as it has two universities, but Dublin has too. Even the greasy spoon cafes had scrambled tofu on the menu alongside the english breakfasts.

    It would almost be enough to make me emigrate, were I to follow my stomach :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,088 ✭✭✭henryporter


    Not only are there very few vegetarian restaurants in Dublin; there aren't any good ones! Cornucopia or Juice or Cafe Fresh are all very average in my opinion - stodgy meals that give vegetarian food a bad name; hence the reason a lot of meat eaters wouldn't be seen in any of them. The last meal I had in Cornucopia (about 2 months ago) was overpriced and not very inspiring.

    Contrast that to Cafe Paradiso in Cork which is a proper restaurant in all senses of the word - inventive seasonal food that makes you feel like you have had something special. (And as I've said before I'm not related to Cafe Paradiso; just a happy customer).

    Like the OP I can't understand why nobody has taken up the opportunity to provide Dublin with a real good alternative to the three mentioned at the top of my post.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 41,232 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    Its not really a restaurant or strictly speaking in Dublin but I really love the food in the happy pear in Greystones

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 7,513 ✭✭✭Blisterman


    Dublin, unlike most towns in England doesn't have much of an indian population, so I'd imagine that the amount of people who don't eat meat for religious/cultural reasons is much less.

    Hence, I'd imagine that in Ireland, it's rare that vegetarians are the majority in a group when picking a place to eat, so the demand's probably not there for more than a handful.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭diddlybit


    Cafe Paradisio is next on my list. Have the cookbook and it just looks amazing. (Not that I've been daring enough to try anything just yet:mad:.)

    Will definately check out the Happy Pear on my way home soon- food pit stop!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,070 ✭✭✭✭pq0n1ct4ve8zf5


    Ye Jackeens don't know ye're BORN up there. "Ooooh we only have like five vegetarian restaurants and twelve health food shops" :p

    There's I think two down here, one of which (Cafe Paradiso) while absolutely gorgeous is very much on the pricier side. And the situation in normal restaurants is very similar, Wagamamma's is probably the best place to bring a mixed group and not everyone likes it. Though there is a cafe around the corner from me that does a massive veggie breakfast, with veggie sausages and everything.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,231 ✭✭✭stereo_steve


    Ye Jackeens don't know ye're BORN up there. "Ooooh we only have like five vegetarian restaurants and twelve health food shops" :p

    There's I think two down here, one of which (Cafe Paradiso) while absolutely gorgeous is very much on the pricier side. And the situation in normal restaurants is very similar, Wagamamma's is probably the best place to bring a mixed group and not everyone likes it. Though there is a cafe around the corner from me that does a massive veggie breakfast, with veggie sausages and everything.

    http://translate.google.com/#auto|en|Ye%20Jackeens%20don%27t%20know%20ye%27re%20BORN%20up%20there

    Not even googel can work that out. Must be because I'm a jackeen!


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,119 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    I believe Brighton is, for whatever reason, particularly veggie-friendly, so I wouldn't compare it to Dublin.

    Even pubs in england have better food than most veggie places here :p


    Can't compare cafe paradiso (still yet to go :(:() to other places here, they are not trying to appeal to the same thing. I don't see why people think cornucopia is over priced, 3 salads with a main (usually at least one/two delicious ones) for 12ish. You wouldn't even get a starter in cafe paradiso for that, with mains being double that, sure paradiso might be better but it's comparing a buffet with a proper restaurant. Cornucopia also has better food than the veggie option in 99% of restaurants I've eaten in here, not hard, who would charge you 15-22ish for a main, unless you get a set menu, early bird etc. The set menu in paradiso is 35e, you'd pay double that if you ate from the main menu.

    Would love to live in britain, for the availability of veggie food.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭diddlybit


    99% of restaurants I've eaten in here, not hard, who would charge you 15-22ish for a main, unless you get a set menu, early bird etc.

    And the veggie choices on the early birds or set menus tend to be really realy dire. There's a restaurant around the corner from me that I've been dying to try, but I can only afford the set menu. The veggie starter and main both have goat's cheese in them. I love the stuff but, for a starter and main? (Silly chef :mad:)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,788 ✭✭✭ztoical


    Would love to live in britain, for the availability of veggie food.

    While I agree availability of veggie food options in certain shops is better in the uk then Ireland, the eating out options might not be that great depending on were you live. I've been living in London for the last 18 months and the veggie options in my area are very limited and I don't eat any better or worse then I did in Ireland. While there might be a great selection of vegan/ veggie places in the city they tend to be focused on certain areas of the city and the amount of time it takes to get to them using public transport can be very off putting and alot of the time just not worth the effort. If I was moving somewhere based on veggie food options it would be Seattle or Portland.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11 Paulistanos


    There is no need for more veggie restaurants... we have Burger King bean burgers.... what more could we possibly need?

    I don´t like the McD Veggie burgers though, does that make me weird?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,805 ✭✭✭Setun


    Ireland could do with a few more places like The Happy Pear - the lads who run the place are dead on, the food is incredible and there is an excellent vibe about the place. Everybody is always in good humour there! I'd highly recommend any Dubs to get the dart down to greystones on a hot day - the Happy Pear even do take away so if the place is packed (usually is tbh), you can take your grub down the beach for a picnic! :)


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