Avoca Food Market & Salt Café is as lovely a shopping experience as we’ve come to expect from the uber chic Avoca stable.
The usual trinkets, textiles and interior delights are absent in this first ever food only operation, but they’re hardly conspicuous by their absence; instead counters, fridges and shelves dazzle with a gourmet selection of mouth watering arrays to buy and take home.
It’s quite lovely to do a lap of the fragrant pastries, glistening vegetables, pungent cheeses and aromatic rotisserie chicken en route to the bustling café out back.
All day long Salt does a roaring trade in signature scones, flamboyant bakes, savoury tarts, wholesome casseroles and colourful salads. The flavours are as fresh as ever and seasonality is key, as is the way with all of Avoca’s offerings.
Salt’s décor is a blend of shabby chic and vintage styling. Think distressed wood, grey walls, marble-topped tables, linen banquettes and retro art. By day it’s bright and open, by night candlelit and intimate. Open for dinner three evenings a week, the restaurant was quick to become a popular spot with southside foodies.
Chef Mark McGillycuddy uses plenty of great Irish products, like Castletownbere crab, Dublin Bay prawns, Gubbeen and Five-Mile-Town goat’s cheese, though it would be good to see even more provenance included on the appetising menu. The dry-aged sirloin with fluffy chips, topnotch béarnaise and green beans is sure to become a favourite, while kale gratin makes for an imaginative and delicious side.
Everyone will enjoy the friendly atmosphere and amicable buzz of this neighbourhood restaurant, which has all the charm and familiarity of Avoca’s sister properties.
