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Expresso Bar Café

Great flavour-packed food, good value and efficient service invariably pleases the loyal following at Ann-Marie Nohl's clean-lined informal restaurant, which is renowned for carefully sourced ingredients that make a flavour statement on the plate.

An all-morning breakfast menu offers many of the classics, often with a twist: thus a simple poached egg on toast comes with crispy bacon and relish, porridge is a class act topped with toasted almonds and honey, and French toast comes with bacon, or winter berries and syrup.

Lunch and dinner menus tend to favour an international style, but the same high standards apply: whether it's a Dublin Bay Prawn pil pil with Chilli, coriander, char-grilled lime and crusty toast, or grilled balsamic chicken with a peach and baby spinach salad, or a vegetarian pasta such as fettucine with black olive, rocket, sundried tomato tapenade & oven roasted vine tomatoes, it's the quality of the ingredients and cooking that make the food here special.

Wines on display add to the atmosphere, and an informative and well-chosen wine list offers half a dozen by the glass, and a pair of half bottles.

Weekend brunch is a must.

Seats 60 (outdoor, 14); not suitable for children after 5pm; air conditioning. Open Mon-Fri, 7.30am-9pm (B 7.30- 11.30am; L 12-5.30, D 6-9pm), Sat 9am-9.30pm (L 9-5, D 6-9.30pm), Sun brunch 10am-5pm. Closed D Sun, 25 Dec, 1 Jan, Good Friday. MasterCard, Visa, Laser.

Directions:

Opposite Dylan Hotel, off Upper Baggot Street