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20th December 2016
12:10am GMT
I don’t know whats going on with Baggot Street, but there are high-end food places popping up there at the moment quicker than Catherine Murphy can ask questions in the Dáil.
Most seem to be fancy healthy eating joints – and just like Manchester has the 'Curry Mile', this part of town is quickly becoming Dublin's very own 'Paleo Mile'.
One of this healthy spots is Cocu which I reviewed a couple of months ago and absolutely loved. Visiting it the second time it dawned on me that it's quite like the McDonald’s of the health world – and I don’t say that with any disrespect.
I could have mixed the order up about 40 other different ways with add-ons but that was exactly what I wanted.
I love a McDonald’s a month (Fillet O’fish, nuggets and chips with a large coke if you're interested), and Cocu have a very similar ordering system with the focus on nicely packaged meals with little bits to add on and affordable prices.
This time I was back looking for brunch. And crucially, since I had a plane to catch, I needed something I could order and eat in 15 minutes flat. Cocu seemed perfect for this – there are only about 12 seats in the place, and with no wifi or table service, they aren’t looking for you to linger.
What they do here are little pots of eggs, some porridges and other simple bits. I ordered one of the pots of eggs with chorizo, beans and bacon, along with a little avocado on the side with a slice of toast. I could have mixed the order up about 40 other different ways with add-ons but that was exactly what I wanted.
I presumed you got a plate but you don’t – you eat everything out of the pots and you know, as strange as that sounds, it really works. Everything was fresh, served up in about three minutes a tasty as bejaysis.
My fresh juice on the side was squeezed as I waited and I had more than a euro's change from a tenner. Whats not to love about all that? Several people came in and were confused by the ordering system, and I could even hear some grumbles, but they all changed to happy faces like mine as they tucked into wonderful fresh food.
Don’t come here expecting to lounge around and read the papers. This is a place to grab lunch on the way to play a football match or after the gym. It’s a spot for brunch when you don’t actually have the two hours you need for brunch. You could easily eat it while stopped in traffic, or holding onto a handrail on the bus.
It's the fast food of brunch with the same quality ingredients as you’d expect in a top Dublin restaurant. I’ll be back. A lot.
