What should we know about Rustic Honey?
Deep within the concrete jungle of Cherrywood business park is a little sanctum in the form of Rustic Honey. Coffee nut Anna Shipley started off serving cups of Joe from a hole in the wall, before expanding into a full on bakery and subsequent brunch spot. They supply baked goods for places like Grounded, Glovers, and Two Fifty Square, and serve all day brunch on the weekends, as well as breakfast and lunch during the week.
What did you have?
Rustic Honey's brunch menu is well rounded, with options from eggs Benny to Turkish, French toast to waffles, as well as some sandwiches. There's also a bakery counter up the front with lots of pastries and sausage rolls (vegan and non vegan).
We started with two items that came in roll form, the cinnamon and sausage. The cinnamon roll (which happens to be vegan) didn't scrimp on the delicious filling, but the dough was a little too dense. The sausage roll on the other hand had perfect, flaky handmade pastry, with well spiced sausage and a healthy serving of Ballymaloe relish. No better way to start the day.
We find it hard to pass on Huevos Rancheros, and Rustic Honey's has crispy cubes of potato, chorizo, roasted tomatoes, fried eggs, sriracha mayo, and chilli honey. We had all the hopes but it fell a little short, with chorizo few and far between, and eggs fried hard, making it all a bit dry (god bless the drizzle of sriracha mayo). This felt more like a potato side dish than a main event, and at €14.50, we couldn't help feeling slightly swizzed.
It's not often that porridge grabs our attention on a brunch menu, but Rustic Honey top their slow cooked oats with maple syrup, banana, berry compote, mixed seeds, and crushed biscoff. It tasted ultra comforting, with the berry compote giving it a nice fruity zing, but it could have been a little more elevated for the price (€8.50), by caramelising the banana or amping up the toppings.
The brioche French toast on the other hand got a sizeable thumbs up, with the fluffiest, cloud-like bread topped with bacon, maple syrup, fruit coulis and fresh berries. The portion was a leeettle small for the price (€14.50) but it was a brunchtime dream.
Their Smoky Joe sandwich was disappointingly back to missing the mark. Slices of chicken breast topped with applewood cheddar, slivers of chorizo and rocket on a ciabatta all felt a little nineties, and there was nothing remotely smokey about it, but it does beat Subway or Starbucks next store.
What about drinks?
Coffee is Imbibe so you should be in for a good time (barista permitting), and they serve the somewhat hard to find matcha, (as well as a blue version). Their soft drinks are pretty standard, with vit hits, san pellegrinos, and kombucha. Oh and a selection of monster energy drinks, if you're feeling spicy.
Why should I go?
Rustic Honey is a well needed addition to the area, and while the food is not something we'd travel miles for, it's definitely the best option and the most solid cup of coffee around.
Rustic Honey
Unit 5, Building 5, The Campus, Cherrywood Business Park, Dublin 18
