What should we know about Vada?
Formerly V-Face, this corner spot where Smithfield meets Stoneybatter has been reinvented by the same owner as "a neighbourhood café committed to sustainability". On first glance it ticks all the zeitgeisty café boxes, and looks like a rebrand undertaken after plenty of research into what diners want.
What's the seating sitch?
Somewhere between cool café and modern British pub, with banquettes on the sides and tables in the middle - try to avoid the ones near the door or you'll be faced with intermittent gusts of air. The acoustics aren't great, with one small speaker playing barely audible music, and it took effort not to listen to other people's conversations.
What's on the menu?
Three options in the morning and three at lunch, but check the board for specials. We would have liked to see breakfast served all day - is there a bad time for mushrooms on toast and breakfast brioche? Prices are punchy (when are we not saying that lately) and the same for takeaway - we can't see many people taking €15 sambos to the office so imagine they'll be reliant on sit-ins.
The porchetta sambo (€15) comes with pesto aioli, herby apple slaw, pink onions and rocket on focaccia. It's a drippy, messy, vibrant combination that you'll struggle to put down, regardless of stomach space. Parsnip crisps were pleasant, but under-dressed, unseasoned salad leaves didn't add anything.
A coconut laksa special (€15) came with optional chicken (€4 extra) or tofu (€2 extra). With the meat from standard battery hens with no provenance worth shouting about, we went for tofu, and the batter here could turn any meat eater. It's a bowl packed with goodness, the creamy spicy sauce enveloping rice noodles, crunchy veg and fragrant herbs. It was so close to being perfect, but missed some fish sauce (or salt) and a squeeze of lime to complete the flavour circle.
Miso pumpkin salad is a riot of flavours and textures with house-made labneh, plum jam, tricolour quinoa, crispy shallots and rocket. Sweet and savoury combine beautifully in a bowl to do your body good, with no carb crash to follow.
You'll find homemade desserts on the counter, including teeny squares of Basque cheesecake (at the not teeny price of €4).
What should have been a lighter than air, softer than silk, creamy texture was sadly dry, verging on powdery, and the "fermented plum" on top tasted like raw, under-ripe plum.
What about drinks?
House-made water kefir is the star of the show, with rotating flavours fermenting on shelves up high, made with produce that might have otherwise gone in the bin. We loved the raspberry and hibiscus, and you can add sparkling wine for a spritzer. Coffee is from Roasted Brown and was flawless.
Why should I go?
There's a lot to like about Vada, with the focus on seasonality and sustainable eating two big ticks, but we'd like to see this reflected in their meat sourcing too. There's a genuinely unique repertoire of breakfast and lunch dishes that aren't on twenty other menus around town, and between that and the bistro vibes we can see it having a steady stream of customers.
Vada
30 North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7
