O’Donovan

Visiting Ireland from NY. We had Unilocaled for places with early breakfast since our flight landed at 4:30am and we got into Dublin at around 5:30am.
Being visitors, it took a bit of time for us to find this place. No seats inside but a table with 4 chairs were available outside.
The lady at the counter was very nice and surprisingly, Chinese. She responded to us in Chinese after hearing my friends and myself speak. :)
Super cheap breakfast. tea was € 1.1, coffee was € 1.3, scones by itself was € 0.65. We didn’t have much of a choice for scones (only ones available were raisins) but it was pretty delicious. Not too dry and nice density.
Very much a no frills place. We ate outside on the street.
Be careful of the hot tea… both friends who got tea said it burned their mouth.

Love this place! I’ve been coming here for breakfast recently — it’s open by 6am, very helpful. It’s also cheap! I can get a big scone with jam, a regular coffee, and a banana for € 2.70. The ladies at the counter are very nice and willing to accommodate, and while I haven’t been in for lunch yet (not actually sure when it closes, but I’m assuming early afternoon?) it also functions as a nice little grocery since it sells stuff like dish soap. Highly convenient for me as a TCD student!
As a quick breakfast shop it definitely gets 5 stars!
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I’ve now been in for lunch, and it’s just as good as breakfast! Got a ploughman’s sandwich for 3.40, and everything was fresh and delicious (and filling — this was a pretty big sandwich). They wrapped it up for me quite nicely and I couldn’t have been happier!

A little step back in time, but I had a pretty amazing (a huge) BLT roll here for pretty cheap (I think it was 3.20).
I’ve heard tell of their amazing breakfast rolls. I might have to resist the urge to go here more often just to prevent myself from eating all the bacon all the time.
This place is a tiny shop… and the menu is on the window, so you kind of need to decide what you want before you go in. Orders are taken through a hatch and with great efficiency emerge later. While you wait you struggle to get out of the way of other customers because it’s all so tiny!

Small, independent shop that carries the basics. Stopped in on my way to work for a coffee and a raisin scone. Coffee was good, scone was tasty and the price couldn’t be beat.
Little shops like this are welcome to see in business as the big chain coffee shops continue to displace small, family run shops.
Hooray for small business and hooray for the great cup of coffee, satisfying scone and reasonable price from O’Donovan.

If you’re looking for a no frills roll or panini to get you through the day this is the place to go. They’ve been making great sandwiches here since before the inventor of Subway was born. The queues are regularly out the door and it’s no wonder with such great lunch food. The shop is tiny but they’re efficient at what they do. My go to choice is the Tijuana Chicken Panini and it never disappoints. Soup is also available. The shop itself is like a time capsule, it feels like entering a country shop in the 70s and is an experience in itself. One of Dublin’s hidden gems.

This is The place that saw me through college.
The place is probably unchanged since it was opened in 1764. There’s a glass counter at which you order your sandwich, prepared by one of the efficient Filipinos, the matronly bean an ti, or if you were lucky, the Gaffer.
I say lucky because the Gaffer’s take on how big a sandwich should be is ridiculous.
The food is really cheap, and great value. Less than € 4 for a panini!
It’s a really small place though, very ridiculous, give it a visit at 1pm some day, the shop is about as big as a cubicle, and you’ll find 15 people inside, mostly students and builders

A good rule of thumb when it comes to finding, cheap, tasty, unhealthy lunch food is to follow a builder. The things I do for Unilocal is really admirable. Like a wildlife journalist I hung outside a building site, gazing at a multitude of pale ass crack in their natural habitat. Mentally urging them to go eat some meat to add to their ample rumps.
Those fellas certainly can get a move on when it’s time to eat, suddenly they sprinted like antelope to O’Donovan and I followed them too with my telescopic camera lens. I ventured into their feeding ground to sample the breakfast roll that they got again for lunch, dear Lord! It was sinfully good and cheap, it will probably take me a week to walk it off though but I feel better letting you know where to get one of the best breakfast rolls in the city.