Cornucopia, where vegetables and lesbians collide
If you are looking for good value vegetarian food in Dublin, forget it. If, however, you are looking for really good vegetarian food that is only marginally overpriced, then Cornucopia on Wicklow St, just off Grafton St, is the best place to go. To be honest, your only real alternative is Govinda's, which I don't really like because it employs Hare Krishnas and it defintely implies that fried cheese is good for you.
Cornucopia is an altogether better bet. It employs quirkily sexy lesbians and former goths (there's some overlap between these groups) and the food is delicious. It's not really cheap - a main course costs up to a tenner which feels pricey in the casual cafe-style surroundings for a load of mushed vegetables - but the salad plates and soups are reasonable and very tasty. You can also get a variety of herbal teas, good coffee and extravagant desserts. The staff are friendly and there's a funny collegiate atmosphere which is partly to do with the cramped tables and partly to do with the solidarity of the hipster staff in the face of snotty customers who get rude because they can't square the city-centre overpriced lunchtime rush with the laid-back homely feel of the place. Don't go at lunchtime. You'll find yourself queuing for ages, unable to get a seat and feeling irritable, and the staff don't respond well to that.
Cornucopia is at its best in the summer and if you can get a stool at the front window, it's a great place to spend an afternoon thinking deep thoughts, perusing Gay Community News and watching the world go by on Wicklow St. (It's funny how much of the world seems to be routed through Wicklow St on a summer day; most of it, by my reckoning.)
