Silk Road Cafe

I love the Chester Beatty and the love definitely extends to the museum’s café which serves up Middle Eastern delights in a lovely inner courtyard setting. I had the lemon chicken and it was light and fragrant, served up with some baked veggies in a tomato sauce it was wholesome as well as delicious. They have a great selection of mains and sides and the falafel plate sounded amazing, it’s made my list for next time.
The coffee I had to finish up was also great and the baklava look very tempting, but I went for the brownie, which was good but I wished I’d been braver and plumped for the little syrup-​soaked pastries instead! Just another reason to go back I guess!

Lovely wee spot, a touch different from most other museum cafes that I’ve been to. Obviously influenced by the eastern theme of much of the artworks of the Chester Beatty, the flavours here are of the Middle East and very tasty at that!
I had a very moreish chicken tagline followed by a not all that traditional apple tart with cream. I just wasn’t in the mood for the baklava which in fairness, looked yum. Finished with a lovely latte and left happy :)

This is a typical tourist trap-​y museum café. I only stopped in here for a coffee, but the menu options looked pretty good. I imagine this wouldn’t be a bad choice for lunch if you were already in the castle.

Fantastic falafel lunch with 5 different fresh mediterranean salads and baklava. Reasonably priced and great location in the library museum and next to Dublin castle courtyard.

This is a lovely relaxing café in the Chester Beatty Museum. Great menu with really tasty food, or even a really good place just to meet for a coffee and a chat

Nowhere better for a good coffee and a bit of baklava.
They have all sorts of eastern dishes which wifey loves and in front of junior I pretend to like too — like stuffed vine leaves, but really, I just go for the sugar soaked pastries.

If you’re looking for a calm place to chill or read a book and taste delicious pastries, this place is the right choice.
I love its atmosphere because it’s located near Dublin castle and inside a museum.

What a find! Gorgeous little café with amazing food! great selection of food and good vegetarian options too. 2 of us had the spinach pie and salad which was delicious. The other person with us had the lamb mousaka and vegetables. All 3 of us were very impressed. They have a good selection of deserts too. I will need to remember this little place.

Absolutely delicious food — the best way to describe the Silk Road Café. The selection of mains and salads were fantastic, and a half portion was more than enough. I was seriously tempted by the falafel balls, but I chose the mousakka in the end and was seriously impressed.
If you’re near Dublin castle and hungry, this is the place for you.

Museum cafes aren’t always good and once you eat at one like the Silk Road Café, you’d wish every museum had a café like this. I ordered a wonderful falafel that came with three different kinds of salad, as well as a piece of baklava. Everything was wonderful!
The service was also great.

Holy falafel balls! These are the best falafels of my life.
My mom and I spent the morning stumbling around Dublin’s sites after a full day of tours the day before. We were famished, we were hungry, our eyes were filled of gorgeous sites, yet our bellies were empty. Lo and behold, we land at this lovely establishment.
Their food all looked incredibly fresh, beautifully presented, and extraordinarily tasty and generous.
Now let’s talk about the balls. The falafel had the most decadent, scrumptious combination of chickpeas, sesame, and fresh herbs that all other falafels should aspire to become. It is freshly fried, crunchy on the outside and soft and tasty and crumbs just right on the inside, and it comes with a radiant color.
In addition, the salads that accompany this dish is adequate enough for a meal on its own. If only I lived in Dublin and can eat here regularly, highy recommend it as a treat, and eat as much as you can if you only have a day there! You can walk it off in the free rare books collection upstairs.

One of Dublin’s hidden culinary gems. Dine beside one of the greatest libraries in the world and revel in this delicious middle eastern fare. My chicken and vegetables lunch was sumptuous and no more than you’d pay for average pub-​grub nearby. Spice was perfectly balanced, too, not overwhelming, especially in the vegetables and curried rice. Well-​prepared vegetables are somewhat of a rarity in Dublin, so for this reason alone Silk Road excels. Overall one of the best meals I’ve had in this town.

My mother reminded me of this place when I was choosing somewhere to meet a friend. I’d been out the night before so I was tired and hungover-​hungry. We sat in the bright outer part of the restaurant. As we started to catch up, a Japanese drumming group began to play right behind us. They were talented but extremely loud so we shut up and tucked in.
We then moved inside for coffee so we could hear each other’s news. There was an amazing array of appetising desserts but I was too full so I settled for a soy latte which was so wonderfully strong that I felt immediately energised. Just remembering those meatballs is making me hungry all over again…

I did not eat here so this review is based purely on the décor/​ambience & coffee. The interior of the café is pleasant enough. I especially liked the sort of courtyard effect which was nice & bright, ivy on the wall etc. Myself and my companion had already eaten so we just ordered cappuccinos. We were going to get take away & sit outside but the take-​away cups (like so many other places) were massive so we decided to sit in instead & get a proper cappuccino. Best laid plans etc. The cappuccino was disgusting-​one of the worst ones I’ve ever had. I cannot understand why people who are employed are baristas are not taught how to make cappuccinos/​lattés etc properly. They don’t seem to even understand the basic difference between lattés and cappuccinos. Essentially, we were served scalding white coffees (& I mean scalding) with a very thin layer of froth on top. It tasted like instant coffee but cost € 2.60.

This little café was pointed out by a local, and it is fantastic!
I think I had one of the best cappuccinos I’ve ever had here, and loved the menu and ambiance. It had an open, airy feeling, and the variety of world music that played at a nice soft volume complemented the café.
I wanted to sit outside (or inside rather) in the atrium of the museum lobby, but being that it was such a gorgeous day outside, all the seats were taken. Nonetheless, I grabbed a trashy magazine and proceeded to enjoy my stuffed grape leaves and capp for a good hour before heading off to the Matisse exhibit.
I still think to this day that that cappuccino was superb. The staff was knowledgeable about what they offered and attentive throughout the dining experience. If you’re in the area, definitely stop by here, at least for coffee. It’ll be a nice little break in your day that you won’t regret!

Back to one of my favourite spots, The Chester Beatty Library. This time for some lunch. This is my first time trying the Silk road café and I’m happy to report good things. The café is located in the main foyer of the Museum and you can dine inside or like we did today, get take out and sit in the gardens outside.
The food has a middle eastern theme and is plentiful if a little on the pricey side. € 20 for a main lunch course, with coffee and a desert. The place was busy and the staff a little stretched but the managed well despise the many questions from customers, along the lines of ‘where are the chips’? and ‘what’s baklava’
So not your normal lunch time canteen anyway but the dish I had, the Palestinian chicken was filling and fresh and came with a salad. A lunch outside on the green in front of the Museum made for a great meal as the sun shone, for a change! All the deserts looked very devour able and the apple strudel gets the thumbs up for me. The coffee was great too.
Also the Museum is well worth a look and even if you don’t want to go in lunch in the Silk road is a slightly different lunchtime experience. They don’t do chips in case you were wondering.