Simon’s Place
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Location:
22 S Great Georges St
Visited:
over 2 years ago
Reviewed by:
Martin McKenna
Rating:
Lunch in Dublin can get very boring indeed. This seems most true of all when all you want is a sandwich. Somehow, this simplest of desires is often hardest to satisfy—especially if you can’t stand the idea of another bloody panino or a messy deli counter specimen. Happily, for such occasions, there’s Simon’s Place.
Located in the George’s St Arcade, this venerable caf has remained absolutely identical since the first time I visited, seven years ago—as has its menu, which is rightly focused on the sandwich. They’re all pre-wrapped in clingfilm, but don’t let that put you off. You’ll get two thick slices of light but not spongy wholemeal, crunchy, fresh butterhead lettuce, non-soggy tomato, your chosen filling and lashings of Hellman’s. Cheese is in slabs; chicken was once roasted and shredded; ham is offered with a packet of mustard. There’s egg and a fancy prawn option too. A word of warning, though: if you don’t like Hellman’s, best give these a miss.
Salads are equally unpretentious, with a chunky pepper mix, a Waldorf impersonator and a pasta salad with a real punch of raw garlic on offer. You can also have any soup you like, as the saying goes, as long as it’s General Vegetable Soup, the pleasingly Stalinist name that Simon’s Place gives to the stuff. Unfortunately, the soup itself is pretty forgettable—thin with an anonymous, overcooked flavour.
There’s great people watching to be had out the windows to the piercing place opposite, and the posters and flyers covering every inch of available space should provide enough reading material to get you through your sandwich.
If you’ve had enough of cafés going through the motions of a toasted mozzarella something-or-other just because every other café is, then visit this ageless spot for the kind of lunch your Mum would’ve packed for you, and all the better for it.
