€21.56 For Salad And A Lemonade In This Dublin Café – Are We Going Back To Bad Old Habits?

One of the few redeeming features of the recession was that it brought us back to earth with a bang. The mad, ludicrous shite that had been going on since around 1998 was brought to a shuddering halt, and from property to pints, prices suddenly started to look a lot more reasonable the further away the Celtic Tiger retreated. Alas, history wouldn't be history if it didn't repeat itself – and we've seen some very worrying signs of the old mentality creeping into the pub and restaurant scene across Dublin. Such as this bill for a pretty basic lunch – a duck salad with lemonade – in the Avoca Café on Suffolk Street, which was shared with us today.

So we're back to paying €21.56 for lunch. Great. #avoca @avocaireland pic.twitter.com/AJSiPbRaov

— Rachel O'Donovan (@Phaedria) September 28, 2015

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  Yes, you can check the menu before you commit to eating somewhere, and yes, good food costs money – but both of those things are beside the point here. This isn't some high-end establishment at the forefront of food innovation; it's the Avoca Café, serving decent but fairly standard fare in a decent but fairly standard setting. (Killer sambos, mind...) Going north of a tenner for lunch is grand if you want to treat yourself to something special. But popping above the €20 mark? Ridiculous. Thankfully there are plenty of better and cheaper options in the immediate vicinity. But nonetheless, there's a whiff of ridiculousness about this, and we can't help but feel like it's starting to spread...