Isn’t it amazing how quickly trends form in our little city? Burrito bars popped up all over the place. Then BBQ joints. Restaurants with a focus on cocktails. You go from never knowing what a macaroon was to standing in a long queue behind some dirty hipsters stroking their beards outside the latest pop up organic cafe discussing the must have flavor quicker than the Czech Inn went viral. Well you probably noticed the latest trend popping up at the start of the year from everybody instagramming the shit out of their new year detoxes. Getting healthy is kind of a big deal in Dublin right now. Juicing is nothing new of course but a bunch of enterprising young Dubliners have copped on that buying a juicer is pretty cheap, there are loads of cut price small retail units and young professionals have no bother slapping down 70 lids for a bit of blended fruit that cost a tenner all in the name of feeling good and cleansing our bodies from all the Xmas excess.
As with every trend though most places serve average stuff at best and one venue goes above and beyond and takes things to another level. That place is Ness on Dame Lane. There is no competition and you can stop looking because these two brothers serve up the best juice in Dublin. Taking their inspiration from living in California (where you observe all Dublin trends happening 12 months in advance) they’ve opened a pop up shop in Dublin’s Dame lane. apparently they only have it for 10 weeks but you wouldn’t know that from the slick minimalist design. This feels like walking into a high end retail store even though you know they’ve done it on a budget. Their branding is a lesson to anybody opening a business from their shop to website and through to their Facebook page. Restaurants, cafes and bars come and go but if you nail the branding and spend some money on creating something special at the start you give yourself a chance of creating something much bigger and lasting. This is the crackbird model of building it on a budget but doing it with love and standing out and it will stand to them in the long run as the hipsters stop spending their 70 Euros but the masses keep coming as real long term customers looking for a quality product.
The juices are simply incredible. They don’t just fuck all the fruit in a blender and hope for the best. There are herbs, subtle balanced flavors and because they are cold pressed they are better for you and have shit ton more flavor. I love small Irish businesses like this and lets hope the lads find a permanent home. The recession has launched a load of new foodie entrepreneurs like Ness and even though this is another trend that will come and go as quickly as a hipster can cycle their fixie down South William Street these lads are the real deal and they’ll be around for a long time. Get down and check it out. Easily the best juice in Dublin.