Fumbally Café has become a staple of Liberties community 

The Liberties area has an abundance of good places to enjoy meals, with small businesses and produce right at our doorstep. 

The Fumbally Café is a staple that serves more than coffee and brunch and sells artisan-baked goods and fresh produce. 

The owners, Luca and Aisling, took over the vacant building where the cafe now lies in 2012 before adding another building that would be an event space in 2015.  

The adjacent ‘Stables’ is a popular events space. The website describes it as “somewhere for us to develop ideas and projects outside of the cafe confines, which has grown into a much more all-encompassing space that is open to many diverse activities but keeps food and community at its core.”

The café on the corner of Fumbally Lane and Clanbrassil Street, is a good place for a quiet morning coffee or brunch with your closest friends.  

“There is a sense of community here,” says the café supervisor, Ciarán Gildea. “It’s very diverse, and that makes it unique.”

“We open arms to all kinds of communities, and there’s always so much happening here.” 

The café’s decoration is focused on a homely feel, with vintage and wooden decor, lighting akin to fairy lights, with cottage style seating and presentation of baked goods.  

The cafe aims to source locally and has a zero-waste policy.

“We also have a Dublin 8 local mushroom grower just up the road, from which we’ve been getting our mushrooms, which is amazing,” Gildea says. 

“What we tend to do is when we have a lot of leftover veg that’s not selling we always keep an eye on that, and with the leftover veg we have, that goes straight to the kitchen and they create dishes from it.” 

This also gives the cafe a chance to ‘create something new on the menu or add a new ingredient to an existing dish.’

He adds, “We tend to always create dishes from things which are in season, and it helps to educate others for when produce is at its finest.”

“We have free veggie boxes for the community, too. We are surprised, but some people, even if fruit or veg have a little dent or mold, still take it and use it, which is perfect,” Gildea says.

What are the Fumbally favourites? “Our customers always love flat whites and chai. Our chai is homemade, so it’s a more special touch that is appreciated,” Gildea says, and notes also a love for the sandwiches, scrambled eggs, and focaccia. 

The cafe’s diversity is also shown through its staff, who come from diverse backgrounds and communities.

“Everyone is unique and very open-minded, whether you have an issue or want to speak about something. Everyone here is willing to support the community. The staff is definitely what makes it,” he says.  

“Ninety-nine per cent of the time, you have great customers, and everyone is nice. You do have ups and downs, but everyone coming here is nice and down-to-earth, interested in things around them, which you don’t really see these days,” he adds.  

The café includes a shop selling local vegetables, wine, condiments, a bakery aisle, and fruit.

The Stables venue, meanwhile, regularly hosts a Friday night dinner. This concept brings together the locals in Liberties and throughout Dublin.  

“The idea is to create these three long tables, and anyone sits anywhere and has dinner together. It can be someone chatting to their neighbour or finding a new friend they wouldn’t have otherwise met,” Gildea explains.  

The Stables also hosts monthly vintage markets and was home to a Polish Wine Festival on April 6th to highlight new Polish winemakers starting to sell in Ireland.