Napoli Coffee & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Municipal District of Carrigaline

Short of it : exquisite place, me and the wife decided to become regulars. Long of it? Hold on folks, I fell in heaven and I'm about to ramble for a while :P

The place is wonderful, with a very cozy atmosphere and feels warm and inviting. The whole place is small, has about 20-25 chairs all together, but the atmosphere makes up for it in droves. The white painted walls with the large front window make the place be bathed in light, and the place turns form small to snug, from crowded to warm and alive. The giggle of a 3 year old cherub and his 4 year old princess sister both eating without a single fuss is more of a testimony to the taste than i could ever give.

The tall fridge on the side holds produce for sale. I believe my lasagna came from it and was heated up, mark of quality in my opinion, serving the same food for home as the one in the restaurant and not easy to do. There are bookshelves holding wine, pasta and coffee (even salt) for sale, all Neapolitan. The place has people coming and going constantly, buying stuff for home or eating in, having a coffee or food.

Speaking of the food... Oh my God, the food... so light, so tasty... you know how some places say that the food is made by hand, but you can feel the involvement of some shortcuts? If there where any shortcuts taken here, i could not feel them. There are 3 courses that are always on the menu(you can see them in the pictures), and then there are some in the menu of the day. My wife and I like to share the food, especially when first trying a new restaurant, so we can taste more things. Here's what we had.

The burrata: is made with a creamy center (no strands) and has no signs of ageing whatsoever. Only the slightest hint of acidity to enhance the taste of milk. It's served on a bed of thinly sliced lightly cured meat with just the right balance of tenderness and ageing, shavings of parmigiano and rocket leafs, with a drizzle of mild olive oil. I must confess that true to my Romanian roots I stole a slice of home made fluffy inside and chewy crust bread form my wife's plate to eat it with. Exquisite. (you'll hear me using this word quite a few times).

The lasagna: made from scratch, and I mean from top to bottom. The tomato sauce has the acidity driven out showing hours of slow cooking time, the pasta for it is house made, the parmigiano just in the right amount and even the salt level is perfect. Perfectly balanced. Best I had, really. Light, fluffy and tasty from first to last bite. I suggest a glass of red wine on the side so that it's tannin clean the palate. Exquisite.

The vegetable soup: just the right balance of lightness and thickness, tasty and hot in a large bowl, served with bread and butter. Even as not a fan this was excellent.

And now, the espresso: OH... MY... GOD! First of all, hand pulled by Antonio, the owner. The smell, the crema, the taste... All perfect. No other way to describe it. To put things into perspective wife drinks maybe a handful of sips of coffee a year, she's not a fan, but when I find a good brew I suggest she tries it. This was the first time she actually asked for a second sip. After this I added a bit of milk to it, and to quote my wife: "now i get why some people like their coffee with just some milk". Exquisite. We could not eat another bite, so we took home some sweets and coffee beans. More on this after I try them, but by the sheer number of people coming in and taking some for home I think they will be excellent as well.

This truly is a piece of Italy in Ireland, Naples to be more...

Understaffed and customers were not waited on. Long wait times for coffees, customers inside seemed frustrated at level of service, one poor lady on her own trying to cater for so many. Elderly customers having to bring their coffees to the table, barista making mistakes on peoples coffees.

I ordered a reuben sandwich, paid €8.90. The thing was tiny, packed with hardly anything at all. Genuinely one of the worst value for money sandwiches ive ever spent my money on. Might be fine for locals, but nothing urges me to come back again. Plenty of other lovely cafes around cork with better value,...

A hidden place 5 miles past the civilization! Serving Italian food and sweets. Canolli were okay but tiny, cake a little dry. Coffee great as expected. Will probably go there for the Friday dinner at some point, check Facebook for the menu of the week as that looks quite interesting. Close by the marina so may be a good idea during...