Have we found the most expensive egg in Ireland? Or rather, has one of our readers? We can’t say for sure, but we can say the price he was charged by Avoca for a single egg he had added to a breakfast sandwich not long ago will leave you shell-shocked.
“I am writing to tell you about an interesting experience I’ve just had in Avoca, Rathcoole,” begins the mail from Seán Keogh.
“After dropping my son to school I decided to pop in and treat myself to breakfast. This being Avoca of course, I was already prepared to pay a premium, but I wasn’t prepared for what transpired!
And what was it that transpired?
READ MORE
Well Seán ordered what we can only imagine is a very fancy breakfast roll, the like of which Pat Shortt was probably not singing about back in the day.
- You can share your experience of high prices in Ireland using the form below.
He ordered a “sausage and bacon bap” from the breakfast menu. At €11.90, a price, it was “not cheap, but it’s Avoca and I was sitting in, so it’s acceptable. So far, so good.”
He goes on to say that the menu “explicitly made a point of calling out the sausage and bacon. It gave me pause for thought. I said I’d just confirm that there was an egg in the bap – that’s a pretty standard breakfast bap staple, right?”
You would think so but you would be wrong.
“There wasn’t an egg included (sad face). So I asked the nice lady if the chef could pop a fried egg inside for me please. No problem.
[ Student money: An A-Z of college saving and spendingOpens in new window ]
The staff member “jotted down ‘+egg’ on the docket. I was grudgingly preparing to pay more for the egg inside. I guess I was prepared to suck up another €1 or €2 extra. The upper end of my estimate would have my breakfast bap now running at €13.90. I’m starting to sweat, but I’m hungry. I stick around,” Seán writes.
“I go to pay and with a latte the girl at the till rings up just over €22. I inquire how it had come to that and she informs me the egg was €5 extra! That made my breakfast sandwich the grand total of €16.90. Add the coffee and we were north of €22.”
Seán “gave an incredulous, ‘Are you serious: €5 for an egg in a breakfast bap?’“, before he “cancelled the order and left. I guess we all have a breaking point and mine was the €5 egg in a breakfast bap, as an add-on. I’m done with Avoca. It’s been coming.”
He adds that he was writing to us from his local bakery, Faccino’s in Naas, “where for €22 I am having their breakfast sandwich (with egg included) coffee and I’m also taking home a freshly baked almond croissant and a raspberry scone. There’s value still to be had in pockets, and now that I’ve eaten, I’m a little less cranky by the end of this email.”
Golden oats
By coincidence we also heard another breakfast-themed story from a reader called Anne who said she “felt compelled to contact you regarding an experience I had last week in Avoca Suffolk Street.
“On receiving the menu I was informed it was a brand new menu with lots of options,” she says.
“I was totally taken aback at some of the prices, especially €14 for porridge.
“Is this a record for Ireland? As far as I’m concerned it’s outrageous.”
It does seem like a lot, although compared with €5 for an egg it’s positively a bargain.
We contacted Avoca to find out more.
“We truly value these insights as they help us continue to improve and grow,” a spokesman said, very diplomatically. “All feedback is reviewed by the relevant teams to ensure we capture as much as possible on our journey toward excellence.”
He said he had investigated both our stories and offered some clarity.
“At our Rathcoole location, we operate two dining destinations, a self-service cafe, and a table-service restaurant. While it is not entirely clear where the order was placed, it appears to have been in the self-service cafe,” the spokesman said.
“We do offer breakfast sandwiches with the option to add or remove items, as well as side orders of breakfast dishes popular with customers who prefer to create their own plated breakfast. In this case, it seems there may have been a genuine error in the order process, as a single fried egg in a sandwich would have been priced accordingly. Typically, side orders include two eggs and are priced around €5.”
The spokesman said we could pass on his details to Seán so he could “personally explain this and extend our apologies”.
More broadly, the spokesman said that “with regard to pricing, we regularly review our menus and have recently introduced new options without applying industry-wide food cost increases. Our commitment remains to use the finest Irish and locally sourced ingredients. For example, the breakfast sandwich mentioned features handmade sausages and dry-cured bacon from Frank Doyle Butchers in Bray, the free-range eggs from Ballon Family Farm in the Mount Leinster Valley, Co Carlow, and freshly baked bread prepared on-site where possible”.
When it comes to Anne’s porridge the spokesman said that Avoca cafes “serve a Traditional Organic Oat Porridge for €9.50 with organic oats, a mixed berry compote, and seeds, with optional toppings such as organic honey, whipped cream, mascarpone, chocolate or mixed nuts.
“At selected sites offering our all-day brunch, we also feature a Rhubarb and Custard Organic Porridge, made with premium Irish rhubarb stewed into a compote, combined with organic oats, and topped with our home-made crème pâtissière, crafted with Madagascan vanilla pods, fresh Irish cream, and a quality mascarpone.”
He said it has “been a popular seasonal dish, though we plan to introduce a new autumn/winter variation soon. We are currently testing and looking at introducing a fun dish closer in style and cost to our traditional porridge offering”.
