{"id":50489,"date":"2025-09-08T08:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T08:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/50489\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T08:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T08:15:10","slug":"we-may-just-have-found-the-most-expensive-egg-in-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/50489\/","title":{"rendered":"We may just have found the most expensive egg in Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Have we found the most expensive egg in Ireland? Or rather, has one of our readers? We can\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI am writing to tell you about an interesting experience I\u2019ve just had in Avoca, Rathcoole,\u201d begins the mail from Se\u00e1n Keogh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cAfter 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\u2019t prepared for what transpired!<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">And what was it that transpired?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Well Se\u00e1n 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. <\/p>\n<ul class=\"c-unordered-list paywall\">\n<li class=\"c-list-item paywall\">You can share your experience of high prices in Ireland using the form below. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He ordered a \u201csausage and bacon bap\u201d from the breakfast menu. At \u20ac11.90, a price, it was \u201cnot cheap, but it\u2019s Avoca and I was sitting in, so it\u2019s acceptable. So far, so good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He goes on to say that the menu \u201cexplicitly made a point of calling out the sausage and bacon. It gave me pause for thought. I said I\u2019d just confirm that there was an egg in the bap \u2013 that\u2019s a pretty standard breakfast bap staple, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">You would think so but you would be wrong.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThere wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link\">[\u00a0<a aria-label=\"Open related story\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/your-money\/2025\/09\/01\/student-money-an-a-z-of-college-saving-and-spending\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Student money: An A-Z of college saving and spendingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The staff member \u201cjotted down \u2018+egg\u2019 on the docket. I was grudgingly preparing to pay more for the egg inside. I guess I was prepared to suck up another \u20ac1 or \u20ac2 extra. The upper end of my estimate would have my breakfast bap now running at \u20ac13.90. I\u2019m starting to sweat, but I\u2019m hungry. I stick around,\u201d Se\u00e1n writes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI go to pay and with a latte the girl at the till rings up just over \u20ac22. I inquire how it had come to that and she informs me the egg was \u20ac5 extra! That made my breakfast sandwich the grand total of \u20ac16.90. Add the coffee and we were north of \u20ac22.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Se\u00e1n \u201cgave an incredulous, \u2018Are you serious: \u20ac5 for an egg in a breakfast bap?\u2019\u201c, before he \u201ccancelled the order and left. I guess we all have a breaking point and mine was the \u20ac5 egg in a breakfast bap, as an add-on. I\u2019m done with Avoca. It\u2019s been coming.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He adds that he was writing to us from his local bakery, Faccino\u2019s in Naas, \u201cwhere for \u20ac22 I am having their breakfast sandwich (with egg included) coffee and I\u2019m also taking home a freshly baked almond croissant and a raspberry scone. There\u2019s value still to be had in pockets, and now that I\u2019ve eaten, I\u2019m a little less cranky by the end of this email.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Golden oats<img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Avoca on Suffolk Street, Dublin. Photograph: Cyril Byrne \" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/RVA2KIY3ZBPONI4VDWNVB3JW6A.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"532\"\/>Avoca on Suffolk Street, Dublin. Photograph: Cyril Byrne  <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">By coincidence we also heard another breakfast-themed story from a reader called Anne who said she \u201cfelt compelled to contact you regarding an experience I had last week in Avoca Suffolk Street.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cOn receiving the menu I was informed it was a brand new menu with lots of options,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI was totally taken aback at some of the prices, especially \u20ac14 for porridge. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cIs this a record for Ireland? As far as I\u2019m concerned it\u2019s outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">It does seem like a lot, although compared with \u20ac5 for an egg it\u2019s positively a bargain. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">We contacted Avoca to find out more. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWe truly value these insights as they help us continue to improve and grow,\u201d a spokesman said, very diplomatically. \u201cAll feedback is reviewed by the relevant teams to ensure we capture as much as possible on our journey toward excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He said he had investigated both our stories and offered some clarity. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cAt 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,\u201d the spokesman said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWe 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 \u20ac5.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The spokesman said we could pass on his details to Se\u00e1n so he could \u201cpersonally explain this and extend our apologies\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">More broadly, the spokesman said that \u201cwith 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\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">When it comes to Anne\u2019s porridge the spokesman said that Avoca cafes \u201cserve a Traditional Organic Oat Porridge for \u20ac9.50 with organic oats, a mixed berry compote, and seeds, with optional toppings such as organic honey, whipped cream, mascarpone, chocolate or mixed nuts. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cAt 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 cr\u00e8me p\u00e2tissi\u00e8re, crafted with Madagascan vanilla pods, fresh Irish cream, and a quality mascarpone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He said it has \u201cbeen 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\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have we found the most expensive egg in Ireland? Or rather, has one of our readers? We can\u2019t&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[37227,9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-50489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-avoca","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}