Steam Café

Cloud Picker beans and a short case of pastries and sandwiches: Steam Cafe keeps the brief tight. It is the in-house café at The Alex Hotel, a few minutes off Merrion Square, working for hotel guests, nearby office workers and anyone crossing Dublin 2 between appointments.

Cloud Picker coffee, pulled at the counter

Coffee leads. The hotel names Cloud Picker as the café's roaster, and the beans are pulled by baristas rather than pushed through a bean-to-cup box, which is the difference between a hotel coffee counter and a hotel coffee machine. Speciality coffee is the phrase the café uses about itself, and it is the most specific thing on the menu.

The food is deliberately short: fresh pastries in the morning and sandwiches made in house for lunch. That is the whole shape of the daytime offer, and it is enough for a café that trades on turnover and proximity rather than on a kitchen.

Sit and sip, or grab and go

The café's own line, Sit & Sip or Grab & Go, is an accurate description of the two speeds it runs at. Floor-to-ceiling windows on the ground floor give the room its light and its view of the street, and fast Wi-Fi makes it usable for an hour of email or an informal meeting.

The setting does the rest. The National Gallery of Ireland and the National Museum of Ireland are a short walk away, so the café also works as a pause before or after a gallery visit, or as a place to regroup in the middle of a day spent in the Georgian core.

Order an espresso drink, then something from the case

Start with an espresso-based drink made with Cloud Picker beans, because the roaster relationship is the clearest quality signal the café has. A flat white or a cortado gives the roast the least room to hide.

Then choose by time of day: a pastry in the morning, a house-made sandwich at lunch. Neither is dressed up as a signature dish, and neither needs to be. Steam works as a compact, city-facing café with a good roaster behind it, which is more than most hotel lobbies manage.