We've Been Shortlisted for the All-Ireland Finals! 

Usually we're too busy dialling in the next lot or figuring out why the grinder is behaving oddly at 8am on a Tuesday. But this one felt worth pausing for.

Cloud Picker Café on Pearse Street has been named on the Dublin shortlist for Best Café at the 2026 Irish Restaurant Awards - Ireland's biggest hospitality awards, with over 150,000 public nominations submitted this year alone.

"The Irish what", you say? 

Now in their 17th year, the Irish Restaurant Awards - known affectionately as the #FoodOscars - celebrate the best of Irish hospitality from county level right through to a national final. Nominations are made entirely by the public via The Irish Times, which means this shortlist isn't a panel decision. It's a people decision. Dublin's food scene is one of the most competitive in the country, and being named alongside some of the city's best-loved cafés is something we're genuinely proud of.

The All-Ireland Final takes place on 18 May 2026 at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road, Dublin.

What This Means to Us

Cloud Picker started in 2013 as Dublin's first micro-roastery - a small operation built on curiosity, intrigue, and an obsession with where coffee comes from. Our Pearse Street café has always been the physical home of that ethos: a place where the roastery meets the cup, where our team get to share coffees they care about with people who want to taste the difference.

Being shortlisted as one of the best cafés in Dublin by you - the people who walk through our door every morning - that's the part that counts. Every nomination came from a customer who chose to spend a minute of their day saying: this place is worth it. We don't take that lightly. Thank you.

Our Partner Nominees

This shortlist hits differently when you see familiar names across the categories. Several of the venues on the Dublin shortlist are part of the Cloud Picker family - places we're proud to supply and honoured to be associated with.

Best Restaurant — China Sichuan new to the Cloud Picker family in 2025, and seeing them on the Best Restaurant shortlist is no surprise to anyone who's eaten there.

Best Contemporary Irish Cuisine — Mr Fox on Winetavern Street has always done things their own way. Thoughtful, seasonal, and consistently excellent - a deserved shortlisting.

Best Wine Experience — Two of our wholesale partners made this list: Green Man Wines and The Wine Cellar at Fallon & Byrne - both champions of independent, considered drinking in Dublin. Fallon & Byrne just might own the title of 'best all round hospitality service' too; their full offering over multiple levels is outstanding!

Best Café — A special mention to Baabaa Café, a fellow shortlistee in our category. Brilliant people doing brilliant work - the best kind of competition to be up against, we'll be the first to congratulate Julianne and her team if they take out the prize - love them!

Local Food Hero — Two names here that mean a lot to us: Barry and Paul McNerney & John Byrne of Lotts & Co, and Peter/Mark Caviston of Cavistons -  two Dublin institutions that have championed quality produce forever. Seeing them recognised is well deserved.

A rising tide lifts all boats. Dublin's food scene is stronger when venues like these get the recognition they've earned - and we're glad to play a small part in keeping them fuelled.

You can view all nominees across each category here.

Come See Us

Whether you're a regular or you've been meaning to stop by, our café at 42 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 is open Monday to Saturday. You'll also find us at Dublin Airport — Terminal 1 Arrivals and Terminal 2 Gates 409 and 402 - if you're catching a flight and need something worth drinking before you go.

Want our coffee at home? Browse our specialty coffee subscriptions - roasted to order and delivered to your door. Swap - skip - pause - cancel, whenever suits you. 

Thank you to everyone who nominated us. Can't wait for the 18th, coffee in hand, win, loose or draw, there is no doubt all the winners across the evening are thoroughly deserved.

Cloud Picker is a B Corp certified specialty coffee roastery based in Dublin, Ireland.