New café and bakery for Portlaoise
The new café will open in early January
A NEW café and bakery is set to open at the Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise, in a large restaurant space that closed over two years ago.
The ground floor space has been vacant since October 2022, when Caffe Latte closed the popular venue after 23 years in business.
Two Hungarian friends plan to open the R32 Artisan Bakery & Coffee Shop, offering freshly baked and locally sourced artisan food, speciality coffees and other beverages. The new café will open in early January, with seating for up to 60 people.
Owners Richard Herczku and Tilda Korodi have lived in Laois for more than ten years, since moving to Ireland from their native Hungary.
An artisan baker, Richard lives in Borris-in-Ossory and previously ran a coffee shop in Dublin and a food store in Cork, while Tilda lives in Portlaoise and has a background in catering.
They hope that the family-run business will be a hit with local customers and came up with the name R32, as it is familiar to locals as the beginning of the Eircode for Portlaoise.
The family told the Laois Nationalist that they plan to have a ‘soft’ opening at the beginning of the new year, followed by an official opening once the business is established.
The omens are positive, as the much-missed Caffe Latte was very successful at the busy arts centre, which has over 30,000 event visitors annually and incorporates a theatre, cinema, gallery and bar.
Dunamaise Arts Centre invited applications to tender for the restaurant space in late 2022, after Caffe Latte owner Ken McPherson decided to consolidate his successful catering businesses and allow more time with his family, while continuing to run another Caffe Latte outlet in nearby Lyster Square.
The large restaurant space in the Dunamaise extends to about 82sq.m, while a spacious kitchen and staff facilities cover 23.2sq.m.
Welcoming the imminent reopening, Laois Chamber Alliance said on social media: ‘We are very excited to see an artisan bakery and coffee shop opening in Dunamaise Arts Centre. We have had a sneak peak of the menu and we are looking forward to it all. We are going to be spoiled.’
