There was a time when a decent cup of coffee was a difficult thing to come by in Ireland. In the past decade or so, however, the situation has improved greatly, with cafes now providing an alternative to the pub scene. Across the Atlantic, chains such as Seattle's Starbucks have been at the forefront of a new cafe culture. The cybercafe is a uniquely 1990s phenomenon, where you can get your hit of caffeine while exploring the Internet - all for a price - typically £4 to £5 an hour to use the computer facilities. There are now thousands of cybercafes worldwide, with a UK chain Cyberia (no relation to the Dublin cybercafe) opening branches all over the globe. Ireland now has more than a dozen cybercafes, from Galway to Enniskillen. Most have their own Web page, and some allow you to download live images from a video camera in the cafe, should you feel the need to play Big Brother.
Three cybercafes appeared almost simultaneously in Dublin in 1995 and in the intervening years a couple of others have appeared and subsequently diversified. The Planet Cyber Cafe on South Great George's Street is located at basement level beneath the excellent Laser video shop and was one of the first three to open. The space is brightly lit with computers ranged along the walls, and tables for eating in the middle. Planetary wall murals, free lollipops and pumping dance music all contribute to the feeling of a funky, friendly place. With the majority of customers sitting studiously at monitors, one has to wonder whether the place is primarily a cafe or a computer facility.
It's a question that manager Iain Wynn Jones has clearly considered: "Dublin has a real cafe society and such a huge number of cafes that it would be silly to call ourselves a cafe that just happens to have computers. Basically, we are providing computers and if people would like to pop in for a sandwich or something to nibble on while they're using the machines, then we can provide that too."
The food on offer includes freshly-made sandwiches, toasted sandwiches, all day breakfasts, tuna melts and French bread pizzas as well as a range of teas and coffees. While the majority of customers come to use the machines, Iain estimates that about 30 per cent of the trade is from people coming solely for the food. And if you think that the clientele consists mainly of bespectacled geeks with pen holsters, you're sadly mistaken: "We have everybody, every type of person," says Iain. "During the week we have a lot of businessmen who have their email accounts here. We also get a huge amount of Web page designers who bring their clients in here to look at their Web pages. At weekends we have a lot of kids playing games or browsing the Internet. And we also get people who are curious, with time on their hands. When they come in we give them a quick tour of how to get around the Internet."
While a customer in the cafe who is using the Internet can happily chat to someone on the other side of the globe, it doesn't necessarily follow that they will speak to the person sitting next to them. Surely somewhere that people are devoting most of their attention to a small screen runs the risk of becoming quite an anti-social place. "When we started out it was our plan to make this a funky place to go. The people who come here for their teas and coffees choose to come here. They could go to a thousand other places, but they like it here. Our aim is to have a place with a good feeling, a good buzz."
The late opening hours mean that the cafe can provide a viable alternative to the pub and Friday night regularly sees groups of at least half a dozen people all battling it out in games such as Quake. Although some of the regulars from the early days have since got connected to the Internet at home and no longer drop in, Iain remains optimistic about the future. It will still be a long time before every Irish home has a Web connection, and the wide range of services offered by cybercafes (everything from email to scanning) should ensure that they thrive for some time to come.
If you fancy a quick surf of the Web along with a double espresso, a cybercafe is the place to go. And while you're at it, here are four of the thousands of food-related sites to visit.
Digitalchef: A serious site with a wealth of features including a marketplace for cybershopping and a healthy cooking section. The site also features a daily recipe, with step-by-step photos and nutrition facts, and a recipe search facility. An entry of "vodka" yielded three recipes, while "lasagne" yielded six, including one with shrimp and shiitake mushrooms. Well worth a look. http://www.digitalchef.com.
The Barbeque Page: A comprehensive guide to barbecuing, featuring an introduction to basic barbecue techniques. Also, a gallery of "Extreme Cookers" - basically strange looking barbecue grills - and a recipe page with dishes such as Venison Fajitas, Internet Chilli Lime Wings and Texas Caviar (made with blackeyed peas as opposed to sturgeon eggs). http://personalweb.edge.net/ markh/
The Spam Page: One for anyone with an interest in processed meat products, this site is devoted to spam - "that most inspiring of foods, nectar of the gods, hero of the picnic table". There are pages on spam theories, spam trivia, the history of spam and spam fiction, which includes spam haiku and a transcript of the famous Monty Python sketch. There is also a recipe for Spam a l'Orange which has to be seen to be believed. http://www.cusd.claremont.edu/ mrosenbl/spam.html
A Gallery of Regrettable Food: This is a photo gallery with images of the food, food adverts and kitchen appliances of 1950s' America, where bad taste, in every sense, was king. Marvel at an ad for "Oscar Mayer's great new sack o' sauce in a can o' meat" and recoil at a recipe for Curried Banana Delight served with hot shrimp. http://members.aol.com/lileks4/ food/food.html
Planet Cyber Cafe: 23 South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2. Opening hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday; 10 a.m.-midnight, Thursday-Saturday