It's not just a café

Alchemy is a bohemian coffee shop and bookstore at 123 Barrack Street. The inside is art from local artists, pages of the Cork Examiner pasted on the walls, a table floating in mid-air and a typewriter.

It opened after the 2008 crash, on a budget of zero, with pallets and furniture from thrift shops, attics and sheds. The cakes are baked in the shop's own kitchen, Alchemy Productions.