The final stop on Totally Dublin’s hunt for the Best Smithwick’s Experience in Dublin is Bruxelles of Harry Street, just off Grafton Street. As well as being home to our (now restored) Phil Lynott statue, Bruxelles lays claims to visits by such members of the pantheon of rock as Iron Maiden and, err, Girls Aloud.
It’s early on Friday evening when our little group strolled into Harry Street’s Bruxelles. “Why’s it called Brucksulls, that’s not in Ireland?!” screeched an excitable American lady. Obviously no one had told her that it was christened such in honour of Ireland’s historic entry to the then European Economic Community in 1973. Harry Street’s celebration of tariffless international trade and an ever-closer union with our European colleagues extends further than the mere name, as Bruxelles’s signage typography and interior tiling approximates Brussels fin-de-siecle architecture and design. This jars a little with the usual bar-room tack and TVs showing no end of horse racing.
The pint of Smithwick’s was as standard as they come, but poured slightly sloppily by a barman who hadn’t enjoyed Friday evening so far, and didn’t look like he was looking forward to the rest of it. A little more care might have upgraded the pint itself from great to fantastic, and certainly would have lent an awful lot more to the experience as a whole. We carried our drinks to a recently vacated table, the glasses sticking slightly to the surface, indicating that my Smithwick’s wasn’t the only one that was denied the care and attention it deserved. I had that uncomfortable feeling of not being sure whether or not to be grateful that my seat was warm when I sat in it, knowing that it had been heated by someone else’s backside.
A group of English stag-weekend guys in lime-green aertex polo shirts with their names printed on the back (BOB, BAGPUSS, DAMO) were repeatedly taking group selfies at one end of the bar, and feeling the need to all chant “seeeelfiieeeee!” every time they did. They didn’t look like stopping any time soon, so I opted for soup instead of a main course. The soup presented no surprises and, like the rest of the menu, was pretty standard pub grub. It’s a pity that something more adventurous wasn’t done with the bread—even a Guinness bread would have been a welcome addition, and popular with the crowd the inclusions of “fries” instead of “chips” with the meals is intended to hook. In any event, the Smithwick’s was a welcome counterpoint of subtle, nutty flavours, balancing out the unremarkable soakage.
Smithwick’s swallowed off, we decided to make a move. As we left, more of Bagpuss’ crew were wheyhey!-ing their way in past us. Reinforcements had arrived.
Bruxelles
Harry Street, Dublin 2
t: 01-6775362
