Barfly: Offie Tempo – Probus Wines
If you were expecting high-end sandwiches and the potential to have an afternoon tipple at the expense of the rest of your working day, I suspect that Probus Wines would…
Barfly – The Hill
One hopes with the benefit of time or a few tweaks the Hill will eventually make its mark. For the moment at least, it boasts promise of much else ahead.
Barfly: Arthur’s
The slightly tepid vibe downstairs aside, I can’t help but fall for this place and feel that it’s their excellence as a venue that Arthur’s should be trumpeting when it’s…
Barfly: Idlewild
Idlewild is a very pretty bar, and it even boasts an extremely bright staircase on the way up from the toilets, which makes you feel slightly like you’re ascending to…
Barfly: O’Shea’s Clonskeagh House
It is rare for a pub’s greatest selling point to be its carpark but O’Shea’s Dodder-adjacent sun-trap seemed to be the establishment’s primary draw over the last few years.
Barfly – Zozimus
If you want to feel as though you’re inhabiting a feverish, half-remembered scene from the middle act of Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai, there are worse places.
Barfly – Mission Bar
Judging by the obvious rapport between the staff and the handful of other patrons propping up the bar, the “mate’s gaff” ambiance was the first thing successfully installed, comfortably established…
Barfly: T O’Brennan’s
One can only hope that T O’Brennan’s, aside from being one of the city’s best new pubs, will act as a beacon of good sense to other publicans, an exemplifier…
Barfly: The Confession Box
There’s no way to meaningfully do justice to the rest of the characters we met or even the evening we had in The Confession Box. If anything, the authenticity of…
Barfly: The Rag Trader
The Rag Trader is more an auxiliary set of taps that have been afforded their own stylised rebranding campaign more than anything else. The first thing that strikes you is…
Barfly: The Ivy
The Ivy styles itself as “luxurious continental style bar” suited to “watching the world go by whilst regaling old times”. While its oldness is contrived, it’s also strangely convincing.
Barfly – JT Pim’s
Stepping out into a still cold but thankfully not aromatic March night, I reflect that Anton’s respect might be all that JT Pim’s is getting, on this occasion.
Barfly – Irish Craft Beer and Whiskey Festival
We might have finally landed on a Paddy’s Day tradition none of us need be ashamed of. Well, except for maybe the lad who was stumbling around in a full…
Barfly – Open Gate Brewery
Against all odds, Guinness have hit on something genuinely exciting here, deftly balancing their enviable heritage and the demands of the present marketplace.
Barfly – Wigwam
Wigwam feels more like a blank canvas than a hodgepodge… the beginning of another journey for the Bodytonic gang, rather than a definitive statement… And it’s all the more exciting…
Barfly – Bow Lane
Pontification aside, the transformation that has happened within Bow Lane is striking, and they have done a classy job on it.
Barfly: Flash Harry’s
Flash Harry’s occupies a peculiar space between the past and the present. In terms of décor, ambiance and the cold hard facts in front of our eyes, what we have…
Barfly – The Jar
The Jar has hardly shattered the homogeneity of New Dublin Bar style, but it’s pizza-power may give it a vital extra push.