352) Finnegan’s of Sorrento Road, Dalkey, South County Dublin

A gorgeous Victorian pub, full of many delectable crannies and columns and sloping arches, packed full with so many aesthetically pleasing spots that it's hard to make up one's mind where to sit to best appreciate the grandeur and soak up the 'gorgeousity.' Visually, physically, architecturally, this must be the cream of the Dalkey crop. A modest black exterior can be found on the corner while a lavish, white, second exterior dominates further down Sorrento road. Star guests have been photographed on the grog here such as Michelle Obama and Mr. P.D. Hewson AKA ‘Bono.’ 

They also do an excellent vegetable soup, as Andrew Stephens can warmly testify (though the accompanying bread, while looking promising, tastes decidedly weird, as if newly thawed having been frozen, full of air pockets, most disagreeable to the palate). Unfortunately, their Beamish is fairly costly (€4.65) and fairly mediocre, bordering on the downright bad. One suspects the denizens of Dalkey, plush and pampered for the most part, seldom have cause to order it (such is the stigma surrounding the beverage, fit only for students or the unemployed, according to the message boards on barfly blogs), hence the overall stagnation of the pipes and consequent crappiness of the result.

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