408) The Grattan of Grattan Crescent, Inchicore, D8

This is a bar and a lounge combo, a significant portion being devoted to a Sushi-cum-Ramen restaurant - see Shakespeare’s of Parnell Street for a similarly eclectic pairing of Asian cuisine with Irish liquid fare. Guinness here costs €5.30. A patriotic or nationalist vibe is discernible, given the abundance of Irish flags and pictures of Irish patriots adorning the walls, not the least prominent of which is a portrait of John O’Leary, with whom Romantic Ireland is said to have died at last and is dead and gone and shares a grave, if Willy Yeats is to be believed in September 2013.

It is notably easygoing and friendly towards ‘tracksuits’, so abhorred and debarred by other establishments - kids on scooters are also readily welcomed, no less than the bawling squallers in their prams. It’s a dark and low-lit place with a piano prominently placed, a phony fire offering a bit of light. A heavily bandaged man was seen to emerge from the darkness and to take a smoke outside in the light. You should have seen the other guy. A poster will amuse one in the jacks…

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