Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

About The Restaurant

In Ireland directions are always given by way of a pub of a church – and more frequently a pub! The Old Stand is one of the really great pubs of Dublin and any Dublin worth his salt knows immediately where it is. I used work nearby for a dozen or so years and so the Old Stand was a regular meeting spot for me and my beloved. Whilst it is a centre city pub it is also a real “neighbourhood” pub with a tremendous local following from the shops, offices, and clothing manufacturers and wholesalers, even though some of them have moved out of the city centre, The Old Stand is still their regular haunt.

The Old Stand has been located on its famous site, the corner of Exchequer Street and St. Andrew Street for over 300 years. Every famous Irish person will have crossed its doorstep and enjoyed its food, drink and atmosphere, including the Michael Collins.
The name The Old Stand derives from the game of rugby and from the now demolished rugby stand at Lansdowne Road. It goes without saying therefore that The Old Stand is a veritable shrine to rugby followers where they can also meet up with people they haven’t seen for years or who have been living abroad – as happened to me last year as I sat outside whilst a match was on the TV inside and met someone who was at school the same time as myself – and that’s a while ago!

The Old Stand is owned by the Doran brothers, Colclough, Redmond and Michel, who also own Dublin’s other great landmark pub, Davy Byrne’s. The décor is totally atmospheric – Victorian in design with a large Welsh dresser of Austrian wood and an abundance of horse brass, Willow pattern and Wedgwood artifacts.

The grub has always been great, really reliable and good value at The Old Stand. They have a really good selection of popular dishes on their All Day Menu including 8oz and 12 oz sirloin steaks, Chicken Maryland, Chicken Kiev, Gammon Steak, a Fish of the Day which is usually cod or plaice and all are served with either French fries, baked potato or scallop potatoes. They also do a great Irish Stew – and you can’t get that everywhere! They also do lovely cold plates and salads, fresh salmon, smoked salmon, Atlantic prawn, seafood platter, ham, roast beef and vegetarian platters. These can also be had by way of open sandwiches.

Those in the know, and those working in the area, wouldn’t miss their daily lunch at The Old Stand. They do lunch Monday to Friday and the menu changes every day. Starters will be a warm hearty soup of the day and maybe their very popular prawn cocktail. Regular items include dishes such as bangers and mash with onion gravy, homemade steak burger with onions and chips, shepherd’s pie and potatoes, fish and chips, the aforementioned steaks. They also do a hot chicken wrap with chips, a vegetarian quiche with stirfry veg and chips and a lovely smoked mackerel and prawn pasta salad.

Leave room for the “Mammy” favourite of apple pie and icecream, or maybe strawberry flan, or chocolate gateau.

A wide selection of wines are available by the glass and by the bottle at really decent prices, and they have a half bottle selection which I always like to see.

The Old Stand is a Dublin legend.

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