pj o'briens - ground floor southgate arts and leisure precinct southbank 3006 9686 5011

to be sure, the luck of the oirish can be found in dis fione establishment. if you have an irish accent you'll be hired here. they don't really mind if you don't have any hospitality experience, know how to pour a guinness or have the serving skills of an irritated hippopotomus as long as you have the accent. test it out if you don't believe me - dare you to test out if your irish accent is as good sober as your friends tell you it is when you are all drunk and go for a job here. we might even create a hall of fame for you if you can prove it.

they have lots of beers on tap and you can only really complain about the guinness if you have one of those accents i mentioned earlier - for the rest of us each pint of brown sludge tastes like the next.

as far as food goes, again if you can reminisce about the sight of the sun on the shannon then you can probably point out that bangers and mash isn't strictly oirish and that you'd more likely find that in an english pub. that said, chicken with avocado and tomato and risotto you're not likely to find in any of dublin's finest drinking establishments either. they do have the guinness stew and the irish pie and fisherman's basket, all of which you will find constrict your arteries and add to your waistline as convincingly in melbourne, australia as they would in, say, limerick, ireland. so if that's what you're looking for in authentic irish cuisine, knock yourself out.

this place also has the customary live music - loud and not particularly tuneful when we were there. somehow this guy got a job here without having an accent as well as not having any talent, and he murdered a couple of u2 songs before heading further into non-irish territory. the place is covered in irish memorabilia, from old newspapers pasted to the walls to the obligitory irish language notices on the toilets (they take all the fun out of it by including pictures so you can tell which one to go into).

but it's cosy and comfortable and after a few pints it doesn't really matter where you are, does it?

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