The Dubliners on Dempsey Hill is the most committed Irish pub in Singapore. The Guinness is good, the live music is consistent, and the kitchen serves a proper Sunday roast. The bar has been running on the same formula for over a decade and the locals would notice immediately if it changed.
Live music runs Thursday through Sunday — Irish folk on Thursdays, rock-and-roll covers on Friday, eighties anthems on Saturday, traditional sessions on Sunday afternoons. The Sunday session is the best of the four: a rotating cast of local musicians playing fiddle, bodhrán, mandolin, and tin whistle for four hours from 3pm. No cover; tips for the band.
The Guinness programme is the strongest in the city. The line is cleaned weekly, the pour is properly two-stage, and the temperature is held within the narrow band the brewery recommends. A pint at the Dubliners tastes the way the brewery intends it to taste, which is not something every bar in Singapore can claim. The Irish whiskey selection is the second-deepest in town after Quaich.
The food deserves mention: the Sunday roast is genuinely good (beef, Yorkshire pudding, gravy, the works) and the shepherd's pie is the right order on a weeknight. The Dubliners is what an Irish pub abroad ought to be: warm, slightly worn, deeply consistent.
Best time to visit: Weekday evenings before 9pm for the quieter version of the room; weekends after 9pm for the busier one. Reservations recommended where the bar accepts them.
What to order
- 01
Guinness Pint
- 02
Irish Coffee
- 03
Jameson Neat
- 04
Whiskey Sour
- 05
Hot Toddy