Paddy Maguires, Haymarket

Fillet steak with chips and salad $22.00


I love pub grub.

The best pub grub is usually found in nondescript watering holes with a sighing barman and a dour-faced cook sneaking a ciggie out the back. Some of my favourite meals have been in pubs, especially in England and Ireland, where stodgy comfort food is the one redeeming joy for invariably inclement weather.

In Sydney, as in all cities around the world, Irish-themed pubs abound, although our mild temperatures and cafe culture mean we don't get the cosy comfy lounges, the open crackling fireplaces or evocative landscape paintings on the walls.


Caesar salad with chicken $14.00

Paddy Maguires in Sydney's Haymarket merges elements of Irish cosiness with Aussie practicality. It's central location means it's popular with backpackers, university students, public servants and officer workers. It's a chain pub, but the food is fairly reasonable, the servings are generous and there's plenty of seating both in- and outdoors.

I was happy with my steak, chips and salad the other day--happier still because I had actually ordered (and paid for) a steak sandwich. A $22 lunch for $14 was a value meal indeed!

Chicken Caesar was scoffed down by my lunchtime companion with visible glee. After enduring a month of American Caesars with plastic Parmesan, buckets of dressing and no egg to be seen, I was almost tempted to dig a fork in myself.

But I had my own hunk of meat to attend to, a meal so generous I couldn't even finish it. Now that is serious.

There's a selection of imported beers on tap: Guinness, Kilkenny, Speight's, Stella Artois, Kronenburg 1664 and Bulmer's Cider. We've had some issues with the Guinness not being poured properly but a selection of ales (James Squire Amber and Golden ales on tap, and VB Original and Newcastle Brown bottled) usually offer sufficient distraction.



Paddy Maguires
Corner George and Hay Streets, Haymarket, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9212 2111

Monday - Thursday 9.30am - 1am
Friday - Saturday 9.30am - 3am
Sunday - 9.30am - 12midnight

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Paddy Maguires, May 06