Doyle's Cafe, Boston, 19 March 2011

The exterior looked like a grotty pub or some sort of social club. What else can I say apart from, this looks promising!

Upon entering we were greeted by chaos. Imagine being in a room full of Americans with dead batteries in their iphones or Blackberries. There was a queue of people but they did not seem to be queuing up for anything in particular. Whilst queuing up for presumably a table it was an opportunity to ocularly devour the interior. This was the real deal Irish-American bar with high ceilings and a rough and ready feel to it. Who was John Collins?

Anyway, amongst the chaos a table had been prepared and we made our way our which booth. The menu, hashed together with paper cutouts and photocopied onto an A4 sheet of paper, was lacking something Irish but the waitress did have a sense of humour admitting that there was no Irish grub on the menu. Funny that - the paraphernalia boasted that Doyle’s was meant to be the best Irish pub outside Galway.

The food: I got the clam chowder in a bread bowl which arrived in more of a normal bun thing than a sourdough thing. Each their own. At least it did not turn up in a spud. The clam chowder tasted unique and not generic. It was creamy, not too salty and had little droplets of oil to remind you that this is comfort food. It was really rather good. I completely forgot that it was meant to contain clams and potatoes. In fact I can’t remember if it had clams. It must have had spuds as we were in the best Irish pub outside Galway. Mr. Phan indulged in, and lost his buffalo wings virginity. It was a proud moment. Bringing a wing close to my nostrils was the closest thing to smelling salts. The wings were bordering on crispy. A few more minutes in the fryer and they would have made the starting line up next to Hooters. For me personally, I struggled with them - the vinegary taste, the heat, the bright orange flavour. Maybe that is what makes good wings good.

So what is the Ho Down on Doyle’s? Just like the 2011 Ireland Six nations team: Played 6, won 3, lost 2; mid table. The floor and table were not sticky enough to be a real pub.