We tend to be cautious about local establishments that claim to be authentically Irish. First, they call themselves pubs. This is wrong. There are no pubs in Ireland. Only bars. Second, they're usually part of a cheesy franchise and clutter their walls with tat that runs the ethnic stereotype gamut from plastic shamrock gewgaws to embarrassing "conversation pieces" about drunkenness.O'Driscoll's, we suspect, is more Irish than Oirish. There's none of that leprechaun and shamrock Paddy-whackery here. It is, in fact, a pretty hardcore place, , and our immediate impression is of a waiting room in a railway station in the Soviet Union.The furniture's ragged, the wooden floors are pocked with cigarette burns, the ceiling has nicotine stains and the walls are painted in a shade best described as smoker's cough.We were there for happy hour, which is actually two hours, from 5pm to 7pm. The bar filled up fairly fast with the after-work regulars, a dedicated drinking bunch, and it was soon busy enough to pass for amiable and boozy. The wine list, it must be said, is modest: house red or house white. And they've steered clear of the craft beer .There's live jazz on Wednesdays, a DJ on Fridays, and they do an all-day breakfast which, wisely, they refrain from describing as English. The shooters menu includes the "Irish Car Bomb", a mixture of Guinness, Baileys Irish Cream and whiskey first thrown together, it is said, by a barman in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. Which makes it pretty authentic, but maybe next time, okay?38 Hout Street, Cape Town, 021-424-7453. 11am to 2am daily..