The Fifth Province Irish Bar & Restaurant
The chicken fillet roll is on the menu, which is an everyday Dublin lunch and almost nobody in Melbourne serves it.
Why go
The detail that separates an Irish pub from a pub with Irish decor is what somebody thought to put on the menu, and here it is a chicken fillet roll alongside a braised beef and Guinness pie and a McDonnell's chicken curry, named for the curry powder Irish kitchens actually reach for (Concrete Playground). Behind the bar there are thirteen taps with Guinness and Heineken among them, and a whiskey collection the pub puts at more than a hundred Irish bottles spread across several cabinets (venue). That is a depth claim rather than a rotation one, which is the right way to read a back bar. The value is organized by day rather than by discount: a chicken and plantain parma on Tuesday, burgers on Wednesday, porterhouse on Thursday, beer-battered fish and chips on Friday, a roast from noon on Sunday. Live music runs most nights of the week, and Monday's trad session kicks off at six.
Order this / avoid
- Order: a Guinness, and wait for it. Something off the Irish whiskey cabinets. Whatever the night's deal is, since that is where the value sits. The chicken and plantain parma on a Tuesday, which is a build no other Melbourne pub is doing.
- Avoid: expecting quiet. Trad and live music run through the week. And check the day before you set your heart on the steak.
What locals & experts say
- Orlaith Costello, Concrete Playground:
Step inside and you'd think you've stepped into a pub along Shop Street in Galway or O'Connell Street in Dublin. There are framed old-school Guinness posters on the walls touting the old tagline 'My Goodness, My Guinness', plus a carefully crafted wine list, a specialised Irish cocktail menu and an array of local craft beers on tap.
The page carries no date and is a directory write-up.2 - The venue's own claim, recorded as a claim: a whiskey collection that
spans multiple cabinets and continues to evolve
, featuring Irish whiskey and premium spirits.1 - The Crafty Pint, the national beer title, carries a venue profile for it, which puts the pub inside the craft-beer register rather than only the Irish-pub one.3
- The gap, stated plainly. Nobody with a byline has assessed the Guinness pour or the food, no Melbourne chef names it across 74 industry picks, and the opening year is nowhere on record.
Good to know
- Where: 60 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda.
- Rooms: a public bar, a whiskey bar, a verandah and a beer garden.
- Happy hour: Monday to Thursday 4pm to 6pm, at $7 for house wines, spirits and pints, per the press write-up.
- Music: live most weeknights and every weekend; the trad session runs Mondays from 6pm.
- Contradictions on record: the pub's own page says thirteen taps and a Tuesday parma at $25. The press write-up says fourteen taps and a Wednesday parma at $20. The first-party figures are used above.
- Hygiene: Victoria publishes no consumer-facing food-hygiene rating, so there is no Australian equivalent of an FSA score to record.
Verdict
could-visit — The tell that somebody Irish wrote this menu is the chicken fillet roll, which is an everyday lunch in Dublin and appears on almost no Melbourne pub menu, and the McDonnell's chicken curry, named for the specific curry powder Irish kitchens actually use. Behind the bar there are thirteen taps with Guinness among them and a whiskey collection the pub puts at more than a hundred Irish bottles across several cabinets, which is depth rather than rotation and is the right way to judge it. The value is structured by night: a chicken and plantain parma on Tuesday, burgers Wednesday, porterhouse Thursday, fish and chips Friday, roast from noon on Sunday, plus a four-to-six happy hour. Trad music runs through the week and Monday's session starts at six. It holds at could-visit because no critic or guide has assessed the pour or the food, the opening year could not be established, and no Melbourne chef names it.