John Benny's is the pub on Strand Street where you go for the music. The owner, John Benny Moriarty, is a well-known accordion player on the Irish traditional circuit and the sessions here are the real thing — five or six players, no microphones, regulars dropping in and out for an hour or two. The pub itself is small, busy, and unfussily good.
The food is solid and the seafood chowder is genuinely worth ordering — thick, served with a wedge of brown bread, and made with whatever came off the boats that morning. The music starts most nights around 9.30; arrive early if you want a seat with a view of the players.