Park Gate Street may not be the first place you'd think of looking to find a place like Nancy Hands, but it's linked to the area by its name and its ownership. Martin McCaffrey's family own the Hole in the Wall round the corner, which got its name from its past habit of selling beer to the English soldiers inside the Phoenix Park through a hole in the back wall. The lady who served them the beers was Nancy Hands, and so it's her name that provides the link.
I'd gone there to meet Martin and to talk to him about his whiskies - there are over 100 of them on his whiskey list, nearly all single malts and some very old and rare, but as he showed me around I could only marvel at some of the work he's done. Martin spent two years putting this pub together, and I use those words on purpose. Inside and out is the result of a lot of architectural salvage, and to my eyes it works wonderfully. As you walk into the lounge, which is on your left as you enter, there are plain wooden tables and comfortable, upholstered chairs, a bar counter of solid mahogany which came from a London bank and which still has the two stained-glass cashier's cubicles at either end. Behind this a one of those Victorian cabinet-maker's gems; a huge floor-to-ceiling cabinet of curved glass and thin mahogany dividers, which serves as a display for the whiskies. This spectacular piece came from a chemist's shop in Picadilly.

We sat and drank a glass of Italian Pinot Grigio from the Friuli while I looked around. The floor is parquet and the ceiling mirrors the pattern in the same wood. It turned out I was looking at more re-cycling. Martin had bought hundreds of acid vats from ICI which were made of purplewood, a wood dense enough to withstand acid. He'd also salvaged greenwood planks from Dublin Port and he'd used these woods for the parquet, the ceilings and the tables at which we were sitting. 'Go on,' he said, 'try lifting that table.' I did, and discovered the weight of purplewood.

Martin went off to fetch a wine list with 72 wines; a vodka list with 63 vodkas; a whiskey list with 100 Scotch malts, 31 Irish whiskies as well as blends and bourbons, plus menus for me to look at. They're all beautifully presented and I can't think of anywhere with a stock list even approaching this. I tried to take in the details of the decor. The more your eye takes in, the more you are repaid. Every detail is thought out, well-executed and tastefully done. I found myself studying the front door, with its carved friezes and bevelled glass. After we'd looked at the lists Martin showed me around. In another lounge on the ground floor there's a huge limestone and granite fireplace with a real fire in the hearth, and it includes a lintel from an old castle - a piece of rock weighing over four tons. On the walls there are the originals of the forties and fifties Guinness advertisements, some really beautiful Scottish stained glass work from the turn of the century in the style of Renee Macintosh and there's even stained glass work set into the floor and lit from beneath.

We went up the stairs, a wide mahogany staircase with an intermediary landing which came from Trinity College. Upstairs on the left there's a row of carved choir seats from a church, which line one wall. There are paintings in abundance, including a big collection of Graham Knuttel, there's a fine cast iron balustrade, good pieces of furniture, and on the other side an old butcher's shop interior which serves as the counter for the kitchens. The wooden arches can be closed off by pulling down doors, which contain small shelves displaying the contents from an apothecary's stock.

But you don't come to a pub just to look at the fixtures and fittings - as I said, I'd come to check out the whiskies. Martin travels to Scotland to source these rare spirits and some are very rare indeed, for example the cask strength single malts, some of which have an alcohol content of over 60% by volume. The list contains ample tasting notes and information and I discovered that I'd been doing it wrong all these years - a little water should be added to release the full aroma of the malts.

We ended our evening upstairs in the restaurant where quality pub food can be had. There's a surprisingly varied and imaginative menu, so apart from simple dishes like brie parcels and chowder, you could also choose something more elaborate, like their Phoenix salad, made of beef tomatoes, mozzarella, quail eggs and smoked chicken on a bed of leaves with a lime and basil dressing. All the starters are in the £5 - £6 range. Main courses are a little more elaborate; apart from pub classics like steak and duckling you can choose Flanagans' Twist at £15.25, which is a Mousseline of scallop and crabmeat encased in fresh salmon and finished with a smoked bacon and prawn sauce. Another dish that took my fancy was the Crispy Japanese chicken at £11.95, which is breast of chicken marinated, spiced and served with egg noodles.

I started with the Toulouse sausage, which came on a bed of sauerkraut and wild mushrooms - a dish not for the faint-hearted and followed this with Flanagan's Twist whilst Martin sporadically ate a steak as he leapt up from the table from time to time to deal with something or other.

I came to Nancy Hands to check out the whiskies, but I left impressed with its food. Often the food in pubs is there simply as a soak for the alcohol, but here it's given respect by a team headed by Roland McLoughlin. I finished my meal with a coffee and then one of my favourite whiskies, a 16 year-old Lagavulin, ripe with the taste and smell of turf. Nancy Hands is a place to take your time in, to savour rare spirits, to eat in comfort, and to enjoy the ambience of times past. And you can eat well for £20 a head.