One Pico, Dublin

old fashioned virtues abounded with pleasant efficient staff who managed to arrive just as you were running out of (tap) water to re-fill your glass. prices are fantastic for lunch - €19.95 for 3 large courses - 2 courses for €18.

First thing we were offered was bread - a choice of walnut, brown with seeds, apricot and curry, white, parmesan and raisen and hazelnut. All breads were warm and crusty with good aeration for the whites and proper nutty earthy brown with seeds. They offered bread when we sat and then returned to offer it with the starter so we sampled all six breads and the parmesan twice.

For our wine by the glass I ordered Languedoc Picpoul de Pinet for 6.50 which was light, crisp and fragrant - possibly a little light for the foie but perfect with the fish. C had a glass of Barbera d'Asti for 7.50 which was perfect with her ham and good enough with her fish.

For starter C ordered the ham hock terrine with mustard and tarragon mayonnaise which was very meaty and solid and wrapped in savoy cabbage. a good thick 12-15mm slice of very tasty terrine - not subtle but ham hock should never be subtle in my view - an added bonus was some lovely delicate girolles tasting of anise and of themselves. these are usually a chewy mushroom but he managed to get them delicate and almost melt in the mouth.

I ordered the Foie Gras parfait, pear and vanilla puree, brioche toast. 2 slices of perfect brioche, again a 12-15mm thick slice of parfait - half this size would have been more than generous. The parfait was perfectly smooth and light while also rich with lots of foie gras flavour. The pear puree and tiny cubes of pear were perfect - not too sweet but enough to counter the fat of the foie.

For main we both ordered fish - C had the hake, butter roasted spices, peking duck, puy lentils. the duck was little pieces of crispy duck dotted around the fish. Fish was still nice and flaky but with a perfectly crisp skin (which I ate most of) - wish I had a grill that good. the hake was light and the duck and sauce added asian touches but not in an intrusive way.

I ordered the Sea Bream, Black Bacon, Vermouth, Peas and Broad Beans. The bacon was very meaty and worked with the slight oiliness of the sea bream. The broad beans, peas and pea shoots worked well but perhaps the vermouth and fish stock sauce was a little heavy for the fish. still a very good dish however.

For dessert C had white chocolate mousse with blackberry doughnut - the white cohocolate mousse was light and tasted of good quality white chocolate and came with a perfect blackberry filled doughnut the size of a golf ball plus a blackberry sorbet with a blackcurrant sauce. C. never orders dessert and is fairly devoid of a sweet tooth but this was too tempting and she practically licked her plate.

I had a double espresso - lots of crema, properly made, with 6 truffles - all perfect. little white chocolate with pistaccio and dried fruit, coffee flavoured truffle, praline square, chocolate fondant truffle and a little shot glass of chocolate mousse.

We ordered one extra espresso for C, tipped 10 euro and got out for 67 euro. Best value lunch I have had since l'ecrivain used to have a 13.50 menu in around 1991!

Staff were smily, cleaned crumbs, folded napkins (when I went to the loo twice to write notes!), watched our water glasses, didnt try to sell us extra drinks, water or food, a very pleasant experience. Dining room was virtually full (just one empty table. Turlough O'Sullivan of IBEC was there with a colleague, Noel Whelan the political pundit and Ursula Halligan TV3's pol corr were having a casual lunch also - this was all I could recognise but some others there looked important too but no one was there for the pretension, simply for a top notch quality inexpensive lunch in a setting where you are well looked after.

Mandarin House, Parnell St, Dublin 1

Mandarin House, 179 Parnell Street, Dublin 1. 01-878 3146.
Three visits, all very good. Situated opposite the end of Moore Street right beside China House (still good but I prefer Mandarin).

white table cloths, patrons almost all chinese, relatively friendly but busy staff - busy but patient enough to explain as best they can what everything is.

Here is a list of dishes we ate when I went with a fellow food writer and another food adventurer friend:

cold:
husband and wife lung slices €8.50
Pickled four seasons €6 - with bean stick (what the waiter called it), cucumber, carrots and peanuts

hot:
Hot Spicy Pocket Wonder Two Ways
Razor Clamp (spicy garlic, fried chilli, black beans sauce) €13
Four Seasons Peas in Quick Wonder €10 (this is what I wrote down. I hope it is correct!)
Bean Curds in Home Made Style €7.50
Lamb Supreme Zian from North East China (zian is cumin) €10 -

Husband and Wife Lung Slices - according to the interweb this is usually a mixed offal plate nicely arranged in uniform slices - not sure what bit this was (not sure it was lung as there were no nodule bits) tasted a little like tender heart or tongue. finely balanced and a nice contrast in flavour to the salad and hot and spicy dishes.

Pickled Four Seasons was a salad with beansprouts, beans, carrot, cucumber all in thin slices and a sweet, savoury, vinegry sauce. very tasty and good for cooling contrast with the spicy elements.

Hot Spicy Pocket Wonder Two Style" - pork stomach and intestine slices in a szechuan sauce. sounds and looks a bit strange but tasted succulent, juicy and very fine - lots of szechuan and chilli pepper, fine light sweet and sour elements, light meaty sauce.

Razor clams (clamp was a mis-print) were piled very high and were also as tender as they should be with salty, hot sauce. Four seasons peas in Quick Wonder consisted of long green beans, chilli and shredded pork - aromatic and warming. Bean curds were chewy squares in a soy, rice vinegar, Chinesey sauce (you know the kind of thing). Lamb reeked of cumin in a very good way, filling the room and mouth with pungent aromatic meaty goodness.

On the other occasions I ate there I had tasty filling dan dan noodle soup - not complex but v. filling and loved by Grellan's friend jake who now pesters his parents to take him to chinese restaurants for noodle soup! Szechuan Prawns was a generous portion of crevettes in their shells cooked to just tender and full of juice with nice mouth numbing szechuan peppers and a light chilli sauce. Shredded pork dish was as you would expect - simple chinese sauce but properly done. even the chips (for the two boys) .were crispy and well cooked (from frozen).

Wine list is very basic so order tsing tao beer and lots of tea (tea blend changes weekly they told us)

Harvey Nichols First Floor

Saturday Lunch in Harvey Nichols First Floor a couple of months back -
good buzzy atmosphere, families with adopted chinese babies for the mums, lacoste pullovers and thomas pink shirts for the dads, juicy couture for the girls and tommy hilfiger for the boys. but also a happy bunch of siblings clearly enjoying each others company - wish my family could go to lunch in such harmony.

Riletete of crab, gazpacho shot, tartar of avacado - good dish with all elements in harmony - tangy gazpacho, lemony avocado and soft crab for spreading. small dish but tasty.

cappuccino of butternut squash, pan fried scallop, curry alioi (sic). also good and tasty if a little meagre. possibly too much salty stock in the soup rather than the creamy sweetness I was hoping for.

HN Fish and Chips, pea puree and tartare sauce - chips (all 9 of them) were arranged in a criss cross fashion and (just barely) managed to be crisp. fairly certain these were cooked just once. Fish was fine - could have been better, crispier, bigger but could have been worse. strike that I enjoyed it, I have spent a lot of time on this dish at home so I always hope for perfection and not everyone is as obsessive as me.

Sirloin of Irish Angus beef, bourguignon garnish, fondant potato, red wine jus.- taste was good but I have had better beef. fondant potatoes were excellent. I got rather cross (in a seething way) when the waiter scoffed at my question - is this a sirloin steak or a roast of sirloin? (its not my fault they dont know how to write a menu). "A steak of course" was the response. I pointedly explained that the menu implied no such thing. Cue v. grumpy service for the first course, exacerbated by a very long delay in the arrival of our wine - we were half way through our first course. waiter did not like being reminded that we still had not received our wine (clearly he considered it no longer his problem as he had passed the order to the wine waiter). Me getting cross now. Then the maitre d' spots me (forget his name - bald head, very charming and good at his job). He recognises me from the launch of the restaurant and comes over to chat. he gets our wine in seconds and apologises profusely. me happier now. Grumpy waiter passes by and notices that I am known to his boss - cue overly friendly service for the remainder of the meal including little jokes - "can we order dessert?" - "NO! only joking of course you can!! - laughed?, I nearly did (apologies for cliched joke). I preferred him grumpy.

Dessert of raspberry cheesecake was fine. a bit lacking in flavour but I ate it all. cheese was in good condition but small portions. lots of those wheaty biscuits that overpower the flavour of the cheese.

So in conclusion this is a very good restaurant but I would like to tweak a few things including the size of the portions.