One Pico are working against this trend, as are a number of other restaurants in Dublin. They want to let our belts out a few notches by stuffing us with cheap, gourmet lunches. I applaud their grasp of economics, the political classes should take a leaf out of their book.

I was in there for a birthday a little while ago, and decided to drop in while doing a photoshoot on the other side of the Liffey in the Belevedere hotel near O’Connell Street. It worked out to be a 13min brisk walk to just off molesworth street.

The return journey was a less brisk 20mins, an indicator of value for money in dining. Let me tell you why…

Arrived at the restaurant: the prices have gone down, but the service levels haven’t: they recognised a repeat customer from the birthday a week before and we got a friendly greeting and the last table free in the restaurant: An illustration of the concept of what our (not so wise) friends the economists call ‘Price Elasticity of Demand’, basically drop your prices, sell more and (hopefully) make money.

Straight into the meal: A fishcake with a posh name and some posh dressing for a starter, not huge but adequate portion and delicious. A winner.

Then, I had to do it: Confit du Canard on potatoes and a turnipy / squash thing. Apparently (according to a heavily worked looking chef) these things are cooked all night at a low temperature and then crisped quickly in one of those high temp ovens, thrown on the mash, covered in the sauce and served to me to make me late back to my client near Parnell Square.

Here’s the thing: I’ve seen these things in tins in France, eaten them and they were no where near as good as this, and they cost what my meal in One Pico did. How are they doing it? I don’t care as long as it is economically sustainable.

Not like our housing boom, where we were all going to do great having banks and builders sell substandard houses to us for inflated prices – and then we would live like kings on the benefits of trickle down economics. I can only assume One Pico were serving this food up to the great and the good before I could afford to eat there, and they made all their decisions after lunch. Mmm – it is around the corner from the Dail.

Onto desert: with my liver struggling to process the delicious crispy fat, I can barely remember something about little round donuts and in-house ice cream. I remember I thought it was good, and included in the 3 course price. I wouldn’t have been able for it if it wasn’t included in the price.

There are the little extras: sparkling water, a good espresso ristretto that add a small amount onto the bill, but even in the upsell they’re not gouging, and they’re not pushy.

The service is top class: unfussy, friendly and extremely professional. Surroundings are extremely agreeable. Long may it continue, finally some value for money in a restaurant in the middle of Dublin.

Take note politicos: In the 80’s good old Chas was urging belt tightening, robbing us blind, buying Kinsealy and cutting the health service. This decade we had the Mahon Tribunal to enrich the lawyers, while in the same sector the banks and builders were running the biggest ponzi scheme in Irish history. The mortgages taken out to pay these inflated prices will put a dampener on consumer spending for decades to come.

The common folk need to tighten the belts and share the pain? They already have plenty…Lucky for us that the silver lining may be that the little money we have can get us a decent meal in Dublin. And you never know: wasn’t it the MRSA that finished Charlie off? The universe may have a plan for these chumps yet.

Here’s the inside of One Pico, apologies for the poor quality, it was covert, as is the Guestspy approach to reviewing. They never see us coming

If you have an opinion on this restaurant or others like it (proper value/ proper food): Guestspy is always looking for reviewers: PLEASE COMMENT and if you’ve got what it takes I’ll make you an editor.

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Giuseppe shows how it’s done!

With the added sides of horseradish garnish, cabbage, roast potatoes and (un)healthy amounts of wine I was stuffed. Dessert! I hope you like custard…..

All in all a top meal with no expenses spared. At roughly £55 a head all in it’s not for the faint hearted but then again lifes too short. A must for anyone visiting London and seeking a truly British experience.

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Lighting. Low and mellow. I like it. Interior design. Cellar with curved ceiling. Also very tasteful. So far so good. Music. Slightly strange choice of funky house beats mostly drowned out by the chatter of fellow diners. All set. Skipping the starter we happily sipped wine and sampled bread with olive oil and a selection of dips as they bought out a platter with the finest selection of Argentine steak you are likely to find this side of the equator. The platter contained one of each cut of steak available on the menu. Rump, Sirloin, Fillet and Rib Eye (see the steak menu). As the waiter kindly explained the difference between all the cuts, how they are prepared and why they are prepared in this way I couldn’t help but feel impressed by the professional service we were experiencing. This must be what it’s like to be a sheik. I could get used to this.

Having failed to come to a decision we opted to try the Gaucho sampler, a platter featuring one of each cut, between us. Each steak would of course be cooked to perfection as recommended by Adam, our friendly waiter for the evening. As is the norm with establishment of such high esteem we custom ordered each component of the meal to ensure total satisfaction. Four different sauces, chips, fries, sweet potatoe chips, roasted vegetables, humitas (an interesting Native American corn based dish) and another couple of bottles of wine while we were at it. This was as good as it gets.

Our wine duly arrived shortly followed by our main courses. Words can’t even begin to express how good the food was. For a moment I thought I’d found utopia. The feeling of bliss started to fade soon after. Our meals devoured and wash down with wine we thought it would be a good idea to order another bottle or two of wine. We’ll order it when the waiter comes to take our empty plates away. 10 minutes pass. Hmmm they must be very busy…. 20 minutes pass still no sign of anyone to clean up our table or take our order for more wine…. 30 minutes…. 40 minutes…. 50 minutes….. The trip had reared is ugly head and turned on us. Tempers were fraying at an alarming rate. I have never in my life experience such a schizophrenic meal. This had snowballed into possibly the worst meal I’d had this side of the millenium. Still the waiters and waitresses rushed by, back and forth, back and forth, seemingly in a daze and not serving anyone. Using my rudimentary knowledge of the French language I could dicipher grunts of Gallic disatifaction coming from the table behind us for similar reasons. I’m not one for making wild and unfounded accusations regarding staff attempts to keep energy levels up throughout the evening but I have my suspisions that WADA would have a field day in here.

After an hour and ten minutes a physical intervention (don’t worry it was non-aggressive) was needed to attract the attention of a waiter. Our table still piled high with dirty dishes we had come down off our buzz and felt that the wine we had initially intended to order would have been a waste. However, as is to be expected with ladies in the group, the opportunity for dessert was not to be passed up. Having ordered and had our table cleared we waited diligently for our final course. This all arrived as expected expect for one dessert which for some reason took an extra 20 minutes to come out. As it was a cold dish I am still curious as to how this could be the case.The dessert was fine but again spoiled by the wait.

The four of us were, at this stage, all slightly disgruntled and keen to leave. We received our bill, all £165 plus tips of it, paid up and left. Whilest leaving I wondered who made the decision to have five people greet us at the door and only three to run a floor of 20 odd tables. It was hard to be angry at the waiter who served us as it was clear that it was an operational issue which was entirely out of his hands. For this reason we left a small gratuity but it has to be said, despite the fine quality of the food on offer, I will never set foot in a Gaucho Grill again.

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Before I start I must confess that I’m not the first to rave about this. It’s so good The Guardian did a 2 page write up. Real Italians with real Italian pizza at real Italian prices. What more could you ask for? These guys really know how to make pizza. Nestled deep in Brixton (last stop southbound Victoria Line) Market Arcade it would be easy to miss. Until the recent Guardian review it was locals only. Now, unfortunately, it’s not uncommon the find half hour queues despite the ‘approachable’ personality of the owner…. On my first visit he attempted to play match-maker between me and his male chef, patently ignoring the presence of my girlfriend…. The menu is simple (check it out here) yet effective with the basement prices making it a real treat to behold amidst the financial doom and gloom. If it wasn’t for the chilling breeze sweeping through the arcade you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Napoli. Simply the best pizza in London. Not to be missed!

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I’ve wanted to review this place for a while. I was here a few years ago, before the photo and kids madness took off and had a chicken sandwich. A chicken sandwich you say, well OK, proper chargrilled chicken in a roll and it was very good. So here I am back in Aughrim.

As a youf I used to work in the pub down the road from here. Has this place ever changed! Sign off the times: Biggest, newest building in the town is an estate agent. Tidy Towns is generating frantic meetings. I’ve been into Lawlers hotel, which was on the way, just to have a look. Nice looking old fashioned lobby, but a wait of 5 mins in a quiet bar for the bar menu, with the barman trying not to acknowledge anyone and working unbearable slowly made me remember….The STONECUTTER! It’s just up the street…

The chef is sunning himself at a table outside the door, the place quiet at 3.30pm, but the chef confirms its open. I feel bad. We’ve had ALL our summer in 1 week at the end of September, the roads are full of tractors rushing to save crops, and here I am, demanding food from the poor man…

The Stonecutter fills up a and it looks like the chef has seen the last of the sun for the day. The service is friendly and prompt. I order a white belgian beer called Blanche De Bruxelles.

It’s a nice crisp beer, with a tart taste, quite citrusy. It has a statue pissing on the label, but while the cherub may be suffering the effects of underage drinking and putting himself in the frame for an ASBO, he is assuredly drinking the Blanche and pissing something else, possibly Tennents.

Got the burger and chips on the recommendation of the waitress.

Spot on, rough ground real meat with nice flecks of onion, cheese, bacon and frites that are the shape of McDs but made of potatoe and gooooood with the sauces. Mayo with the chips and I had flashbacks of Hotel photoshoots in Antwerp and Ostend, but Belgians can’t do a good burger like these guys can. This was about as good as a burger gets and it was a fine filling portion.

Dessert. Again the waitress secommendations: Baileys and Chock Mousse Cake.

It was nice, huge portion couldn’t finish it, but then I’m more of a savory type, never had much time for desserts.

The verdict: This place is friendly, unpretentious and the food and drink are selected and prepared by people that care about good food. Get out of your hotel or apartment and drop in here if you’re passing, it’s a gem.

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So you’re in Gorey or Courtown for the weekend of relaxation. Pajamas in the afternoon and slabs of Royal Dutch are the order of the day. You spot a break in the clouds! It’s time for a Bar B Que!

Do you opt for the following (Kebabs and chicken in a nice marinade)?

No! You’re in the Sunny South East and it’s down to Tesco for Burgers!

You’ve walked the few miles from Courtown, dodging the odd Impreza and souped up Renault Megane, the hangover induced by that last round of West Coast Cooler the night before screaming for grease.

You get into Tesco, pick up a packet of burgers and a disposable BBQ, you hitch back to the mobile home, fireup the BBQ, kill 70 wasps and what’s this?

THE BURGERS ARE GREEN! HOW CAN THIS BE!!!!???!!

Oh wait: It’s the end of August and the burgers went off the previous June. Nice!

Back to Tesco the next day to complain (and to alert the management to a potential public health risk). Meet the customer service people. Ask to talk to the manager. Kept standing around with a bag of green burgers for 25mins. No one comes. Back to customer service. ‘Oh the manager is having a HR meeting’ and ‘can’t see you now’. A little piqued: down to the back of the shop to investigate. Into the store room and what’s this? The reason the queue at the tills is usually 5 deep with 3 tills open: all the staff are hiding down here. Good for them, it’s badly paid anyway.

Manager is hiding in one of the side rooms. Shouting draws him from his layer. He tells me he was having an important meeting. I ask was it about selling meat that is 3 months past ‘use before’. Works out it wasn’t. I ask him how his priorities have changed. He takes an official complaint and I am somewhat mollified.

Later in the afternoon I get a call from tesco: more details collected and then: nothing, not even a normal coloured bag of burgers. They changed the manager. I’m not going to start the process again with the new one. I did my bit for public safety.

Here’s where the good food tips come in…There’s a farmers market on Sat 9 to 3pm in the neighbouring carpark. Eggs are cheaper, so is cheese. The meat from the Lamb and sausage guy is much better than Tesco and works out the same pound for pound. The Lebanese place does some great stuff, the veggies stand is good, and you can haggle with them.

And guess what? It’s all fresh, these people have reputations to think about after all.

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