Exchange Restaurant, Westin Hotel, D2.

“A few weeks ago I had one of the best dishes I've eaten in the Westin Hotel. It was simple dish, a scallop placed on a bed of lobster risotto, but every part of the dish was perfectly cooked and flavoured. If that were commonplace I wouldn't still remember it. The fact that I do is evidence of the rarity of a perfect dish.” So wrote Paolo after a meal in the Exchange restaurant some time ago and on a recent trip Gerard found some things don’t change, thank goodness.

The Westin occupies the old AIB building and some of its neighbours in College Green, across from the Bank of Ireland and Trinity College. It is an impressive building, and inside it continues to impress. The Atrium Lounge features a five storey expanse ending at a glass roof, which on the Friday evening in April was pretty impressive, but would be wonderful on a sunny day or a clear starlit night. The Exchange restaurant is to the front of the building and is decorated in an Art deco motif, with feature wall sized murals of brightly coloured birds, which have more in common with Fawkes, the phoenix from Harry Potter, than anything you are likely to see in the trees of Dublin, and much the better they are for it too.

It had been a while since we ate in the Exchange, and the menu has c hanged considerably, not least their new pre theatre menu, which runs from Tuesday to Saturday, from 6pm to 7.30 pm and offers two courses for 18.50 and three courses for €22.50. The dishes on offer all feature on the main menu, and as such are not some group of cut price relations created especially, but do give you the opportunity to really sample what this kitchen can produce for a very reasonable price.

I went along with my wife Deirdre early enough to try it, and we were shown to our table and offered some fresh bread and sparking water to keep us going while we chose. The menu is a large one card affair offering Hors D’Oeuvres, soups, starters, main and desserts. There is a selection of chosen wines at the bottom to accompany the dishes, making the wine choice quite simple, as Deirdre wasn’t drinking and I left myself in the hand of our waiter, with just the proviso of one glass to suit each course.

There are eight starters, including a seafood platter for two, baked Irish clams, smoked chicken and ham hock terrine, a classic Caesar salad and potato gnocchi and duck leg confit. Mains are divided into Fish, meat and vegetarian options, and the choice here includes pan fried sea trout, baked halibut cassoulet, or if you are a committed carnivore, confit of duck leg, pan roasted quail or the ubiquitous rib eye steak with creamed champ.

After much deliberation we decided to share the seafood platter from A La Carte, while I picked the braised shank of lamb with honey roast root vegetables and garlic pomme puree from the set menu, while Deirdre stuck with the fish, choosing the poached fillet of hake with carrot and fennel slaw, orzo pasta, and pesto, again from the main menu.

While we waited the room was quickly filling up, but all the tables are well spaced so you never feel hemmed in by your fellow diners and the service didn’t flag, with our starter arriving in good time. The platter comprised Kilkeel bay crab spring roll, garlic and parsley buttered prawns, oak smoked Irish salmon, all set atop with two juicy Galway bay oysters and accompanied with red onion, lemon, homemade brown scone and a brandy and tomato remoulade. It’s a while since I ate oysters, and I had forgotten how fresh and soft they are, a wonderful first taste. The smoked salmon was excellent and the prawns perfectly cooked and delicious. The spring roll was innovative, and while they are never my favourite item, this one worked quite well. Funnily enough, the tomato remoulade was especially memorable, and I only wish they sold it in jars. I enjoyed a glass of crisp Chablis with this course, the Chardonnay grapes having the distinctive gun smoke quality that always indicates to me a good example of this wine.

The main course continued to impress, Deirdre’s hake was cooked to perfection, and the lamb was tasty, succulent and falling off the bone. My root vegetables were great, and Deirdre’s pasta and slaw were very well balanced alongside the delicate flavour of the fish. We decided to share a dessert, and a warm chocolate fondant with orange yoghurt ice cream finished a very memorable meal in stunning surroundings.

If there is one downside to running a restaurant guide it is that you don’t eat as often as you would like in favoured places. For me the Exchange is one of the better dining rooms in Dublin city, and the early bird option gives one the chance to try extremely good food at what can only be described as budget prices. If you haven’t tried it already, do. It really is very good indeed, and Paolo’s initial impression remains true, this is truly memorable food.