What's in a name? Take 'Eden'; immediately it conjures up the garden of earthly delights - a terrestrial paradise. Take 'Nuremore' on the other hand; it's hard to pronounce and easy to forget. And then there's the location. Eden is in deeply fashionable Temple Bar, and the Nuremore is in deeply unfashionable Co. Monaghan. If the proverbial visitor from another planet were to embark on a gastronomic tour of Ireland, let's face it, he'd be unlikely to start the tour in Carrickmacross.

Comparisons are, I know, often unfair because very rarely is like compared with like. In this case the two tables couldn't be more dissimilar; but they are opposite in so many ways that comparisons are irresistable. Walk into Meeting House Square in Temple Bar and opposite the outdoor theatre is Eden. In the unlikely event of sunshine you can sit outside, continental style, and watch the passing flow of humanity talking into their mobile phones. Inside the two-storey restaurant there are floor-toceiling windows and an upstairs that takes up less than half the floor space, leaving the main dining-room with an atrium-like ceiling. It is very North American state-of-theart dining design. Hard surfaces abound: polished wooden floors, rough concrete pillars and turquoise and white mosaic walls which fleetingly gave me the impression of sitting in the deep end of an empty swimming pool. Round, white tables and hard white chairs of the style made famous by Bailey's photograph of Christine Keeler fill the room.

The Nuremore is a large hotel and it has grown larger since I was last there several years ago. This time six of us went to play golf on its eighteen-hole course and although I remembered the food to be good, it wasn't the prime purpose for being there. After playing the most awful nine holes of golf I've ever played - we're talking here a best score of eight, which was on a par three - thankfully it was decided to eat rather than play on. The dining-room in the Nuremore is large and split level. It is decorated in a style I can best describe as good-hotel plush: large tables covered in white linen; wide, comfortably upholstered chairs; soft warm carpet, plenty of mahogany and soothing wallpaper.

Both restaurants offer set lunch, in Eden it's £13 for two courses or £15 for three, in the Nuremore it's £13.50 for four and you get coffee as well, which is extra in Eden. The menu in the Nuremore offers five starters, six main courses, four desserts and then a cheese board, whereas Eden plays a five, five, three formation. The menus are similar in style, with Eden tending towards the re-introduction of old favourites, like cod and chips or spicy sausages and mash. Mozzarella, basil and grilled peppers feature on both boards, but the presentation differs somewhat.

Eden is chic; its wait persons (they are so described on the menu) are young, friendly and helpful. You can see into the kitchen from the dining-room which is all gleaming white tiles and stainless steel. All this hard-edged modernism does have a drawback: the sound levels in Eden are high. When the kitchen persons use blenders and mixers, conversation is hindered as the decibels reverberate around the room. The effect of the sound, the minimalist design and the hard seats is to create a feeling of hurry, urgency and general busyness, which is in turn fuelled by the mobile phones of the Celtic tiger-cubs who frequent Eden.

The Nuremore goes for a more classical feel. I haven't experienced the quality of service we got there since I last ate in Patrick Guilbaud's. Impeccable French waiters did their job flawlessly, with the easy grace of real professionals. And the food was sensational. We had starters of Caprese salad, a terrine of venison, the tomato and basil soup and smoked salmon, each one of which was virtually perfect. Main courses chosen were the tournedos of beef, the rack of lamb, pan-fried pheasant breast and the baked turbot. By this stage we were all in a state of stupefaction. This quality of food and service at this price? I skipped on dessert, but probably made up for it by tasting everyone else's. A passion fruit delice, a chocolate tart, a lemon and banana parfait were all a delight.

The wine list is comprehensive with some real treats. About a hundred wines are listed, the bulk priced between £15 and £25. We had a bottle of Billecart Salmon non-vintage champagne to begin; an excellent white Rhone called Viognier, and the organic Mas de Daumas Gassac for the meats. A meal this good needed pudding wine to finish which we got by the glass; the superb Banyuls '95, which is red, and a Muscat de Beaumes de Venise.

From Eden's menu I chose a duck liver pate, and one of my guests the grilled vegetable stack. Mine was perhaps a little too cold to fully appreciate its flavours, but her stack of grilled courgettes, peppers and aubergines was nicely done and was rounded off with what I guessed to be a spicy sun-dried tomato paste. For the next course, one guest chose the blackened salmon, a cajun dish normally done with red-fish, which was the least successful dish of the meal. It was a generous portion of two salmon steaks, but the flavours were indistinct. I had Ed Hicks' spicy sausages which were pleasant enough and my other guest had the pork brochette with a peanut sauce. What was really good was the mashed potato with a dark onion sauce which supported my sausages. We each picked one of three desserts - warm plum tart, a banana split and a praline parfait. I got the parfait and hit gold-dust: it was truly inspired.

The wine list in Eden is the best value list that I've seen in Dublin recently. The mark-up is modest and good wines can be got for under £15. The most expensive wine is the Tignanello '94 at £42 which I've seen priced elsewhere at nearly £80. We had a bottle of Yaldara Reserve '96 chardonnay and finished with a glass of dessert wine, the real Hungarian Tokaji, once the choice of Europe's monarchs. This one was called Five Puttonyos, which sounds to my Latin ear like Five Rent-boys.

I can offer you no moral to this tale other than to make the unoriginal remark 'chacun a son gout'. But this much is indisputable: lunch in the Nuremore Hotel has to be the best value for money going.