As I write this, I feel like the proverbial cuckolded husband - the last one to know. And now that I do know, I'm asking myself, how come it took me so long to find out? Shouldn't it have been obvious? Weren't the signs there for me to see? Friends even dropped the odd hint, but gave me nothing too specific. How come everyone else seems to have known the whereabouts of a really good Italian restaurant whereas I've only just found out? OK, it's true a few people have said to me you should try the Italian restaurant in Ashford, but nobody gave me the impression that it was something out of the ordinary. Consequently 'Il Cacciatore' has been on my 'to do' list for a while now and eventually I got around to it. I'm glad I did.

Ashford, or to give it its Wicklow pronunciation Ash-a-Fowerd, is to be found on the N11 between Newtownmountkennedy and Rathnew. I can't say you couldn't miss the restaurant, because you could. I must have driven past it more than a hundred times and had no idea of its existence - never saw it, never noticed it. It's right next door to Adriano's take-away and is, I believe, owned by the same Adriano. Inside it actually looks like a small, provincial Italian trattoria. Wooden tables and floor and raffia-based chairs; a loggia-type roof made of Roman tiles lines one wall and underneath it are seascape paintings that are reminiscent of the Amalfi coastline. The kitchen is on full view behind a counter where you can watch the chef manipulate up to eight pots and pans simultaneously, singing while he works. The dining-room itself is quite small; it seats maybe 35-40 people and is quite densely packed.

I started by studying the wine list which is short and mostly Italian. My wife and I had decided that this was a night for fish so I checked through the whites. A Vernaccia di San Gimignano at £14.50 looked like good value. When it arrived and I tasted it there was nothing specifically wrong with it; it just didn't taste very nice. I decided against sending it back since it was neither bad nor corked, but after a few more sips I realised I wasn't going to enjoy a meal drinking this wine. There's nothing wrong with Vernaccia: if you find it made by Terruzzi & Puthod you'll find a good wine. I asked to see the winelist again and chose a sparkling Chardonnay called 'Il Grigio' which at £16 was fine. I offered to pay for the Vernaccia, but was politely refused.

The menu is priced at trattoria prices. You can have a starter of pasta for £3.25 which is remarkable value. There is a caveat on the menu though, there's a minimum charge of £10 for the food you eat, so you can't just have a starter and leave. The menu has some of my favourite dishes on it, which made my choice harder than usual. I've just come off the sea-food diet - see food, eat food, and recently I've been introduced to the pork and salmon diet: eat like a pig and drink like a fish, so there was nothing to hold me back.

To start Susie chose the sea-food salad and I chose the spaghetti alla carbonara. The salad was presented in a bowl and comprised prawns, crab claws, crab sticks, squid rings and white fish. It was perfectly dressed and tasted delicious. I'd chosen the carbonara because it's a dish that's easy to get wrong and I thought it would make a good test. It passed with flying colours - perfectly cooked pasta and a well-balanced and flavoured sauce that was as good as any I've had in Rome, where the dish is best known.

For our main courses I'd chosen the mixed grill of fish and Susie wanted a pasta dish. We discussed this at length, since no self-respecting Italian would have pasta as a main course. 'How's that going to look in my review, you having pasta as a main course?' 'It's what I want. Anyway, I'm not Italian.' The exchange of views now over, Susie chose the linguini with the prawn sauce. This is not an easy sauce to make; getting the balance of flavours right is far from simple. When it arrived I tasted it and had to admit that Susie was right - it was exceptionally good, as good as any I've eaten in Italy. I turned to my own grilled fish. On a large, generous plate I had swordfish, a small sole and a white fish that might have been hake or haddock. Each mouthful had me making little grunts of pleasure, especially the sole. So simple and yet so tasty. Susie had ordered a side-salad which was also plain and simple, but so perfectly dressed that it became elevated into a fine dish in its own right.

I've always thought that it takes great confidence to produce a really simple dish. There's a temptation to add more ingredients and flavours to make the dish more exciting. And yet, here's an object lesson in simplicity; good raw ingredients can be stunning when prepared simply, allowing their own flavour to come through.

The desserts were just like those you find in restaurants in Italy: pretty basic. Ice-cream and fruit salad were there, tiramisu and zabaglione were not. Actually I don't find that much of a problem; when I've eaten a great starter and main course I happy enough to pass on puddings. We did have the fresh fruit salad and ice-cream between us which was fine. The real treat came when I asked for an espresso. Try this test yourself: a well made espresso will have a creamy foam on the top that will support the sugar briefly before it sinks. If it doesn't do that, don't expect much from the liquid in the cup. This one was just right, a perfect end to a really good meal.

What makes this restaurant so good is the food, the good service and especially the price, which is probably why it's so popular. On a mid-week night every table was full and some were used twice. A couple came in and tried to book for the coming Saturday but it was already booked out. Our bill, including wine, side orders, mineral water, coffees and two grappas came to £56.20 - which for the quality of the food seemed like a bargain to me.