I have a confession to make; I am an occasional actor. This is a surprisingly little known fact, but is none the less true. Extraordinarily eagle-eyed people might have spotted me in 'The Butcher Boy' where I make a tiny, but dramatic appearance. I mention this only because the last time I was on the Dublin stage it was at The Gate, and the female lead in that production was my guest - the actress, writer and journalist Jeananne Crowley.

Jeananne will shortly be a Northside resident, so we decided to try The 101 in Talbot street which will soon become one of her locals. Not only that, it's a restaurant that is frequented by actors from both The Abbey and The Gate, so it seemed a good choice for we thespians. Just to prove the point, the first person that I saw in it happened to be my agent.

The 101 is up a flight of stairs which leads into a large room with a central well with ten or so tables, which is surrounded by balustrades, and raised a few steps above the central well are tables all around the outside edge. It's an effective way of creating smaller spaces within a large one. The first impression is that this is a Spartan restaurant; the tables are chairs are plain, the decor is simple, the day's specials are on a blackboard and so are the desserts. We were shown to our table and handed menus and a wine list.

While Jeananne pondered the menu, I devoted myself to the wine list. This is a wine list perfectly in keeping with the restaurant. There are a dozen or so reds and whites, all except for one under £20. The mark up is modest and the wines are well chosen. I've been complaining of late that wine lists ought to mirror the average diner's spending patterns and this one does just that. You can even get a decent wine for under a tenner, which I like to see. When wines are priced reasonably like this you can either enjoy a better wine for your money than you might otherwise, or you could be tempted to second bottle - both of which are pleasant options. My first choice, an Italian sparkler was out stock, but as it happened my second choice of a Sancerre at £18 was precisely what Jeananne wanted. The 101 has a full license, so if beer suits you better it's there at £2.50 a pint, which seemed pretty fair to me.

The menu, when I finally turned to it, is as pleasant a surprise as the wine list. The starters include the now obligatory goats' cheese crostini, Babagnou served with crudites and pitta bread, French onion and leek tart, and a Bouillabaisse all priced at £3.50. Main courses offered included breast of chicken stuffed with mature cheddar; baked fillet of salmon served with Parmesan; cashew nut and blue cheese rissoles, all priced at £9.35 except for the vegetarian dishes which cost £7.85. Specials included duck breast with Chinese-style oyster sauce, which cost £10.75, and all desserts are £2.30. A la carte starters are under £3.50, pastas are £5.35. I list all this at length because it's so nice to see real food priced so reasonably.

Eventually, once we had found out that the Babagnou was an aubergine dip, Jeananne selected that and I had the French onion and leek tart. To follow she chose the duck breast and I had the medallions of pork served with a creamy Calvadosbased sauce. There's nothing particularly complicated about the starters we'd picked, but they were well made and well presented. My tart was tasty and a generous portion; Jeananne's dip, when finally I was allowed a taste, was very good.

Our main courses arrived and looked good on the plate. If I have a quibble it's only this: small plates that have generous portions of food on them make spilling the food easy - at least I'm inclined to. I do like big plates, but this is just a little whinge. The important thing is that what was on the plates was plain, good, well-made food. My pork medallions were excellent and I liked the sauce. Being a foreigner myself I avoided the apple sauce - a taste that even after thirty years I have failed to acquire.

There's a big plus in having as a dinner companion someone who is not only charming and witty, but who has a small appetite. My pork was long finished, my plate empty apart from apple sauce, when rather deftly Jeananne moved a big piece of duck from her plate to mine. Keen as I am to avoid the reputation of being a glutton, it looked too good to miss, so I ate it. We both agreed it was a fine dish. With the wine going down nicely and our appetites slaked we began to look around the room. Jeananne, who is fan of continental restaurants where whole families go to eat, was struck by the fact that all age groups seemed to be represented - from the very young to the old. My eye was struck by the fact that five out of the nine men that I could see had beards, although it's harder to draw any kind of conclusion from that. Certainly it seems that the 101 draws it clientele from across the board. Or should that be the boards?

Very full now from one-and-a-half main courses nothing was going to tempt me to a pudding, but thankfully Jeananne was prepared to try the rhubarb fool, which she pronounced just fine. I was thinking at this point that because the wine was good and reasonably priced another bottle would be an excellent idea, but Jeananne, being a driver, would not be persuaded. Instead we ordered two espressos and two brandies which is always a civilised end to a meal. A total bill of £56.50 seemed very reasonable to me for the quality of food that we'd eaten. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: there's no escaping the fact that our expectations in restaurants are tied directly to the price. If the price is high then we should expect that the surroundings, the service and the food match what we pay. If any of those things are out of balance, then there's a lingering sense that somehow the meal has not been a success. What you get in the 101 is in balance; you get efficient service, good food, a simple enough dining room and a price that is affordable.