For a long time now I've been in the middle of letters, faxes and phone calls between the city of Cassino in Italy and the town of Arklow. Last week my liason work bore fruit and it was finally agreed in council that the two towns would be formally twinned. It's one of those cross-cultural things that the EU are so fond of, but apart from that since most of the Italians in this country are from the region around Cassino it makes sense to have an official recognition of the cultural exchanges that have been taking place over most of this century. I tell you this because it sets the background for the celebratory dinner which I shared with the deputy chairman of Wicklow County Council and Arklow councillor, Tom Honan and his wife Sharon Murray.

Since this was essentially a Wicklow thing, or as Tom suggested an Arklovian thing that we were doing, it seemed only right that we should have our meal in the county, and anyway there'd be less driving for us all. Tom suggested Lawless's Hotel in Aughrim that has recently had a major make-over, so that's where we went. We arrived in Aughrim with a little low sunshine left in the sky and surveyed the Hotel from the car park. It looks like either a late Victorian or Edwardian building of many gables and it's positioned right alongside the Aughrim river. Its recent refurbishment is in evidence when you walk through the new gabled entrance into a smell of fresh paint and new carpet.

We went straight into the dining room which is a long, rectangular room which is in part partitioned by a handsome Victorian fire-place with a mirrored over-mantle. The tables at the far end overlook the floodlit river. There are wooden tables covered in thick, glass tops and the dining chairs are deeply upholstered and comfortable. The ochre walls have the trimming plaster work picked out in red, there are sconces on the walls and some good paintings and prints. Heavy King's pattern cutlery and decent crockery complete the settings.

The wine list is basic but comprehensive in countries of origin. Nearly all the major wine producing countries are represented, but not in great depth: for example there's one German wine, one Lebanese and two Italian. There are however six or so half bottles and there's even a selection of quarter bottles and a choice of house wines. Tom prefers white and Sharon prefers red so we had one of each; a Penfold's Koonunga Hill Shiraz at £16.65 and a Michel Lynch 1997 white Bordeaux at £15.50, both fairly priced and both good wines.

The menu is quite formulaic in the sense that there are many dishes there designed to suit the average taste. It's a bit like a Coopers menu in that respect; things like pate, garlic mushrooms, deep fried brie, steak in garlic butter - all good, simple dishes that aren't difficult to make and consequently are likely to turn out well. There's a set dinner at £18.50 which gives a choice of starters, soups, main courses, desserts and ends with coffee or tea. There's an a la carte as well covering all the dishes on the set menu plus grills like sirloin steak and lamb cutlets. There's fish such as salmon, scampi and plaice; chicken Maryland, omelettes for £4.50, and a turkey and ham dish for £5.85, which has to be the lowest price for a main course I've seen on a dinner menu for a very long time. In the end the decisions went like this: deep fried Irish brie, onion soup and pate for starters; pheasant, turkey and ham, and crispy duck in orange sauce for main courses. While we waited for our starters I was pleased to see that good bread and a jug of iced water were already on the table, something that I like to see.

Just before our starters arrived our waitress came to me with a message from the chef. 'Tonight the deep-fried brie is deep-fried Cashel blue.' I nodded. I tried to imagine a deep-fried blue cheese and didn't get very far. But bearing in mind Arnold Bax's advice that in life it's a good idea to try everything at least once with the possible exception of incest and Morris dancing, I said 'That'll be lovely.' Actually it turned out to be rather good because Cashel blue cooks well and has a pleasing consistency. Tom's pate was rough-textured and strongly flavoured, much to my liking but less so to his. Sharon's soup was dark and rich, and had benefitted from the inclusion of a fair amount of red wine.

The main courses came and we all had a taste of everyone else's. I've already mentioned how surprised I was to see a main course on a dinner menu at less than £6, but when we saw it on the plate we were all amazed. A very generous plateful of turkey and ham, well cooked and well presented was placed in front of an incredulous Sharon. I'm still a little puzzled how half of a fine pheasant turned up on Tom's plate about as far out of season as you can get without getting nearer to it again. Still, it was good and not heavy on the gamy flavour which is how I like it myself. My duck was just fine and the orange sauce that accompanied it had a well-judged balance of acidity and sweetness.

The dessert menu came and had on it such things as icecream, profiteroles, banoffi and more surprisingly deepfried strawberries. We chose the banoffi which Sharon and I shared, while rather daringly Tom went for the strawberries. When the desserts arrived they were without a doubt the most beautifully presented dishes that we'd had, the strawberries in filou pastry cases and the slice of banoffi on a very prettily decorated plate - both were very good dishes. After our rather weak coffees we relaxed in a quiet room with the soothing sound of running water as the river flowed by outside. This is a pleasing dining room with good, plain fare on offer. It's a menu designed as far as possible to be all things to all people - a few innovative dishes and plenty of standards for the less adventurous. It does what it does well, and a bill for three people including two bottles of good wine that comes to £85.80 can only be described as very reasonable. Eating out in the southern part of County Wicklow has been much improved by the new Lawless's Hotel.