A year has flown by since I started this column, so it's fitting that for this anniversary review I was with old friends in one of Dublin's more talked about restaurants. Call me perverse, but I often react like a donkey to a goad and pull hard in the opposite direction when pushed. It's the same with books, films or restaurants: if enough people tell me I'll love it then I know I'm going to hate it. Conrad Gallagher's 'Christopher's' is a case in point - he himself has plenty of media exposure and so does his growing chain of eating houses. Could it be as good as all the hype would have me believe?

'Christopher's' lives on a mezzanine floor of the Fitzwilliam Hotel on Stephen's Green. It's new, trendy and designed by Terence Conran, which means lots of clean lines, brushed steel, plain of chunky wood, big areas of polished stone both vertical and horizontal, and a bright, airy, minimalist feel. It seems to be a trend for restaurants to move to hotels. Patrick Guilbaud did it and now Conrad Gallagher has two in the Fitzwilliam - Peacock Alley upstairs and Christopher's, which doubles as the hotel dining room. In other words it's the restaurant where you'd have your breakfast if you were staying in the hotel. The problem with this is establishing an identity. There's no entrance that Christopher's can call its own, it's accessed through the main hotel lobby and then by either lift or stairs. You could also do with a map if you need to find the loos, which are in a labyrinth of blue-carpeted corridors down in the basement somewhere.

So there I was with three of my oldest friends; Susan Morley the painter, Kathy Gilfillan the ex rock-chick and Paul McGuinness who needs no epithets, all gathered for the anniversary dinner. A shiny steel lift took us up to the restaurant where on exiting you find a check-in desk and place to leave your coats before being shown to your table. The room is roughly triangular, except the long side is a curved ogee that overlooks the hotel lobby. The other two walls are hung with abstract art and the room is filled with round, wooden tables except at the sides where they're rectangular. The tables are set with crossed linen runners and have pleasing cutlery and glassware. I've sat in more comfortable chairs, but the overall effect is welcoming and restful.

This sense of ease in a restaurant is a crucial ingredient in making a meal a success. It's hard to pin down exactly where it comes from, but it's partly the surroundings and partly the welcome. When you find as we did an intensely professional maitre who knows exactly what he's doing - as indeed did all the waiting staff - you can relax secure in the knowledge that you'll be well looked after. Along with the menus and wine list came a tray of really good breads - four different kinds; walnut, bacon, brioche and curry spices. I gave the wine list to Paul, as he has one of the finest cellars that I know and can spot a good wine at a hundred paces. After muttering darkly about the prices of the clarets that fill the start of the list, for example an '88 Lynch Bages at £300, he was delighted to find that the rest of it had wines at affordable prices. He chose a white New Zealand Chardonnay at £24 and a Californian Zinfandel at £20, both of which were good. My best guess is that this list is marked up higher than normal at around 150 pc.

It's an interesting and innovative menu; let me give you a flavour of it. There are amuse bouches priced around £2, followed by starters such as potato skins with pancetta and sour cream, cos lettuce with Caesar dressing, crostini with serrano ham and arugula, clams with spaghetti and Thai chicken with lemongrass which range between £5-10. Main courses include char-grilled sirloin steak with sweet potato and red onion marmalade and a bearnaise, grilled calves' liver with soft polenta, roasted guinea fowl and tempura of cod with French fries. Yep, fish and chips. They're priced in the £13-17 range and there are side orders, one of which I couldn't resist, the chips with aioli - garlic mayonnaise. It's the kind of menu that appeals to ladies, at least that's the impression I got from the two at our table.

Before our starters arrived we were brought a little demitasse of Thai soup which was exceptionally good - perfectly judged flavourings that did just what an amuse gueule is supposed to do: set the palate up for delights to come. For starters Susie had the garlic clams, Kathy the Thai chicken, Paul the serrano ham and I had the potato skins. We swapped around the table and there was nothing but approval for each dish, especially Kathy's chicken. But like St. Thomas I was still wasn't convinced: I decided to wait for the main courses and see how they fared before allowing myself to believe that this was indeed Good Food.

Although Conrad Gallagher is famed for serving his food in very high piles what we got for main courses was quite restrained. The tallest dish was my sirloin steak which came balanced on two small rounds of toast giving it a few inches of lift. But more than height, what we got was very well-cooked, well-presented and well-flavoured food. Susie had chosen the Guinea fowl which was cooked to perfection and stuffed with chopped up greens that none of us could identify other than to murmur 'mmmm'. Paul had the fish and chips which was also quite tall, two pieces of very fresh battered cod balanced atop his chips. Kathy's veal liver was quite the best I've ever tasted, cooked so perfectly that it tasted unlike any other I've eaten - a real star dish. And my steak was, well, a steak. Good but not exciting, but then that was my choice. If I'd wanted something rarefied I could have chosen differently.

Only Susie had a dessert, a delicious pistachio creme brulee with little chocolate balls for decoration. If the little moans of pleasure escaping her lips were anything to go by it must have hit the spot. We finished with coffees and glasses of Elysium, a rich red dessert wine from California. I'm convinced now. Christopher's gave us wonderful service, excellent food, smart surroundings and the food came to £25 a head. Great value for a happy anniversary meal.