Since this is the first issue of the new millennium, it seems as good a time as any to look back over the last couple of years of dining out and take an overview of them. The first and most obvious observation is how much things have changed for the better in the world of Irish cuisine. Standards in restaurants are getting higher all the time, the quality of service is ever better and the dining rooms themselves are increasingly being designed for the purpose. Whereas once a bad meal was easy to find, now it isn't. That's not to say all meals are wonderful; one of the sideeffects of rising standards is that what was once considered acceptable or even good can seem bad against the new standards. The next most obvious change is that fashion has less of a hold over our restaurant kitchens than once it had. There is no pervasive culinary ideal that has taken over - variety is what we have now and it's something that I delight in.

Over the last few years as the Irish economy has boomed restaurants have proliferated. This had an effect on staffing, since there is a lag between the demand for good chefs and waiting staff and their training. Most restaurants in 1997 and 1998 suffered from rapid turnover of undertrained staff. This seems to have resolved itself a little - better wages have attracted well-trained staff from abroad and home-trained staff are filling the demand for their skills. There's a new self-confidence as Irish chefs compete and win in European competitions, a growing sense that the gastronomic arts are as advanced and as skilled in Ireland as anywhere else. It's a great time to be a restaurant reviewer and for the moment, at least, there seems to be no shortage of newly opening restaurants to review.

Reviewing a restaurant is a hit and miss affair. It's perfectly possible for me to get the worst meal that a restaurant has produced in a year, or alternatively the best that they've ever done. A one-off visit can never tell you anything about consistency. Which is why, whenever I've criticised a restaurant harshly, it's been for those things that are easily within the control of the management - things like greedy mark-ups on water and wine; tiny tables or tables crushed together; under-staffing; over-priced food or using second-rate ingredients. All of these things are different manifestations of greed - a desire to take from the customer as much as possible while giving as little in return as possible. The kind of pricing policy that makes vegetables and bread extras fits the pattern, as does adding a service charge and then leaving a box on your credit card slip for a tip.

Having owned and run a restaurant myself for years I'm aware that cooking is an art and not a science. Things can go awry in the best run kitchens. I have a policy that if something is wrong, then I'll tell the waiter. If it's put right, then I don't mention it in the review, since as far as I'm concerned if it's corrected promptly and without fuss then it never happened. It's only when the correction fails to happen that you hear about it. Another policy I adhere to is to book a restaurant in the name of my guest. I prefer not to give advance warning of my visit, but occasionally I'm recognised when I arrive. If that happens I try to focus on the things that can't change at short notice - the way the menu and wine list are set out, the staffing levels, the ambience and the value for money.

This last category, value for money, is perhaps the hardest to pin down. Clearly if a meal has been less than satisfactory you can't get value for money, but all things being equal four things should be in balance - the room, the food, the service and the cost. The higher the price the more we should expect from each of the other three elements. If any one of these is out of balance with the others then there's inevitably a sense of discomfort and ill-ease. Good food in ugly surroundings or with bad service is hardly a pleasure, nor indeed is great service, beautiful surroundings and bad food. And if any of these unpleasant combinations comes with a high price tag, we have reason to be dissatisfied.

So having nailed my colours firmly to the dining table, I'd like to start this new century with a little look back at some of the most memorable meals I've had in the last couple of years. Starting with those meals where the price was the highest, I've enjoyed Patrick Guilbaud's and Kevin Thornton's enormously. The skill and flair of these two chefs is beyond question. They are both examples of just the kind of new self-confidence that I was talking of earlier. But there are plenty of places knocking at the door of this gastronomic elite. Chapter One, One Pico and Dunville Place are restaurants where really good food comes are less elevated prices. I found Trumans in Kildare Street to be great value and da Roberto's in Blackrock too. One of the most memorable meals I ate in the lesser price bracket was in Avenue in Donnybrook - but just to show that my personal taste doesn't always coincide with everyone else's, it closed after less than a year. Outside the capital I can remember great meals in Ballymaloe House in Cork which will surprise no one, and extraordinary meals in the Nuremore Hotel in Carrickmacross, which might surprise a few.

Bad meals have been rare, partly because I try to choose restaurants where I'm told the fare is good, but partly because bad food is getting rarer. What's more likely is that you'll get mediocre food at high prices, which tends to leave me not so much cross as resigned. While consumer demand remains as high it is at the moment there's enough business to keep even mediocre restaurants going. A tiny downturn in the economy might just weed a few of them out.

Looking into the future can at best be projecting trends, but doing that leaves us looking at a bright gastronomic future. Young people are increasingly seeing catering as a career, not as a stop-gap between jobs. It's an industry that is at last being taken seriously, by its providers, its consumers and by its reviewers too. In gastronomic terms Ireland begins the new millennium having come of age.