The depressing thought that soon the days would start getting shorter while summer has yet to arrive was weighing heavily on me. A continuum of lowering skies and dampening drizzle was eroding my joie de vivre. We needed a break in the monotony of routine, a change from the norm - in short a trip west of the Shannon where at least you can look at the rain and the clouds with a spectacular backdrop. We'd taken the lake drive from Mountshannon to Killaloe, which skirts the south-western end of Lough Derg. Long views across the lake with scurrying clouds scudding low over hills well made up for the lack of sunshine. What I noticed most about the landscape was the large number of two-story farm houses, something you'd be hard put to find in Wicklow where bungalows seem to be all the planners will allow.

We arrived in Killaloe in the early evening, made our way across the bridge and parked the car. Down below us the Shannon flowed, boats bobbed in the current and a spray of sun peeked out from behind a low cloud. No doubt, it made a very pretty picture. It's a neat and well-maintained town where the old sits alongside the new with some harmony. Down by the river we looked up at the town, which sits on a bluff overlooking the Shannon, rather as Cobh overlooks the ocean. It has the same kind of ordered neatness as well.

Across the road from our parking place was a pretty roadhouse called Goosers which advertised food all day long. It had tables and chairs outside, but given the day that was in it they weren't much of temptation. Inside it was warm, lowceilinged and bustling with people, whose accents and languages betrayed them as not all native. We took a table by the window and looked out the darkening, leaden skies. This warm, cosy room seemed like a very good place to be. On the table was a menu of bar food with the usual array of snacks like sandwiches, but there was much else besides. Sea food chowder, mussels, pickled herrings, bacon and cabbage and Irish stew all for a fiver or less; steakburger, plaice fillets, prawn salad and chicken all well under a tenner. It all looked good and tempting, but when I heard that the restaurant had just opened for dinner I felt an irresistible pull towards the comfort of the dining room.

There were four of us; my wife Susie, my daughter Isabella, her friend Toby and me. The dining room is large and spacious and the tables are not too close to one another. The decor is in the style of dark wooden beams and shelves with blue and white crockery, somewhere between cosy pub and rustic tea-rooms. We took a table by a window that had a view of white doves in an aviary and started to look through the menu. There is much of what's on the bar menu, although naturally it all costs more in the dining room, so if it was just a snack you wanted, the bar might be a more economical bet. The menu is heavily oriented towards seafood; starters include oysters, £7 for 6 and £14 for a dozen, a lobster starter for £10, soup of the day, mussels, pate, garlic mushrooms, scallops, crab and avocado salad, crab claws, smoked salmon, smoked trout and smoked eel, most of which are between £6 and £10. The seafood theme is continued in the main courses which are priced between £15 and £23. There's plenty to choose from; lobster, poached salmon, black sole, scallops, monkfish, scampi, seafood platter, john dory, turbot and sea bass for fish-eaters and fillet steak, sirloin steak, rack of lamb, roast duckling and chicken for the meat-eaters. With vegetables and side salads at £1.50 to add on to these prices, it's easy enough to spend £25 a head just on the food.

The wine list is short, 14 or 15 reds and whites, spread across most of the wine-producing globe. There are French standards amongst the whites like Sancerre, Pouilly Fume and Entre deux Meres, but the list gets vague when it goes to the New World. For example the list includes Chilean Chardonnay at £14, Australian Chardonnay £15 and New Zealand Sauvignon at £15.50 - but whose? and what vintage? The end of the list includes a 'glass of dessert wine' and a 'bottle of vintage port', but it stays strangely mute as to who the maker is or what vintage it belongs to. Still, there was enough to choose from in the under £20 range and I settled on the New Zealand Sauvignon, which turned out to be a rather good Marlborough estate.

For starters we'd chosen crab claws, mussels, prawns with mayonnaise and smoked eel. They were simple dishes, but well-presented with clean, clear tastes that allowed the fresh ingredients to speak for themselves. We did a bit of plate swapping until Isabella came to terms with her crab claws, which at first she thought were peculiar to look at and consequently unappetising.

Only Susie and I were having a main course, since both Toby and Isabella thought they had just enough appetite for dessert only. Susie had ordered monkfish with a prawn sauce and I'd chosen the scampi which came with a ramekin of tartare sauce. Susie was delighted with her choice, the fish was perfectly cooked and very fresh and the sauce was, to quote Susie, 'one of the best I've had'. My scampi were good too, but they were rather more cooked than I'd have liked, more brown than golden. The tartare sauce had been made freshly with capers and had just the right amount of tang. Both of these were generous portions and most of our potatoes and side salads were left on the table by the time we came to a stop.

A chocolate cake and a cheesecake were the two choices for dessert, and judging by the speed that they disappeared they must have been fine. I wanted an espresso, not just to finish the meal, but also to keep me perky for the drive home. Sadly it's not something they do, so I settled for the filter coffee and bravely got through about half of the cup of dark liquid before giving up. The bill came to £83 which didn't include a service charge. Our service had been exceptionally charming and polite so I added a good tip by way of thanks.