There's nothing quite like a spell away to put you into a grump when you get back. A few weeks of no telephone, no newspapers, no television but plenty of sun, wine and good food changes your mind set from work mode to indolence mode. That's the easy transition to make; it's the opposite that's hard when you get home. Piles of bills make depressing reading after such a relaxing break. Still, after a few weeks driving across the continent through France and Italy, once again the effect of distance sharpens up perceptions of home.

I've been driving to southern Italy now for thirty years and each time I try to vary the route a little to take in some wine country and to try new restaurants. What becomes clear as you do this, is that in France and Italy you can eat well in almost any roadside bistro or restaurant that chance puts your way. You may not get a memorable meal, but you can bet that it will be competent and tasty. The prices, too, seem cheap to anyone accustomed to Irish prices. And that's what we seem to have few of - restaurants that cater for the middle ground at average prices. Ireland now has an abundance of fine chefs and good restaurants and plenty of places that offer you cheap and cheerful - but there's a big gap in the middle, which is precisely where most French and Italian restaurants place themselves.

Another thing you tend to notice in Italian restaurants is that they're not big into making all prices end with a 9. I've yet to see a main course priced at 13,999 lire. !4,000 is what it'll read. This may, of course, change with the advent of the euro, but for the moment round numbers predominate. This came to mind while I was sitting in the new 'Roly's @ the Pavilion' in Dun Laoghaire, where all the prices, both on the menu and wine list, are whole numbers of pounds. I have to admit I find that refreshing: can I be the only one who thinks that £13.99 is actually £14, not £13, so why not say so?

I was there with my son, Rocco, who has spent the past three years in Florence learning amongst other things to appreciate good food and wine, and we were joined by Gayle Killilea. Everything is very new in Roly's, it's only two weeks old, so there was the gleam of newness all around. Unscratched shiny oak floors, unmarked leather-covered banquettes and chairs, unblemished walls and shiny tables adorned with sparkling cutlery and crockery. The room is visually broken up by a raised dais in the centre, which ensures that wherever you are sitting you are shielded from the majority of the other tables. A large Andy Warhol-style icon of the eponymous Roly is about the only wall decoration in an otherwise fairly minimalist room, which is lit by simple, but elegant lamps.

The menu is short, and is divided up not as starters and main courses, but by the sub-headings 'one, two, three, four'. This, along with the whole number prices, makes for a very uncluttered look to the menu itself, much in keeping with the room. There are six starters ranging in price from £4-£6, and from these Gayle picked the tian of crab meat, Rocco the crisp pork belly, while I chose the deep-fried goats' cheese. There are seven main courses, mostly between £10 and £14; three meats, three fish and a vegetarian. From these Rocco - a carnivore if ever there was one - picked the lamb rump with chilli polenta, Gayle the beef fillet with caramelised onions and I chose the sea-bass, which came with spinach, beans and new potatoes.

If you remember Roly's last restaurant in Ballsbridge, you won't be surprised to hear that the wine list comes with a very moderate mark-up in this one, too. It's two pages, one of red, one of white and about 80 wines in all. There are fine red wines that run in price almost to three figures, but the bulk of the list is under £25 and is well-chosen. There are plenty of wines with recognisable names, but they all come with much lower price tags than elsewhere. I chose a Salice Salentino 1997 Riserva at a modest £14, and the reliable Macon Lugny for the white at £16, which is, I think, the cheapest I've seen it listed.

The only sense that we had that the restaurant was still finding its feet was the slightly longer than average wait for the food. When the starters arrived, after we'd picked on excellent breads and an olive tapinade, my son went into ecstasies over his crispy pork belly, a little square of meat that tasted wonderful and was accompanied by a good black pudding. Gayle's tian of crab-meat came with a gazpacho which served as a salsa, and a little guacamole. In both of these dishes the mix of flavours was well-chosen. I had two balls of crumbed deep-fried goats' cheese which was fine, but the others had the better of the starters.

When the main courses arrived there was a short discussion between Gayle and Rocco over their respective choices, which ended when they swapped plates. All three of our choices, the lamb, the beef and the sea-bass were very good, but what really struck both me and my guests was how good the accompanying vegetables were. Perfectly cooked and beautifully flavoured these were not an afterthought or a filler for the plate, but were rather a careful selection chosen to compliment the meat and fish.

All desserts are £5, but none of us felt up a whole one. However there is another possibility on offer, a taste of them all on one plate - which is what we had. Placed in the middle of the table we happily picked at the various morsels which rounded off the meal very well and then we ended it with three espressos. The bill came to £99.20, to which a ten pc. service charge was added, making a total of £109.12. As a bill for three that puts Roly's firmly in the middle ground of restaurant prices and represents good value for money.