This story began a few weeks ago when I was enjoying a wonderful Italian meal prepared by two very fine Italian chefs that Ross Lewis of Chapter One had brought over for two nights of magical dining. Sitting opposite me was a young man called Stephen O'Reilly, a committed gourmet and foodie. 'We need a plan,' he said to me, 'to get you to some of the better restaurants off the beaten track.' I didn't need much persuading, I love good restaurants no matter where they be. A few days later, true to his word, he was on the phone to me. 'Edenderry in Offaly. What do you think?' 'Sounds good to me,' I answered. And that's how it was that I met up with Stephen, Aileen and Christina in Ballindoolin House, a few miles outside of Edenderry.

Ballindoolin House dates from the Regency; a break-fronted three storey over basement building that comes into view rather spectacularly as you round the final bend of the avenue. A large gravelled car park is in front of the house and the restaurant, called 'Tyrells', can be found by following the signs to the side of the main house. It's housed in what was once a stone barn in the yard, which has been prettily renovated into a long, vaulted dining room. The walls are a mixture of brick and stone, and the floor is surfaced in black flags. You might think from this description that it would make for a cold room, but it certainly doesn't. A large peat fire blazes comfortingly, and I found out later the reason why my feet were so warm - underfloor heating.

Before we went into the dining room we were sitting in a newly built ante-chamber with wicker furniture, where we had our pre-prandial drinks and examined the bills of fare. The wine list is almost entirely Antipodean - Australia and New Zealand - with a couple of Chilean wines completing it. It's not a long list, perhaps some 40 wines, but they're well-chosen and reasonably priced. In the end we chose a Viognier varietal from Yalumba wineries for the white and a Jim Barry Cabernet Sauvignon for the red. A propos of the Jim Barry, when you read in tasting notes 'hints of liquorice' it'll make a lot more sense once you've tasted this. It's so prominent both on the palate and nose it's a wonder it comes from the Cabernet grape.

There are two menus to choose from, an a la carte and a table d'hote. The set menu is a very reasonable £15.95 and it offers three starters, three main courses and three desserts to choose from, some of which can be found on the a la carte. We all chose from the Halloween night a la carte menu, which included some standard as well as some unusual dishes. The starters are between £4 and £6, and between us we chose a duck liver parfait, baked flat mushrooms with goats' cheese, Italian style aubergines and ribbon pasta with black pepper. The main courses are all around the £17 mark and we chose a roast pork fillet, a 'duck two ways' a cannon of lamb and a rib-eye beef steak. Potatoes accompany these dishes and side orders of fresh vegetable come at £3.50.

It was nice, when we were brought to the table, to find a jug of iced water - which was replenished throughout the night - and a basket of good breads awaiting us. All four of us fell silent as soon as the starters arrived; they were beautifully presented and the tastes were perfectly judged. Christina had the duck liver parfait, and it was definitely one of the most successful I've tasted. Across the table Aileen had two flat field mushrooms, which had been filled with goats' cheese and grilled. Stephen had what I thought was the star starter, the ribbon pasta. Because I'm such a chauvinist I rarely order pasta outside of restaurants I know well, but on this night I should have. Proper home-made pasta, just like grandmamma used to make, with a really tasty sauce of black pepper, roasted tomatoes, olives, pesto and Parmesan. I'd picked the aubergines Italian style, which were rounds of roasted aubergines topped with a spicy peanut butter. Not your classic Italian dish, but tasty enough.

What was clear, even at this point, was that the chef was someone who understood attention to detail. Every tiny part of each dish was carefully judged and skilfully prepared. So when the main courses came and just the same skill was in evidence, we began to congratulate one another on the choice of rendezvous. Stephen's duck came with a confit of the leg and the breast pan-fried, topped with a honey and cherry sauce. Christina had the lamb cannon - the loin stuffed with apricots and wilted spinach, Aileen had the rib-eye beef, which came with curry-flavoured onion rings and a black and green pepper sauce, and I had the pork, which was wrapped in a tarragon mousse and came with Brussels sprouts, leeks and a an onion and cider sauce. Now if these descriptions sound good to you, I can tell you that eating them was a delight. The vegetables in particular had that glorious old-fashioned taste of 'picked from the garden', and it transpired that that's exactly where they came from. The award-winning two-acre walled garden, for which Ballindoolin House is known, produces much of the restaurant's needs.

All the desserts are priced at £4.50 and we ordered two between us - a home-made sponge with raspberries and custard, and a passionfruit cheesecake. Apart from telling you they were delicious, I have to say it's been a while since I've tasted real custard that starts life with eggs. Once again, it's that same attention to detail that differentiates the excellent from the pedestrian.

Because Stephen was the designated driver, the rest of us were able to enjoy a few cognacs after the meal, which brought the bill up a bit. However, taking those drinks off the total would have left a bill of about £135 including wine, which for four is terrific value, especially considering the quality of the food.