If I sound bouncy, tiggerish and excitable this week, forgive me. It's just that I finally got to go with dinner with a lady I've admired for a long time. Penelope Wilton is over here to star with John Hurt in the Gate production of 'Afterplay' by Brian Friel and I just managed to catch her before she got stuck into the run, after which dinner wouldn't have been possible. Actually, we've been trying to organise it for a while - this isn't her first appearance on the Dublin stage - but this time nothing interposed and off to dinner we went.

Now you need to do a bit of thinking if you want to impress your guest, but have the minor handicap of not being able to go to a place you already know and have an opinion of. I looked through various guide books, but in the end I had a better idea; phone Alan Stanford, the man who writes the reviews for City Life on a Tuesday. 'Take her to Tiger Bec's,' was his considered response, so I did. We got to Dawson Street with some time to spare and so we used it to check out the newly refurbished Cafe en Seine, which has been very elegantly done. A brief aperitif, and it was a scamper up the road through the rain to Tiger Bec's.

The restaurant is underneath La Stampa and has its own entrance flight of steps. There's lots of wrought iron as you walk in, on the doors and enclosing the wine-racks just inside them. The other thing you notice at once is the coloured glass, which has been used in lots of places, and rather prettily as a topping for the counter - lit from underneath. It's a very long room and not overly wide, but careful use of mirrors gives an illusion of width. Our table was about half-way down the room and we settled in with menus and wine list, a bottle of water to sip while we made our choices. A good-sized table for two it was, with linen napery and good glassware and cutlery.

The wine list isn't very long, but it's reasonably priced - a change in policy from upstairs - which I was happy to see. It's divided between 'cool whites' and 'spicy reds', this last a description you shouldn't take too literally. Plenty of New World wines with enough fruit flavours to hold their own with spicy food, and a smattering of Bordeaux chateaus, which I wouldn't imagine as having the same resistance to spices. I took our sommelier's advice and chose the Campo Viejo Gran Reserva 1994 at €33.50, a really big, meaty wine with plenty of residual tannins which we rather iconoclastically chose as an accompaniment to Penelope's fish choice.

The menu is long, with plenty of choices and is in English, followed by a phonetic rendering of the Thai names. I could get serious and list some for you, but instead I'll simply say that they're of the 'Yu Phat Khow' and 'Phat Chans Noh Nuki' variety. Starters, fish dishes, stir-fries and meat dishes are listed, and it did take us a while to read through it all. I'm still fighting this rear-guard action against reading glasses, but dim light of the sort shed by night-lights enclosed in a little shade, make me think that the day is getting closer when I'll have to get a pair of specs. I had to hold the candle over the menu, and even then it wasn't so clear. After a little negotiation we chose like this: the roasted cashew nuts to start and the grilled sea-bass for Penelope, and the Thai fish cakes followed by a pork stir-fry for me.

The waiter had told me that the fish cakes were 'chewy' and supposed to be, but I found them dainty, tasty and almost meaty. They came with a clear, spicy dip that complimented them perfectly. As I said, Penelope had chosen the roasted cashew nuts. I don't know why, but neither of us expected the bowl of roasted cashew nuts that was placed before her. I mean they were good nuts, but it looked awfully like a bowl of nuts that you'd buy in a packet; nicer obviously, but they presented themselves rather dully.

The main courses arrived promptly with our rice choices in little covered bowls; plain steamed rice for Penelope and egg-fried rice for me. We did a little exchange and I found her fish to be competently cooked and well-flavoured and the pork stir-fry was also well-prepared. The accompanying vegetables were crisp and tasty and all in all the dishes pleased us both. We both liked the delicately carved vegetable rose that came as a garnish to both dishes.

We finished the meal with a simple tropical fruit plate, very nicely presented, but the fruits still a little way from perfect maturity. Throughout the meal the service had been attentive and professional and we sat for a while over a couple of acceptable espressos, talking of the stage and of course 'Iris', Penelope's most recent film. The bill came to €125.38, high enough, and it reached this amount mostly by the price of the bits and bobs - water at €5 for 75 cl, espressos at €2.50 and rice at €4.50. It also included a 12.5% service charge, but still left a space for a 'gratuity'. One day I want to deal with this in detail, but for the moment I'll just say that having paid a 12.5% service charge, a tip on top of that seems excessive. When you consider that VAT is built in at 21%, then you add service at 12.5%, and then a proposed tip as well, you could end up with a 50% surcharge on the basic cost of your meal. No wonder dining out is becoming a very expensive pastime.