The evening began with art, specifically the Art Pack auction in the Royal Hibernian Academy. All the original paintings that made up the pack of cards, fifty-four of them, were auctioned off in aid of the Hospice Foundation and raised over €66,000, which is a tidy sum in anyone's money. I found myself in conversation with Gayle Killilea and an obvious thought came to me. There can't be a restaurant reviewer who doesn't secretly want to be A. A. Gill - funny, iconoclastic and probably immensely well paid, he sits at the English-speaking pinnacle of foodie writers. Hacking away as I do in the lower reaches of the pecking order, it occurred to me that I could at least emulate him in one thing - I could have dinner with 'the Blonde'.

Which is how we left the RHA and went off in search of food - an Adrian Gill epigone and a real blonde. There's a fairly new restaurant in Blackrock called 'Zuccini' and we made it our destination. On the way there I slipped into pedantic mode and explained that in Italian that name would be pronounced 'zoocheeny', because it's the 'h' in 'zucchini' that makes the 'c' hard and makes it 'zookeeny'. The Blonde eyed me pityingly. 'Deeply fascinating,' she said, which prompted me to drop the enthralling subject of etymology. I'm beginning to think that there's a goddess of parking; it never happens when I'm alone in a car, only with women present, but as we approached Blackrock village there was an empty place awaiting us, as close to the restaurant as you could get and still be legal.

A short flight of stairs takes you up into the dining room, which is prettily lit and decorated in a clean, uncluttered style in pleasing pastel colours. Within moments of sitting down a jug of iced water was on the table, so no expensive bottled waters this week. The menu is short, both in starters and main courses, but there are good things to choose from and it's all very reasonably priced. In a way, simplicity is almost the leitmotif of Zuccini; the tables are covered with paper, the napkins are paper, the tables and chairs plain and serviceable, all of which gives the feel of an Italian trattoria or a French bistro, only better decorated. The wine list is also short, but there are a couple of decent to wines to be found on it. Like the menu, it has a very reasonable mark up, so you can eat and drink for a modest expenditure. Since we were both having fishy choices I picked an Italian Pinot Grigio, well-priced at €21.

There's a Mediterranean touch to the menu, with the kind of dishes that I'd describe as mod-med. Starters are priced mostly in the €5- €7 bracket and main courses start in the lower teens, which is something you don't see very often. From it the Blonde chose the crab cakes to start and the tiger prawns to follow, while I picked the rocket salad to begin and then the sea-bass fillets. While we waited for our starters we talked a little about the supposed health benefits of a Mediterranean diet. I put my new theory to Gayle: the Japanese eat very little fat and get fewer heart attacks than the Irish, British or Americans. On the other hand, the French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the Irish, British or Americans. The Japanese drink very little red wine and get fewer heart attacks than the Irish, British or Americans. But then the Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the Irish, British or Americans. The conclusion seems clear enough to me: eat and drink whatever you like. It's speaking English that kills you.

The starters arrived and I was pleasantly surprised when on tucking into a corner of the Blonde's crab cakes, I discovered that they were really good. I hardly ever order them, since I've found they disappoint more often than they please, but these ones were really tasty. There was a good olive oil dressing on my salad, and there were shavings of a good quality Parmesan as well, so all in all they were two good starters.

The service throughout the meal was excellent; attentive and courteous. The water jug was replaced whenever we emptied it, the ashtray was changed frequently and the wine glasses were kept topped up. The main courses arrived and once again both the presentation and the content were good. The Blonde's prawns were cooked just right, firm in texture and came with a tangy garlicky butter. It was a generous portion too, and the Blonde, no doubt mindful of her sylph-like figure, left quite a few of them for me. I'd already carefully worked my way through three fillets of sea-bass, a fish I'm particularly fond of. They were a little more cooked than I'd have liked, but it was still firm and fresh and I was happy with it.

We'd taken our time over the meal, with much talk of newspapers and press gossip between forkfuls. I wanted to share a dessert, but the Blonde was adamant, she would eat no more. I ordered a strawberry mousse for me, but asked for two forks just in case. It was a pleasant pudding and I did get a little help in finishing it. An espresso finished the meal for me.

I liked the clean simplicity of this restaurant, its uncluttered look and its straightforward menu devoid of pretension. The price too is a bonus - the meal came to a modest €72.50, which these days is beginning to look like very good value.