I came across something in print the other day that made me wonder: it said that Dalkey was Dublin's most prosperous suburb. You always wonder with facts like that, how do they know? How can they tell? On the face of it it's a fair bet; there's a lot of very shiny and expensive cars lining its roadsides, which has to be a sign of prosperity. Another I'd suggest, is the number of restaurants that it supports.

Yet another one has recently opened called 'Jaipur', a restaurant that serves Indian cuisine. I did what I've done twice before when visiting Dalkey restaurants, I called Mary Finnegan, who lives there, and arranged to have dinner with her. And just like before we arranged to meet in her local, the eponymous and recently re-vamped Finnegans. Going to the gents there I thought I might have stumbled into a Greek temple if it wasn't for the porcelain-ware - all shiny marble on the walls and floors making it very grand. It's a short walk from there down to the Main street where Jaipur is.

A little tub-thumping now: I'm always hearing the rumour that men never notice what women are wearing, and even if they've half taken it in, they still can't tell the difference between a dress and a skirt. Well I can tell you that Mary was wearing a jacket, but nothing plain about it - it was a explosion of butterflies of every colour on a black background, and very fetching it was too. This was set off with black trousers and really smart Italian black boots. See? I noticed.

The first thing that hit us as we walked through the doors of Jaipur were the amazing aromas floating out from the kitchens. There's no appetite stimulant as powerful. We sat down almost drooling in anticipation. It's a pleasantly decorated room; pastel colours on the walls, one of which has canvasses of bright splashes of colour while another has more traditional Indian scenes. Soft chairs upholstered in a suede-like material make you instantly comfortable and the tables are set with good cutlery and heavy, starched linen. Be prepared though to take time over the menu; it's very long. It starts with a page of appetisers which are priced from €7-€10 and includes dishes like tiger prawns, chicken and crab cakes, chicken tikka and filo pastry parcels. Either you need to be very knowledgeable about Indian food or you have to ask because there are ingredients listed that are unfamiliar - things like sprouted moong, gram, crisp mathri, pickled potato, pounded lamb, kachumba, hung yoghurt garlic and roasted pickling spices. I like that, it adds a sense of adventure to choosing from the menu. The main courses are divided between sea-food, poultry, vegetarian, and lamb, there are about five dishes in each category and they're mostly priced around €17.

The wine list isn't particularly long or adventurous, but it's very fairly priced. Plenty of regional French wines to pick from and a smattering from the rest of the world. There was one wine that jumped off the page and shouted 'pick me' - Chateau Kefraya from the Lebanon. I thought it was about time I tried a Lebanese wine that wasn't Chateau Musar so I picked it, and at €26 it was one of the more expensive wines on the list. I'm glad I did, it was full-bodied and rich in flavours, a good accompaniment for the food we ate.

After a lot of indecision and several visits by the waiter to see were we ready to order, we settled on the Papri Chat for me and the Jugalbandi for Mary. Well, not exactly, because the Jugalbandi was a bit of everything so the two plates were really communal property. Both of us were pleased with the what we had, there was a wonderful variety of flavours to explore, but it's worth noting that after a while taste buds can easily be overpowered by too many flavours. We took it slowly, giving time to each of the different dishes, which is probably the best way to do it.

We'd ordered a prawn curry for Mary and a lamb dish for me, and to back it up we'd added a lentil dish - the Tadka daal - as well as Pulao rice and a basket of Naan bread. When it all arrived there was perhaps more food on the table than we could eat, but we're nothing if not triers. By adopting the same strategy as we had with the starters we were able to make significant headway, trying different combinations and enjoying them. Mary's prawns were big and fat as well as being perfectly cooked and my lamb dish was robustly flavoured. It was around then that I realised what a fortunate choice the Chateau Kefraya had been.

Perhaps it was because we'd taken the meal slowly that even after being well fed at this point, we decided to have a dessert each. Mary picked the kulfi, which is a yoghurt-based dessert, while I went for the more traditionally named chocolate pudding. Both of these were well made and tasty, and by the time we'd got nearly to the end of them I was ready for an espresso. Sadly there was none to be had, so we finished the wine instead over a lengthy conversation.

The bill came to €106.65, which was higher than I might have expected. Looking through the bill now I see that the incidentals do mount up, €10 was accounted for by the bread and lentils. What you get for your money in Jaipur is a pleasing room, very good service and well-prepared food. But then again, if you're in Dublin's most affluent suburb, I suppose there's price to pay.