I'm beginning to wonder a little about the competence of the people whose job it is to make traffic flow. At the root of all discussion about traffic there ought to be the understanding that people aren't simply out there joy-riding, mucking about in their cars, wasting petrol and time: they're doing something useful to the economy - either going to work, or going to spend. Making either of these activities hard to do doesn't help anyone, and yet perversely there are people whose job appears to be doing just that.
I went to see 'The Two Towers' yesterday with my wife and son and chose to see it in Dun Laoghaire because we would be out by 7.30 in the evening, time enough to find somewhere to have an early supper. Because the expensive multi-storey car park bizarrely closes at 9 o'clock, we had to move the car before finding a restaurant. It's been a long time since I've eaten in Dun Laoghaire and I thought it was time to do so again, but the ingeniously designed one-way system had me out of the centre and on the road to Monkstown before I knew it. You'd need to be very persistent, or a resident, to stay in the centre, it's all designed to make it very difficult. Which is why we ate in Monkstown and not in Dun Laoghaire. If I was trading in Dun Laoghaire and paying rates there, I'd be angry. Driving out traffic means driving out trade, but bureaucrats on permanent and pensionable jobs don't seem to need to take account of the real world.

The crescent in Monkstown is becoming a kind of miniature Kinsale. I don't mean it's taken up sea-tourism or that you can go shark fishing, just that restaurants are clustering there - maybe because it's a good deal more traffic friendly than Dun Laoghaire. There was a biting, cold wind that drove us into the quiet warmth of Wright's Brasserie, where we found two friends huddled around a small gas-flamed stove, just the sort of welcome a night like this needed. Here we sat a while studying the menus and wine list. The room is laid out a bit like a bar; there's a large 'L' shaped counter in the middle at which you can sit while eating from the bar menu, and all around this are tables set up for the restaurant part. There's partitioning between the tables, which are also well-spaced, so you do have a sense of privacy.

The menu is predominantly fish, although there are meat dishes listed. Roughly speaking the starters range from just under €5 for the soup of the day, up to €13 for a medley of sea-food, mostly being in the €7 to €8 range. All three of us were in the mood for fish, so the menu suited us well. For starters we chose a plate of mussels with a tomato-based sauce for me, a fish chowder for Rocco and a plain salad for Susie, whose appetite wasn't running to much. To follow she chose the fillet of cod, Rocco picked the monkfish and I had the scallops in a Thai sauce. We could have had plaice or sole meuniere, salmon, duck, chicken or steaks, and all the main courses ranged in price from €20 to €25. You get a choice of gratin potatoes, boiled potatoes or rice with your main course, buy any other accompanying vegetable is extra.

There's quite a good wine list here, with perhaps forty wines from all over the wine-producing world listed. Most countries are represented with a single or perhaps two entries, but there are four white Burgundies listed. It's a fairly priced list, and since only Susie was drinking wine on the night, a half bottle of Macon Lugny at €12 filled that order. Both Rocco and I drank beer, which is available in half-litre cans.

Some rather good bread rolls were on the table and as soon as we'd finished them a second basket came, which I was pleased to see. Susie had just a plain salad before her, but Rocco's chowder came in a miniature tureen and looked and tasted very good. My mussels were generous in portion and the accompanying sauce was tasty, which is where the bread rolls came in - very useful for gathering up the last of the sauce.

While we awaited the main courses our conversation turned to wargs, ents and other denizens of Middle Earth. No complaints at all about the movie really, we all loved it, just a sense that the ents could have been less humanoid. While this fascinating topic was absorbing us, the main courses arrived. Susie had a simple, but well-cooked piece of cod and Rocco had three pieces of monkfish which he pronounced 'simply delicious', but then he'd just come back from Ballymaloe. I had nine or ten scallops arrayed around my plate, not large ones by any means, but good. The Thai sauce was not heavy on the coriander, so I enjoyed it. A flat of gratin potatoes was placed between us and a small one of rice. All very simply prepared, but allowing the taste of the very fresh fish to be experienced.

We finished up with just one ice-cream selection between us, which is as well, since the ice-cream wasn't very good - not a complaint I have very often. I felt that overall we'd had an uncomplicated meal that was simply prepared, which is entirely admirable. The service had been friendly but not always fast, but then again we had been in no hurry. Our friends who we'd met earlier stopped to say goodbye, and we discovered that their experience had not been as happy as ours. Just goes to show what a variable thing a meal out can be. The bill for the three of us including our wine and beer came to €133.76, including a 10pc service charge.