Early spring is the awards season: if you're in the movies there's the Golden Globes and the Oscars, if you're in the music business there's the Grammies and if you're in the food business it's Michelin star time. People in the business take these awards seriously; if you have even a passing interest in food you'll no doubt have caught the item about the French chef who committed suicide after being demoted by two points in the Gault et Millau Guide. Like a wine-maker getting a high mark from Robert Parker, a high-point listing in the Gault et Millau or a Michelin star can do wonders for your business. It's not just the kudos of acclaim from a source that knows what it's talking about, it's a real fillip to your business. It follows that the converse has equally dramatic results; the loss of a star or a demotion in rankings can ruin an otherwise profitable business, hence the suicide.

Not all awards carry the same gravitas. One Michelin star is still infinitely preferable to five golden forks or ten silver chefs' hats or three platinum buckets from a guide that no one's ever heard of. And then there are those guides that you pay to get a listing in. From a restaurant's point of view these guides represent money wasted and from a consumer's point of view they give no more useful information than you could get from the Golden Pages. The bottom line is that in Ireland where the Gault et Millau doesn't really cover, the Michelin is the business - it's the guide to have. Its inspectors are professional, its seriousness and impartiality are beyond reproach. Huge amounts of information can be gleaned from its listings, but just like reading a map you have to learn what all the symbols mean to decipher them.

It's hard to quibble with the guide's choices, a well-deserved star goes to Derry Clarke in L'Ecrivain; Patrick Guilbaud and Kevin Thornton keep their two-star rating and surely Ross Lewis in Chapter One can't be too far away from getting his. A few weeks ago I ate in three Michelin starred restaurants on the French Riviera, so it seemed time to reassess the Irish stars. Kevin Thornton has moved from his original base on the Grand Canal to take over the space where Conrad Gallagher once wreaked his particular brand of illusion, upstairs in the Fitzwilliam Hotel on Stephen's Green. Now there's a perceived truth about Michelin-starred restaurants and it's this: they're expensive. Actually that perception is correct, they are expensive, but then when did quality ever come cheap?

Still, you can limit your wallet's exposure and enjoy the food if you do what I did: go and have the set lunch. That'll give you an idea of what the food's like and if you choose a starter and a main, or a main and a dessert, it'll cost you €30, three courses will cost you €40. With a fat expense account you could go a la carte, but with main courses pitched around €50 it can easily mount up to big money. My two friends that I'd gone to meet have since gone shy on me and have asked me not to name them, so I'll just call them Ulle and Hansi from Hinterzarten in Baden-Baden, Germany, to preserve their anonymity.

You can get to Thornton's either through the hotel lobby and its lift, or by stairs through its own entrance on the ground floor. The room is essentially an 'L' shape and windows overlook the Green, or more specifically the Luas works, which exhibit all the symptoms of a work that continues at a snail's pace, rather like the that long-running gag, the Kilmacanogue by-pass. The tables are large and linen-covered, the seats are padded, there's good Art on the walls, the waiters are smoothly professional, the whole room gives a quietly elegant feel. The menus are beautiful, too, not just for the listing of what they contain, but for the embossed ivory card on which they're printed, their edges delicately picked out in gold. Aah, there's nowt as pleasing as sheer luxury.

The wine list is long and full of interesting wines, running to sixteen pages, but it's no place to find a bargain. Not for the first time in the past couple of weeks it was a struggle to find wines listed at under €30. However if your budget runs to around €50 a bottle there are fine wines to be had. I picked out a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 1997 from Illuminati, simply because it comes from near my valley in Italy. At €58 it was a fine wine, but anyone from the Abruzzi would be astonished that one of their wines could fetch such premium prices.

Luckily we were three, and the lunch menu comes in threes. Three starters, three main courses and three puddings. Despite this option of diversity we all chose the braised pig head as a starter, eschewing the fillet of brill and the confit of vegetable and truffle terrine. We were more adventurous for the main courses, Ulle and Hansi choosing the ballotine of chicken and me picking the fillet of pollack, the unchosen option being Bresse pigeon. When our starters arrived we all had what Kevin Thornton does extremely well - a poor, peasant dish taken to sublime levels of expertise. Pork cheeks and jowls are the main ingredients of brawn, but on our plates it was transformed into real gourmet fare, tasty and succulent. And it was much the same for the main courses. Simple chicken transformed into a special dish, and pollack - a fish that many fishermen return to the sea - cooked and seasoned to perfection, elevating it to the very best of the cod family.

We had two desserts between us, a white chocolate mousse and an apple tartlet, both good, although I thought the mousse a little dense. Between two bottles of wine, 3 bottles of mineral water, pre and post prandial drinks, coffees and petits fours, the bill came to €330, so be careful, without brakes the €30 lunch can grow in cost.