I've been thinking about that phrase 'casual observer'. I mean what exactly does observing casually entail? Is it not really paying attention? Only taking in the surface, the obvious, the superficial? The reason I'm wondering is that how does a whole piece of city come into being and arrive, fully fledged into my consciousness, abuzz with people and shops when I hadn't even noticed its genesis? In short, how does the Financial Services Sector bloom into a populated neighbourhood without me noticing? I suppose I'm so casual an observer that even driving up and down John Rogerson's Quay reasonably frequently or Custom House Quay, that I simply didn't see it.

Maybe I'm being a little hard on myself, because from south of the river you don't see what's been happening behind the buildings fronting the Liffey, and from the north side of the river you'll find it hard enough to negotiate all the one-way streets that take you into the heart of this new Dublin district, unless you were determined to get there. Which kind of rules out the casual observer. Anyway, I was in Dublin to meet Alexis Mitchel for lunch and I thought it was about time I explored the Financial Services Centre, so I suggested the Expresso Bar in Custom House Square, which is the twin of the Expresso Bar in St. Mary's Road.

It's a new kind of streetscape for Dublin, although it's one I'm familiar with from Italy. There are now about eight blocks, maybe more, completed and inhabited. In broad terms you're looking at streets made up of five and six-storey buildings, mostly apartment blocks, that house the shops on the ground floor. This basic town plan can be found in Pompeii, so it's not a new concept, and it bears a remarkable similarity to parts of Cassino - a town close to my Italian home - that was built in the 80s and 90s. The day we went there for lunch was sunny, which further forced comparisons in my mind to Cassino. Sunny it may have been, but it wasn't what I'd call warm. Still, there were people sitting outside all over Custom House Square, which is the equivalent of the piazza, making the best of the sun's rays and giving it the look, if not the feel, of a hot country.

In the square there are lots of different food outlets; sandwich bars, a Swedish food emporium, an Italian food shop, and hiding in a corner is the Expresso Bar. It too had a couple of tables outside, but what with the wind and the fact that were in the shade meant there was only one real option, and that was eating indoors. Inside it's bright and buzzy and between one and two, it's very busy. Luckily we got a table before the main rush and we were still sipping our wine after two o'clock when the room almost emptied. It's fairly clear that the bulk of the customers, the lunch time ones anyway, work right here in the district. Given that, the menu makes sense as it's designed for people with an hour for lunch, so there's plenty of quick snack choices, as well as more elaborate dishes.

Essentially the Expresso Bar serves breakfasts and lunches, although there is a move to open shortly in the evenings. There's an extensive breakfast menu, with various combinations of eggs, bacon, sausages and bagels, all of which are under €6. The bagel menu is very long, with all the various permutations priced at under €5 for take away, or just over €5 if you eat at the tables. Naturally wherever you find health-conscious bagels, you'll find health-conscious juices, and here's no exception. All kinds of fruit and vegetables are juiced together to produce energisers - spinach, celery, cucumber, apple and parsley being an example.

Alexis and I had come for lunch however, and decided to go for two courses each, and possibly three. The lunch menu carried four starters; a soup, a salad, chicken wings and a mozzarella salad, from which Alexis picked the soup and I chose the mozzarella salad. Main courses were more extensive, with twelve choices ranging from just under €10 for pastas and salads up to €13.95 for the lamb stew. Fish dishes, salads and chicken dishes made up the bulk of the choices. Alexis chose the lamb's liver and I had the fish of the day, ray's wing in beurre blanc.

The wine list is fairly priced and long enough to have a couple of interesting wines, one of them being the Chianti Cetamura from Badia di Coltibuono. It's the Badia's second wine, but don't let that put you off. It's a fine Chianti and was listed here at €21.90, so naturally we had it with our meal. The starters were good, the soup being a Mediterranean tomato soup with basil and croutons which tasted clean and crisp, and my salad made of cows' milk mozzarella and beef tomatoes looked well on the plate. The surprise was the quality of the main courses, which were both excellent. I'm always careful of ordering liver, so often it comes to the table the consistency of shoe-leather, but this dish was perfectly cooked. Tender and served with a shallot mash it was a winner. My ray was every bit as good, the accompanying beurre blanc well made and well flavoured. When you consider that between them they cost under €25, which these days frequently buys you just one course, they were excellent value as well.

We finished with just one dessert between us, a mix of ice-creams and sorbets which was unremarkable, but I couldn't resist the 'Milky Way' latte, which was a mix of coffee and syrups, and as a change made an interesting alternative to a regular coffee. I liked this lunch bar; it gave me good service, good food and a bill that didn't frighten me - €66.50.