You need determination to visit Dun Laoghaire. I learned once before that any casual attempt to enter its hallowed precincts by car will end in a system of one-way streets that contrive to leave you at the exits to the town no matter which way you turn. You have to prepare your assault; plan your route with as much cunning and guile as the designers of the one-way system have used to thwart any approaching motorist. Like a good chess game, you have to look for the weaknesses in your opponent's plan - in this case the opponent obviously wants to keep anyone out of Dun Laoghaire who is trying to enter and spend money in it. My objective was to gain entry to its almost impregnable main street. Driving out of Dublin, I made a decision as far back as Monkstown as to how my battle-plan for entry would work. I'd go up the main road until the way was barred, turn left zigging and zagging down towards the sea, then right onto Marine Road, up to the lights, turn left, down a bit, then duck in left to find parking. It worked. Turning off the engine I realised I'd accomplished what I've been striving to do for a while - I'd got my car into Dun Laoghaire. That warm glow of a goal attained suffused me as I said to my wife with pride, 'we've made it'. It could have been a moment for a little air-punching, but I'm restrained, me.

We hadn't actually decided where we were going to eat, we just wanted to get into Dun Laoghaire. It's a town we both knew in our youth, we walked along the main street saying things like 'wasn't that where The Bamboo was?' And that's pretty much when we came to Walter's. Walter's is over a pub, a location I have always viewed with deep suspicion. It's a prejudice like any other; sometimes right, sometimes wrong. Still, I'll admit to harbouring it. We walked up the stairs to the restaurant - it has its own entrance - and arrived in an enormous room that seemed to stretch away into the distance. I was delighted to discover that the vista before me wasn't the dining-room, that was behind me, at the street front of the building.

It's a very pleasing room. Pastel-shaded and high-ceilinged it was filled with generously sized tables and wicker chairs. We were shown to a table for two that had comfortable wicker armchairs that immediately endeared me to the place. A few large pot-plants serve to visually break up the room, which was very full on a mid-week night. A quick glance through the menu makes it clear that we may have been above a pub, but this place takes its food seriously. Starters are all around €7 or €8 and include seared beef fillet strips, a goat's cheese parcel, duck spring rolls, calamari, smoked cod cakes, seared tuna and a sea-food chowder. The main courses were just as varied and just as many. Breast of chicken, roast duck, roasted Mediterranean vegetables, fettuccine with chicken, guinea fowl, Thai fish stew, penne with roasted vegetables, bangers and mash and medallions of beef.

While Susie was deciding which of the many dishes she liked the look of to order, I found the wine list at the back of the menu. It's short enough, about a dozen reds and a dozen whites, but there are wines enough under €20 with just a sprinkling of more expensive ones for anyone who wants to splash out a bit. We were both in the mood for something light and unchallenging, so I chose a Frascati Superiore, a choice I'd never have made ten years ago when Frascati wasn't as careful as it is today about what it puts in bottles. A jug of water was on the table, which I like to see, but we had to ask for bread, which, when it came, wasn't as fresh as it might have been. We also ordered a small sparkling mineral water - a quarter litre at €2.40, which if you work out, comes out at ten times the price of petrol.

With a bit of help from our waitress who described the dish, Susie chose the Thai fish stew and decided not to have a starter, while I picked the calamari to start. Naturally I shared them with Susie and it was a very good starter. Perfectly cooked and nicely presented in a tower. I enjoyed them immensely, and the lemon aioli that accompanied them.

When the main courses arrived Susie's Thai fish stew looked every bit as good as its description. Big prawns peeked out from the array of different fruits de mer, the aroma of spices and coriander leaf made the gastric juices run. It was a very good dish indeed. I'd chosen the bangers and mash, mainly because I like so uncompromisingly plain a menu entry. It was sausages made of wild boar, one of my favourite meats. The sausages on my plate were very tasty but had no taste of boar at all, not a hint of sanglier, not even a tiny tang of cinghiale. Somewhere in the translation of wild boar to Irish table the wild, gamy taste had disappeared and had done so probably intentionally. It's an intriguing point, but the more bland meat tastes, the more it becomes acceptable to the general palate. Really good mash came with the bangers and I enjoyed the dish well enough.

Only one dessert between us, a crème brulee that suffered a little from the invention of the kitchen blow-lamp - nicely crisped on the top and still fridge-cold at the bottom. I finished with a decent espresso and overall enjoyed my night with Walter. A bill for €71.30 not including service seemed neither a little nor a lot - just about right.