I've just re-read my review of Dobbins in 1999. Funny to think five years have passed since then, it seems like only yesterday. In that review I began with my reminiscences of living in Herbert Street just around the corner when I was a student and my memories of going to Dobbins in those years of the early seventies. So now I have three sets of memories: the ones from the seventies, the ones from the nineties and armed with this perspective of years, I'll tell you about my memories of Dobbins in the noughties.

My first memories were of a place where I could afford to go to as a student. A lot of people I knew worked there as chefs and wait persons, so there was always craic to be had. It's inside a Nissen hut, a semi-circular structure that were common in England during World War II, which by some quirk of fate is situated between Upper and Lower Mount Street. Then there was a twenty year gap while I went about the business of running my own restaurant, leading up to my last visit. What struck me most the last time was the price. I thought it was expensive, and especially so because my previous memories were of student-affordable prices. The starters were around £10, the main courses came to around £20, water was £4 a litre and the wine list wasn't cheap either.

If Dobbins had spent the last five years pumping up their prices like everyone else they'd be prohibitively high by now. But something odd has happened. Not only have the prices not gone up since then, in some cases they're lower. If you translate the prices of my last visit into euros, you can see that five years ago you could easily have spent €40 on two courses - in fact my dinner there cost £115.50 or €146 in 1999, which by the standards of the day was pricey enough.

This time I was there to have lunch with Aurelio Montes the wine-maker from Chile, whose wines I've written about before and Jules Macken. The main reason for this lunch was to taste some of his wines, and over the course of lunch we tried his 2003 Chardonnay, his 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon 'Alpha', his 1997 'M' and lastly his 2001 'Folly', which unusually is made from Syrah grapes.

Although our wine choices were fixed, I did take the time to look through Dobbins' wine list, after all it is properly called 'Dobbins Wine Bistro'. The list resembles a book, insofar as it contains a great many pages and the mark-up on the wines is reasonable. It begins with a well-chosen selection of wine at €20, €25 and €30 and then continues through France, Spain, Italy, Germany. Australia, New Zealand, America, South America and South Africa. After the Champagnes and ports comes the real aficionado section. This bit is for those of deep pocket, containing such wonders as a Petrus 1973 for €2,475. Apart from this piece of window-dressing there's a selection of Bordeaux Grands Crus and Crus Bourgeois in the €100 to €400 range, as well as six vintages each of Latour and Lynch Bages.

The lunch menu is a three-course table d'hote priced at €24.50 and there's a shorter version available for €18.50, so good value has made a welcome return to Dobbins. There are nine starters to choose from and they included dishes like a stuffed goats' cheese, a trio of salmon, smoked haddock fish cakes and terrine of duck, foie gras and Toulouse sausage. The were seven main courses, which included a battered cod and chips, a charcutier plate, organic chicken breast and a sirloin steak.

We started with an Ogen and Canteloupe melon salad for Aurelio, duck spring rolls for Jules and a dish that looked irresistible to me; stuffed bacon knuckle and cabbage terrine. These were well-made and nicely presented and on this very busy lunchtime the service throughout the meal was prompt and efficient.

For main courses we had the crispy Peking duck, the roast rump of lamb and the spinach and ricotta tortelloni. I was fascinated by the duck dish; the breast had been separated form the skin, the fat had been removed and then the breast meat was wrapped again in the skin. It worked very well, and those who worry about excess of duck fat would be well pleased. The lamb, too, was tasty and well-cooked and although Jules was adamant that the tortellini were good, they looked unappealing to my eye. The tortelloni came with roasted vegetables, a basil pesto, a tomato sauce and a rocket salad; a combination that to my mind was far too busy and from a presentation point of view rather overpowered the big fat tortellini (tortelloni).

Despite this small quibble, the food was good and needless to say, the wine was excellent - by this stage we were drinking the 'Folly', a very big red wine with all the robustness of a Rhone red, but with the subtlety that comes from cool climate vineyards with very low yields. The wine took us through happily to a shared cheese board.

Good espressos finished this pleasing lunch, which for many reasons has put Dobbins back on my food map. As of 2004 I liked the food, I especially liked the prices, I thought the wine list well-chosen and well-managed by Ignacio the sommelier and now that I know the Dave the doorman can look after parking your car for you, I have no further reasons for not to going to Dobbins more often. It pleases me too that a restaurant that I knew well in my youth is still thriving in Dublin and once again offering a really good value lunch.