I've had a theory for a few years now, and I've even occasionally voiced it in print. It's this: as more and more people eat out and more restaurants begin to trade, there's more work for Irish chefs. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, a growing cadre of talented chefs have been working in Ireland. It's a feature of the catering industry that chefs learn from one another - they learn in their apprenticeships, they learn from watching other chefs that they admire, they learn by visiting other restaurants and seeing what's on offer there. As the general standards of Irish cuisine have been rising continually over the past fifteen years, so cooking skills have been spreading around the country.

That's the theory, and I was sure it was the case, but I hadn't actually found an example that verified it. This week I did, but not in the capital or indeed in the Pale, but way up north in Letterkenny. In truth the Radisson SAS in Letterkenny isn't, on the face of it, the most likely place to find really well made food. Letterkenny seems to have adopted the French model for town expansion - a newly-built ring road hosts the large outlets that an expanding town and economy needs. There's a large Atlantic Home Care, a Lidl, two large tile shops, a cinema complex and various other enterprises including the Radisson Hotel. The whole project isn't yet complete, so there are large areas of untidy sites that are yet to be developed, a couple surrounding the Radisson.

I was reminded of my first visit to the Nuremore Hotel in Carrickmacross many years ago. As I approached it all the visual cues were telling me that inside I'd get the standard hotel fare of those days, which wasn't a gastronome's dream. Instead we were fed amazingly well and since that day it's remained a personal favourite. I suppose I was expecting something perfectly acceptable in the Radisson, something in keeping with its visiting businessman's ethos - something maybe verging on the workman-like, but not exceptional.

It's all very new inside and very shiny. Lots of polished wood, lots of polished marble. A theme of rectangles is the design feature, you can see them everywhere and it gives the hotel a very modern, minimalist look and feel. A wall of high windows means that the vestibule is well-lit and through it you come to the dining room. It's in here that the surprises begin. The first surprise is three-course set dinner plus coffee or tea, which is priced at €32.50. Even if the food was average, that would still be a very reasonable price. But as you read through the menu, it becomes very clear that you're not dealing with your basic hotel fare.

Here are a couple of the starters: Cock a Leekie soup, a Stilton and walnut tartlet, an Asian chicken salad, Mulroy Bay scallops with a mousseline and grilled pannacotta. No bog standard stuff here. It's the same with main courses: wood pigeon with focaccia, red onion and goats cheese; venison sausage served with chanterelles; marinated herring; grilled mackerel fillets and lastly, the dish I had to have, steak and kidney pudding. If a chef is confident enough to put some of these dishes onto his menu, the chances are you're in capable hands. Here, it turned out, the chef isn't just competent, he's very gifted.

There were four of us dining, so between us we picked right across the menu. I'd almost gone for the cock-a-leekie soup, which I haven't had for years, but instead I chose the Stilton tartlet. I was lucky, because before the starters arrived we all got an amuse bouche of a demitasse of the soup, so I got to taste it anyway. The starters came and were all good, but there was an elegant simplicity to the tartlets which won me over. Good pastry and a balanced mix of walnuts and Stilton made it a winner.

Meanwhile I was gorging on the really excellent breads, especially the tomato bread, which was delicate and light, as opposed to the dense, red bread that so often goes by the same name. I haven't had steak and kidney pudding (not pie) since I had my own restaurant back in the 80s. I love its Victorian heritage - Mrs. Beeton gives a good receipt for it - there's something comforting about a steamed suet pastry casing enclosing the steaming kidneys and beef. This one was perfect, a real delight. The others enjoyed the pigeon and the venison enormously, it was such a pleasure to find such seasonal game dishes on an autumn menu.

The wine list is average in length and carries the standard Radisson mark-up, which is higher than you'd expect. Actually I didn't grudge it much here, since the meal was such great value. We had Plaisir de Merle Sauvignon Blanc to start and their Cabernet Sauvignon for our main courses, both of them good wines. The Sauvignon Blanc was good value at €25.

We even managed some desserts; a bitter chocolate tart with pistachio ice-cream, a Carragheen moss pudding, and a lemon, polenta and almond cake with vanilla mascarpone. All very good and definitely not your usual hotel fare. So why should this provincial dining room be producing such unlikely food? Back to my osmosis theory: it turns out the Radisson's manager spent years working with Derry Clarke in L'Ecrivain and the chef worked alongside Conrad Gallagher for five years, so that's how these skills got transferred to Letterkenny.

A meal like this one gives me great hope for the future. It's a perfect example of a rising tide lifting all boats. When good, well-prepared food can be got anywhere in Ireland and not just in the capital, then yes, we're well on the way to the Continental model of fine food wherever you may find yourself.