I got introduced to the town of Greystones for the first time about thirty years ago. It was a small, leafy, middle-class and very protestant town, with tidy front gardens and an air of prosperous tranquillity. Tranquil it certainly was: but sleepy and unexciting would also have served as epithets. I rather liked its protestant ethos: that's the bit that gave it its tidiness and Calvinist order. I admire those protestant qualities of decency, hard work and honesty - not for myself, of course - but I do like to find them in others.

That old Greystones is something you can only glimpse now, it lurks behind the brash new façade. It's grown exponentially as it's become commutable. The DART brought it closer to Dublin and its population keeps on growing. Change has come to sleepy Greystones: the main street has become busy, there's a new shopping centre, there are now a few places to eat and more tellingly, there are Catholics living in The Burnaby. Talk about the New Ireland.

If this seaside town were anywhere else other than Ireland's east coast, the new restaurants would certainly be fish-oriented. But since it is on the east coast, none of them are fish restaurants. The one I went to this week, Bel's Bistro, has the sort of menu that we've come to expect from the mid-range restaurants in the greater Dublin area. It has the usual starters, plenty of chicken dishes and pastas as well as steaks. What sets it apart from the run-of-the-mill is its wine list. It's not a long one, it's not filled with unusual wines, but it does have a modest mark-up - something that's becoming increasingly rare.

The room is nicely decorated and lit, and although it's quite a large room, it's been well divided so that there's no sense of eating in wide open space. I was there with an old friend, Greystones resident Jane Stephenson, and we were sat at a generously sized window table, watching the busy main street. Jane organises conferences, many of which are in the 'self help' category, so I got to learn a whole lot about finding the real me, discovering my true vocation and improving something or other. Oh yes, my memory.

The first thing I chose was the wine - a Chianti Rufina which was listed at a very reasonable €21.50. A moment later our very efficient waiter was back with another bottle, a 1998 Chianti Riserva. The plain Rufina was out of stock and so we were offered a better bottle of wine instead. Naturally I had no problems with that. We also ordered a couple of bottles of mineral water to complete our drinks. We studied the menu and after some consideration Jane chose the Thai fish cakes as a starter and I picked the mushroom tart. Jane's fish cakes were served as three balls, breaded and deep-fried and served with a dark sweet and sour sauce. She gave me a taste, and though a little bland they came to life with a dip into the sauce. My wild mushroom tart was tasty enough, but a little forensic examination disclosed very few bits of wild mushrooms and plenty of button ones. I had another small niggle too; I'm not convinced that slice of separately cooked puff pastry placed atop a filling actually constitutes a tart.

And so to our main courses. Jane has chosen the fanned duck breast and I'd chosen the suckling roast pig. Both of these were nicely presented, but Jane's turned out to be very overcooked and consequently very tough. I was impressed with how this was handled after we'd told our waiter. With no fuss, it was simply replaced with another one which was tender. The only reason that I'm mentioning it, is that when a restaurant puts something right quickly and painlessly, no one minds. It's something other restaurants could do well to emulate. What I had on my plate was a large pile of champ, which tasted fine but looked dark and unappealing. It was surrounded with what looked like thick slices of pork belly, which had been roasted to a pleasing crispness. If you enjoy pork crackling, this dish would have pleased you.

Both of these dishes were filling, so although we looked at the dessert menu, we decided to skip them and just have coffee, a cappuccino for Jane and an espresso for me. Over the course of evening I'd been vaguely aware of people coming and going to the back of the restaurant and I'd assumed the destination was the loo. Actually it turned out to be a decked area that was sufficiently exposed to the elements to be legal for smoking. Our new laws seem to be designed not just to keep smokers out of places of work, but also to ensure that they will be cold and uncomfortable wherever they are allowed to smoke. I thought about having an after dinner cigarette here, but decided I'd be more comfortable having a smoke at Jane's kitchen table, so we called for the bill, which came to €92.55 not including service.

Bel's Bistro adds a middle of the road eatery to Greystone's growing catering outlets. Simple uncomplicated dishes coupled with a well-priced wine list means you can eat and drink for under a €100, something else that's becoming uncommon.