My week of ethnic dining started with a trip to the cinema. Every now and then, when there's enough pre-publicity, a movie can drag me from the hills into the city. This time it was 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', which I'd read was faithful enough to the Douglas Adams' books. I've been a bit of an anorak about those books for years, although I never quite got the stage of reciting Vogon poetry. Maybe it was my enthusiasm over the years that persuaded my neighbours John and Isabella to see it as well. So off we went with their three children to Stillorgan to see it.

A couple of hours later we were out of the cinema; a little bemused, not quite entirely satisfied, and a little hungry. Popcorn had not sated the children's appetite, so we did what we've done before - we paid a visit to Monsoon, a small Indian restaurant on The Hill in Stillorgan just around the corner from the cinema.

There's one thing that seems to me to be common to all the Indian restaurants that I've visited - the service is unfailingly courteous. Monsoon is no exception to that: six of us arrived with no reservation, but within moments they'd re-arranged tables to accommodate us. I began explaining to the children that after the book 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' came 'The Restaurant at the End if the Universe'. This, I explained to them carefully, was not a place at the outer reaches of space, it was a time. The restaurant sits its diners down two hours before the universe ends. The diners watch this awesome spectacle over their meal, then massive time turbines bring the restaurant back in time by two hours ready for the next sitting.

Monsoon didn't look much like The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - and there were no alien species there that I could recognise either. It's a small room, up a flights of steps from where you can pick up your take away meals. There are nods to the sub-continent with beautifully carved wooden representations of Hindu deities on the walls, but otherwise the room isn't themed. As we've done in the past, we let Isabella do the ordering for us. She chose us a variety of dishes: a chicken Tikka Massala which the children like, a Kashmiri Rogan Josh - a spicy lamb dish that I'm fond of, a king prawn biryani which John and Isabella enjoy, a bowl of dal, a spinach dish called Paneer Methi Malai, and lastly a Banarsi Aloo. The starter portions are priced around €8 or €9 and the main courses cost between €15 and €18. To complete the order Isabella also ordered some Nan bread and Pilau rice.

There's a short wine list, but it's very fairly priced with a few wines under €20 and the majority of them under €25. We decided against a bottle wine, instead we ordered Lassis for the children, which is a yoghurt drink that comes either as a sweet drink or as a savoury one, and John and I had Indian beer.

The first thing to arrive were the night-light plate warmers on which the copper pots containing our various dishes were placed to keep them hot. Essentially what we'd ordered was three starters and three main courses plus some extras for the six of us, but by the time they'd all arrived the tables seems to be awash with food. Even a fairly strong appetite would begin to wilt after some of these dishes. I did manage to taste most of what was on the table and everything I tasted was very much to my liking, with the possible exception of the yoghurt drinks. The spices were all carefully handled, each dish had clean, crisp tastes.

By the time we'd eaten our fill there appeared to be as much on the table as there had been when we started, but our waiter sensibly suggested he'd pack up what was left and we could take it home for later - a suggestion we were happy to accept. A tasty and healthy meal for six that came with a price tag of €106.30, which I thought was very good value. Fittingly, we then drove home in a monsoon.

Following this ethic theme, later in the week I was back in the Marriott's Druid Glen for their themed evening 'A Taste of Venice' in their 'Flynn's' restaurant. This followed what has now become a very successful formula for the Marriott - a four-course meal accompanied by wines selected specifically for the various dishes for an all-inclusive price of €75. For the Venetian night all the wines were from the excellent producers Masi, and we were introduced to their new 'Toar' - a big, almost caramelly red that went very nicely with the Osso Buco. Especially good was the first course, the antipasto, which had such gems as breaded olives and pickled garlic, accompanied by their excellent white Masianco. I'm looking forward to a change in the weather, because soon the Marriott will be doing barbecues on the patio, terrific value at €20 on a summer's evening.

It's the time of year again when I get to do the critic thing again on 'The Restaurant' TV show. Apart from feeding me, the celebrity chefs will also be serving food to thirty-four other people, so if you fancy being a TV diner, dial 01 660 1588 and ask for Lisa.