Could it be? Is it possible? Has an appreciation of fish finally made its way to Dublin? A few weeks ago I went to Alex, a newly opened fish restaurant in The Conrad Hotel, then my friend Tom Doorley was recently extolling to me the virtues of another new fish restaurant called 'Mackerel' in the old Bewley's in Grafton Street, and now there's another newly opened fish restaurant that has called itself imaginatively 'Fish'.

I set off for Monkstown Crescent, that stretch of road with more restaurants per yard than any road in Dublin, to meet with Trevor White of 'The Dubliner' magazine. I don't think I've ever dined with another restaurant critic except on TV, so I was looking forward to the experience. As I pulled into Monkstown Crescent I was vaguely imagining a night of foodie talk; deconstructing dishes to analyse their elements, finding the flavours from sweet to umami and talking about great meals eaten and yet to be eaten.

'Fish' is the new incarnation of the space once occupied by 'Caviston'. Note the singular there - not the Caviston's in Glasthule, the Caviston that was also a fish restaurant in Monkstown. So because 'Fish' has taken over from what was a fish restaurant not much has changed inside. The same brushed steel dogfish-shaped lights are on the wall, there's the same lay-out of tables and the excellent guitar music is still provided by Niall Lawlor, who's something of a virtuoso, ranging from slide, to picking, to classical with fluent ease.

We sat a good-sized table and looked down the bills of fare. Trevor isn't drinking at the moment and I had a car with me, so studying the wine list was more of an academic exercise than a practical one. It's quite a long list, covering about sixty wines in nine pages. All the entries helpfully have a brief description of the wine and give the grape variety. There are two pages of house wines listed at €22.50 and there are plenty of wines to choose between that and €30, as well as a few expensive wines for those with deep pockets. We ordered a couple of bottles of mineral water, a coke for Trevor and a glass of house Sauvignon Blanc for me.

There are few concessions to carnivores on the menu: as the name of restaurant suggests, it's fish, fish, fish. There are eight starters, all under €10 except for the King scallops, which are €12.50. Here's a few of them: a velvet crab bisque, home-cured organic marinated salmon, warm salad of marinated squid, steamed mussels and chargrilled sardines. There was also a daily special of Dublin Bay prawns in garlic butter, which Trevor chose. I couldn't resist the tartar of bluefin tuna and we also ordered a dish of the sardines for us both to taste.

There are eight main courses listed, ranging from €18.50 for an open ravioli of spinach and ricotta cheese, to €28 for the grilled seabass. Trevor decided to try the lemon sole, which came with a salmon and dill mousse and I picked the fillets of sea bream. With the ordering done, we picked at some good breads on the table and discussed the purpose and value of food critics. 'Asking a chef what he thinks of critics', said Trevor, 'is like asking a lamp post what it thinks of dogs.' 'So true,' I said, 'critics are like eunuchs - they know what should be done, but they can't do it themselves.' 'That's right,' said Trevor, 'you don't need to know how to cook to review a meal. That's not a new argument. It was made by Samuel Johnson in 1776 when he said, 'You can scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables.''

It's a fair point, but I do think that you the reader are slightly better informed by a reviewer who knows something of the production of the food. Anyway, while we were discussing these fine points of gastronomy the starters arrived. Trevor's prawns were superb; big, firm and tasty in their garlic butter, while my tartar of tuna was a knock-out. Two large grilled sardines sat between us, surrounded by a little salad. Ignoring the salad, we scoffed the sardines, which when they're big and fresh - as opposed to small and tinned - are simply delicious.

Main courses were equally good - Trevor's lemon sole was very good, and the salmon mousse and the asparagus that came with it were tasty. I had three fillets of bream before me, all perfectly cooked and the accompaniment of fennel confit and tapinade made a good combination of tastes. We also had a taster of monkfish wrapped in Nori seaweed, which I thought was the least impressive of the dishes we'd tasted.

Neither of us felt overfilled, even though we'd eaten well - but that's the joy of eating fish. We finished up with fresh strawberries and pancakes for Trevor and a plate of Irish cheeses for me. As I'd only had one glass of wine, I couldn't resist a glass of Orange Muscat dessert wine to go with it, which was a snip at €5.95. We rounded the meal off with a couple of espressos, which left us both satiated and contented.

There's a great value early bird menu here for those dining from 6pm on, which offers three courses from a cut down menu for a modest €20 and two courses are just €15. 'Fish' is a welcome addition to Dublin's fish restaurants and chef Jann Seite from Brittany knows how to make fish taste good. The bill for night came to €110.90.