Alex at the Conrad.

Specialising in seafood, Alex offers contemporary, seasonal menus with a selection of dishes that range from the familiar to the innovative, all served in stylishly contemporary and warm surroundings. Particular attention is paid to the quality and origin of ingredients. Wild and organic produce are used whenever possible in keeping with the commitment of the Chefs to use the finest of fresh, natural ingredients. Paolo recently enjoyed dinner here.

The dining room is classic hotel chic, by which I mean if you were led into it blindfolded, you'd know you were in a hotel dining room when the blind came off. It's a long room on two levels, one side is glass looking out over the hotel plaza, the other has a long counter, no doubt for the buffet breakfast. The tables are big and prettily set and the chairs are well-upholstered and comfortable.

The menu opens with this: 'At Alex we know that the best seafood needs little adornment.' Now that's a ballsy statement. I agree with it whole-heartedly, but it takes courage to do something simply, especially when you're charging for it. Yet it's true, why would you want to do much to a fresh piece of fish? In a perfect world you can't actually improve on the fish's own natural flavour, you let it speak for itself.

The menu doesn't follow the usual shape of starters and main courses, but instead lists dishes some of which are starters, some of which are main courses, and some of which can be had as either. There were a few things listed that I wanted to try, a task which was made simpler by the entry on the menu called 'A taste of Alex' - a starter at €18 which gave me three different starters all in one. So we ordered this mix - the sea asparagus salad as a starter for Noelle, which she followed with zander, while I started with the brown shrimp risotto and followed with the Taste of Alex starter as my main course.

There's a fairly extensive wine list which comes with a mark-up much closer to 200% than 100%. That seems to be about standard for luxury hotels, but it does mean that there isn't much to be had for under €30. I picked out a decent white Crozes Hermitage from Chapoutier for us, which was listed at €36.

Our two starters were really good; Noelle's sea asparagus had a lovely flavour of smoked garlic and it came with a salad of organic leaves and roasted tomatoes. My brown shrimp risotto was perfectly cooked Arborio rice with potted shrimp stirred through it. So on to mains. Noelle had chosen the zander, which is a freshwater water fish also called the pike-perch. Before I describe it, it's worth noting that I haven't ever seen zander on an Irish menu before, or indeed perch, which was also on Alex's menu.

Freshwater fish tends to be less tasty than saltwater fish - maybe simply because of the lack of salt - but Noelle's dish of zander was a delight, a touch of lime really brought out the fish's flavour. My dish was a plate in three sections, which allowed me to taste the risotto again, the calderada - which is a Portuguese fish stew - and a seared scallop as well. Light, not filling, and with enough flavours to keep me happy.

We did just about manage a dessert between us, which we followed with a couple of espressos. If you really can't eat fish, there is a page for carnivores on the menu, but Alex is essentially a restaurant for people who enjoy fish. The bill, including a few mineral waters, came to just under €130.