I decided to spend my birthday having dinner with an old college friend in town on a Wednesday rather than go to the gym straight after work followed by a glass of wine at home. It was also a good opportunity to use a voucher I had for dinner for two, a bottle of wine and service for £56. A 6.30 reservation, which we arrived slightly late for due to Dublin Bus, confronted us with a packed restaurant, especially around the sushi bar. On such a cold night, we were gladly shown to a great spacious window seat where blasts of warm air kept us content all evening.

The set dinner menu for £23.90 consists of miso or coconut soup, a starter, Main, dessert and tea or coffee. So the voucher gave us a bottle of wine for free. We went with the waiter's recommendations of a 1999 Spanish Grenache (£15- house wine) which went down very well. There was a delay with our soup, as the waiter had only reminded us of it after we had ordered. A small Chinese bowl and spoon with a tepid soup and tofu whetted the palate. The starters arrived before my companion had finished. We both had chosen the skewered char-grilled chicken and vegetables. Two skewers with chicken and two with vegetables provided a generous portion. The courgettes, peppers, aubergines and mushrooms were all tasty as was the chicken, but it was all very greasy (a pet hate of mine) and the meat was actually very fatty. A salad garnish and dipping sauce completed the dish. There was a short pause before my king prawn and vegetable tempura was delivered. A bowl of wild rice accompanied the four king prawns and selection of mostly undistinguishable vegetables. I recognized a thick slice of aubergine and a mushroom. Everything was tasty though. The batter was light but too chewy. The prawns were large but quite the only tasteless part of the dish. I had to request more dipping sauce twice. My friend chose the chicken and prawn chili with vegetables and noodles. She was presented with a huge bowl which defeated her quite early on. I took a few mouthfuls and agreed it was delicious, but neither of us can handle anything too spicy so this ingredient both warded us off!

A nice selection of desserts rounded off the menu, but as chocoholics, we chose the chocolate cake pudding and the torte. The cake looked like a mini Christmas pudding and was nice but very dry. My little round mousse toped with cream was a much bigger success. Both were well presented with lovely butterscotch sauce. I finished with a decaf mocha but it was too hot and did not taste very chocolaty. Both the waiter and waitress were very nice and pleasant throughout. Many people ate at the sushi bar where you pick what you like from the revolving bar. A cute idea and I have yet to try sushi, but that night I was not feeling very adventurous! We had a great chat and a laugh and I enjoyed my evening. The food was not bad and the set menu is relatively inexpensive, but, a Japanese colleague, who likes Yamamori just like I do, feels that the cuisine at AYA is far from authentic. I'll have to agree. I certainly did not feel very healthy afterwards, like I do when I visit Yamamori. However, a pleasant change.