My hometown is only about 1 1/2 hours drive from Dublin city but I have become a true city bird and only fly back to my roots once every other second or third month. On such joyous occasions, my family usually dines out in a family run hotel/restaurant in co. Cavan. Last weekend, however, involved a brief trip to Galway for my father and the All Ireland Football final, so Sunday lunch out was not on the agenda. I suggested trying new venue in Kells on the Friday evening when I arrived back on the bus. My mother, not wanting to deprive me of my weekly meal out, offered to dine with me, although she was 'only going to have a starter'!

The Vanilla Pod is the newly opened restaurant which is part of the Headford Arms Hotel. It's a square room with plenty of seating and some funky print sofa chairs. All clean oak tables, combined with heavy retro sliver cutlery and low candle lighting, leave you with the impression of being in a very hip Dublin eatery. Indeed the menu and prices reflect this idea too.

Before I forget, I must mention the toilets - the men's is labeled with a pair of Y-fronts while the habitual panties don the ladies door. Inside there is a leopard print toilet seat and toilet brush holder, and a wavy full length mirror completes the retro style wash rooms. We counted 5 waiting staff on duty, which meant service throughout was prompt and very friendly, especially by out charming French waitress. Specials included beef and turbot and the soup was sun dried tomato and basil. My num chose from the early Bird menu (10.95) as the herb crusted cod on basil mash that she fancied was priced at 12.00 on the a la carte. She preceded this with a Caesar salad. I treated myself to the a la carte and there was no choice when I saw the warm goat's cheese (4.95). I followed with the seafood fusilli (13.95). After a glass of Jacob's Creek in the bar, we just had a glass of Wolf Blass each (3.50). A brief look at the wine menu revealed the Wolf Blass Shiraz at 22.50, which has an RRP of 12.50. So less than a 100% markup is great to see.

The plates reminded me of those used in Killiney Castle Hotel; big heavy and white, two is all that can be managed at once. The Caesar salad was sufficient but the croutons were quite hard and bore a very strong taste. My goat's cheese was melt in the mouth - not too heavy but with enough character to make me stop talking while I savored every morsel. The mains followed promptly as we were dining solo - the bigger parties and other couples arrived during our dessert. The cod was a huge success - succulent totally covers it. And a good generous piece too. A huge baked potato was also served and my mum was disappointed at the lack of vegetables as she already had mash on her plate. To top it off, she pronounced the spud as 'not good'. A huge bowl of pasta arrived, and I requested black pepper and Parmesan. A plentiful supply of prawns, salmon, mussels and a few pieces of squid were very tasty. The big let down was the canned tomato tasting sauce. For 14.00 I expected something homemade. I was unable to finish it, but one never can when it comes to pasta.

The dessert menu was utterly tantalizing and left us spoilt for choice. From tiramisu, banoffi, ice-cream, torte and other sinful delicacies, I chose the Brendan's Cream Chocolate fondue to share. A fondue set arrived with scrumptious melted chocolate in the pot, laced with liqueur. The plate was bordered with sliced bananas, strawberries, melon balls, butter biscuits and marshmallows. Not quite enough sauce to dip everything into, but we could not finish it anyhow. Heavenly!

A bill for 47.08, including 10% SC left me feeling very content, apart from the overly full stomach feeling. We left at 8pm and I only managed a light lunch by 12.30 the next day. Overall, a great place, although I've heard the kitchen has as many off days as it does good. However, never when the owners are there!

Tel. 046 40084