Cafeteria, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin

I often go to Dublin's Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, usually just to walk around and enjoy the greenery. This particular visit was a Saturday, a week after the Bloom festival, and the weather couldn't have been more different. We had a blissfully lazy day, stretched out on the grass, reading, and decided to treat ourselves to a lunch at the cafeteria in the garden's Visitor Centre.

The cafeteria is quite large, relatively new, and nice and airy - and generally really quite busy. This Saturday wasn't an exception, but we'd dawdled until the very tail-end of lunch time, and so managed to get a table without too much trouble.

Husband went for the traditional roast, pork and two veg with apple sauce, followed by a strawberry and apple crumble. It was all good, filling and wholesome, in the usual standard for the restaurant.

No food was labeled either as vegan or vegetarian, though there was the usual good number of evidently vegetarian choices (baked potatoes, quiches, cheese sandwiches) as well as a vegetarian lunch option. There wasn't anything hot that was even remotely vegan, however, so I went for a selection of three different salads and a bread roll. The salads were a carrot and sultana one, a couscous salad with chick peas and fresh coriander, and something vaguely oriental. They were all very tasty, and I felt more than adequately fed, even if none of the pudding were even remotely vegan.

The meal was good value for money, and while the restaurant was constantly busy - mostly with pensioners and families - the staff remained cheerful and were swift about clearing the tables.

I find it difficult to grade somewhere I'm so familiar with, but shall try. On the Tiwinaku scale of mold-resistant roses for cafeterias (as opposed to table-serviced restaurants), the National Botanic Gardens restaurant gets eight blooms for the service, seven for the ambiance (it was still busy and loud, and a creepy old woman was staring at me for at least ten minutes), and nine out of a dozen roses for the food - apparently the pork was a bit dry.

All in all, though, I heartily recommend a visit to the Gardens, any time of the year - don't be put off by little rain, it just keeps the crowds out - and a meal at the cafeteria, especially if you're a vegetarian rather than a vegan, as the food is good and robust, and the pudding selection is to die for.