Restaurant review

People sometimes say I never write anything positive about anything or anyone. This isn't true. If there is one thing I like doing more than having a good shag it's having a nice meal and a couple of bottles of vino with good friends. And because I like to share I love telling people about it.

Eating out is a pleasure. In Cavan town though, it is not easy because many restaurants are not wheelchair-accessible. Obviously this is a built-in problem with older buildings. As for new developments that fail to provide lifts all I will say is that they need never worry that I will spend as much as a cent there as they obviously don't want my custom. So when I find a restaurant that is wheel-chair friendly, where the food is good, the service excellent and which is also great value for money I want to shout about it.

That's how I feel about Ventuno, an Italian restaurant on Cavan's strip, Bridge Street. The dining area is on the level and is easily accessible to anyone in a chair. The food is top notch and authentically Italian. You notice authenticity sometimes in the small details that might be invisible to others. I had a really scrumptious starter of salami, mortadella and prosciutto served with a salad of escarole, tomatoes, sweet peppers and green olives, accompanied by two slices of mozzarella. For main course I had some melt-in-the-mouth canelloni. Its ingredients were exquisitely balanced - not an easy task with a dish where the sauce has to be tasty yet not overwhelm the contents of the stuffed pasta. Everything about this dish was right. The various ingredients, the pasta, the spinach etc., were all able to make their entrance on the stage. For desert I left Italy, choosing the Spanish desert of Nata con nueces. This comprised vanilla ice cream and walnuts. I know a Mexican version using pecans. This was truly delightful and was a perfect end to a flavoursome feast.

On a subsequent visit Rosie and myself had a delicious lunch. We started with Funghi Ripieni and a bowl of hearty minestrone. As everyone knows Minestra means soup in Italian and so there is only one way to translate minestrone - soup with attitude. Well this minestrone had attitude coming out of every spoonful. For main course I had Chicken Cacciatore - pieces of char-grilled chicken in a wonderfully tasty tomato and vegetable sauce served with beautiful sauteed potatoes, while Rosie had Chicken Fiorentino, which had "a creamy buttery garlicky sauce to die for". One more thing, Mo serves the best cappucini that I've tasted in Ireland.

But what of the cost of these feasts? Lunch for four people cost the grand total of 55 euro. I asked Mo "How do you do it? You're an alchemist."

I cannot praise the staff enough. The sight of someone in a chair can cause some people to panic but there was none of this in the Ventuno restaurant. Everyone acted in a cool and professional manner, removing chairs so that I could park myself and pushing tables together to heighten the sense of bonhomie.

As I mentioned above Ventuno is accessible to wheel-chair users - might I say unlike some in Cavan. What's more they have toilet facilities for wheel-chair users. Gillian and Mo, the lovely couple in charge of the restaurant, are not from Cavan. Why does it always seem that it takes outsiders to act in a humane manner towards disabled people while Cavan people are still stuck in the Stone Age?

The Ventuno hasn't a wine licence yet so you're welcome to bring your own and they'll uncork it for you. I prefer being able to bring my own wine. It's usually cheaper and in an Italian restaurant, where there are usually so many tempting dishes on the menu, I can tailor my meal to the wine I've brought with me.

The restaurant is open from 12 noon weekdays and from 1 pm on a Saturday. Telephone 049-4372200. I heartily recommend Cavan people to support it.