an ideal combination

Throughout Ireland, restaurateurs are striving to find new descriptions for their food. "Modern British", "modern European", and "pan-Pacific" are the latest catchphrases. But Les Frères Jacques - a restaurant next to the Olympia Theatre in Temple Bar in Dublin - makes no such effort.

There is a welcoming straightforwardness about the restaurant. Its flyer states: "The freshest of Irish fish and sea-food is prepared à la Franáaise… Contemporary French cuisine that is essentially light and seasonal."

Opened in 1985 by Jean-Jacques and Suzy Caillabet, Les Frères Jacques is a French restaurant that has no desire to be anything else. The à la carte menu changes with the seasons, and the table d'hôte at lunch and dinner changes weekly.

There is also a constantly changing range of fish and shellfish dishes that vary according to what the market has to offer.

As you would expect from a Breton, Jean-Jacques's menus favour fish dishes, which sometimes creates a surprising juxtaposition of French cuisine and fine Irish ingredients. Roast Connemara salmon, Basque-style, is a prime example.

The freshness of ingredients is all-important - this extends to keeping a tank of live lobsters in the dining room, as well as offering diver-caught scallops and shellfish from Ireland's west coast.

Under the direction of the Caillabets, the kitchen is headed by Nicolas Boutin. The restaurant handles 70 covers with five cooking and five on the floor.

At present all the kitchen staff are French, but this has come about by chance, and is not due to chauvinism.

Irish commis chefs are frequently part of the brigade at Les Frères Jacques. The front of house operation is run by Silvan Valier.

Live piano music is proving popular at the weekends, and "salles privée" can be arranged. The restaurant is closed on Sunday.

Les Frères Jacques, 74 Dame Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 00 353 1 6794555.