Antonio Carluccio is an avuncular jolly bear of a man, epitomising everything that is good and joyful about Italian food and cooking. His book Complete Italian Food is so good that thedublingobbler has two of them. They seem to be that kind of book that you buy for yourself and that a friend also gives to you. When we heard that he had opened a Carluccio’s in Dawson Street just off Dublin’s main shopping thoroughfare Grafton Street, we hopped in the car and shot into town, taking the hit on the fees at Setanta, Dublin’s dearest carpark. The cafe opened in the space that used to be the Graham O’Sullivan’s cafe, so it could only be an improvement.

You enter the restaurant through a bright but small delicatessen area where you can buy artisan Italian olive oils, risotto, pasta, cheese and cured meats – there is a counter for take-away and a window displaying elegant cakes. The prices are not bad, except for the tinned cherry tomatoes which had a sign saying 3.95 euro for 400 grammes (an average size tin). Gosh, what kind of tomatoes are in there we wondered and were tempted to buy them for research. Thoughts of Africa came into my head and we realised that for that price we could sponsor a starving child for a week.

The Woman Who Seats Customers was petite and well-dressed and she swiftly organised a table by the window. It was May but outside feverishly hot sun dipped under the canopy and blinded us so that it took a while to get our sight back to actually see the restaurant. Everything was blue and white with blonde wood floors. It felt like we were in a posh seaside resort. The leatherette tubed banquettes and the dainty curved tables wore variations of turquiose blue and Mediterranean blue, the kind of colours you used to find in ’90s bathrooms where there were seashells trapped in glass jars on shelves. There are industrial glass lights hanging over the tables and mirrored cabinets over the staff area that look straight out of a posh bathroom catalogue. This is not a traditional Italian cafe on Dun and Crezenza lines. This has the clean lines and interior influences of Terence Conran (no surprise given that Antonio is married to his sister).

There is a downstairs and an upstairs where a long blue bar and high stools welcome those who want to perch for an antipasti and a glass of wine. Downstairs we crowd-watched. It was Bank Holiday Sunday and the cafe was crammed with older well-dressed people, young well-made-up women, random visitors who had just passed by and fallen in for a bite of something. There were 40 seats and it was packed. You had the feeling you were lucky to get a seat.

Having eaten just an hour before, we chose a light lunch of Arancini di Siciliani, two deep fried rice balls, one stuffed with mozzarella and fresh basil and one with meat ragu) It was served with a red pepper sauce and a glass of Sicilian Fiano, a gold medal winning Southern Italian wine. The wine was fruity with that hint of something you can never describe that often comes with Southern wines like this Fiana or say Falangina. It was fine but not to our taste.

The Arancini looked delightful, two huge golden Beckham balls wearing a light crispy coat. When we cut into the first one we found that the risotto rice had the correct texture, firm and not too soft and in the centre nestled a small piece of ragu. Ragu should be rich and tomatoey but this wasn’t. It had come loose from the sauce and worse still, it was cold while the outside was hot. The problem was in the sizing of the Arancini - by the time the outside had cooked the inside could not. We ate it anyway. The other one had melting cheese so the heat had penetrated but it was still too cool in the centre. Both Arancini came with a sprinkling of salt crystals on top so we got a mouthful of salt when we least expected it. The red pepper sauce was over-seasoned so we had to eat it with the bit of rice ball that had not come in contact with salt. It felt like we were refereeing a match, trying to give every piece of rice a fair chance. We left half of one Arancini and when the waiter arrived, he ignored the remnants on the plate, asked if we wanted dessert and took it away. At the till, we explained about the cold ragu but the waiter wasn’t listening. He was efficient and pleasant but we sensed that there is no system of communication from the floor to the chefs. This could be because this is a franchise which necessarily weakens the link between Antonio, our food hero and custodian of the Italian sensibility towards the subtleties of food and the customer who has expectations not best served by investors.

Thanks to the flooring and the hard surfaces, the noise at times can deafening and the young woman’s voices at the large table in the middle of the room cut through the air like a knife scratching the edge of a wine glass.

Will thedublingobbler be back? Of course we will. The decor may not be absolutely authentic, there may be small blips in the food but its heart is in the right place. There are few places in town where you can go for a glass of vin santo and cantucci, those twice-baked biscuits that you dip into the wine until sodden crumbs have to be fished out with your tongue. And where near Grafton Street can you go these days where you can spend less than 15 euro and eat something small and have a glass of wine where the food is made with good ingredients not bought in ready-made from a catering company? And you can have a decadent piece of home-made cake with exceptional coffee… You will of course have to queue and the noise will prohibit you from having a lingering conversation, but the buzz and the centre city location and the choice of good food on the menu will more than make up for the lack of fine tuning from the kitchen. There is always a compromise when the main player is not directly involved in the running of the restaurant but as franchises go, this is a good one. Soon we guess, there will be a Carluccio’s in main cities throughout the country serving decent quality food and showing people that you can eat well without breaking the bank.

Carluccio’s Caffe, 52 Dawson Street Dublin 2 Tel:+353 (0)1 633 3957

Here is Carluccio’s Menu - it includes UK prices but you can use it as a guide to see what you can eat there! carlucciosmenuukprices