WRITERS should go to Reuters, where the 'changes hum on wires, and where the food is delivered to the table, clickety-clack, with all the inspiration and efficiency of a typewriter or teleprinter. Journalists do, in fact, go to Reuters, since it is literally around the corner from the offices of the Irish Times, around only two corners from the Irish Press, and just across the river from the Irish Independent. And, cleverly, the owner has paid some tribute to at least two of these newspapers by reprooducing historic issues as outside decoration to the menus.

WHEN YOU'VE SEEN one Greek resstaurant you've seen them all. Is that your idea? Suppose you've just come back from a never-to-be-forgotten holiiday on a deserted Greek Island - with a traditional taverna frequented only by local musicians, donkeys and you, and deserted by everyone except you, and a cast of thousands. You want to relive the memory of the 'valley of the nighttingales', the "cicada twilight", or whattever twaddle the tourist operators have filled your mind with - and you want to recreate the slim sun-bleached you that you think your package deal included.