Celtic Cuisine has been providing top quality desserts to some of Ireland's highest profile hotels for years, and the good news for people who don't necessarily want to splash out on fivestar service just to experience the spectacular sweetness is that its head chef, Satish Desigar, has opened an outlet in Dun Laoghaire called Tarte Tatin (in honour of the French upside-down classic). And it is here that you could pick up some of the best Christmas desserts this side of Santa's kingdom . . . just don't try to pass them off as your own, because nobody will believe you.

"We do mince pies, but we do them a little differently, " explained Desigar. "Firstly, we make them small enough to be eaten in one bite. But, as well as a traditional mince pie with mincemeat and a pastry top, we also do one with a cinnamon crumble or a cranberry and pecan mince pie."

It is these little variations which make the creations at Tarte Tatin so special.

Mincemeat is fine, but so too is raspberry crumble or pear and pecan. Of course, some traditions should not be touched, and Desigar is wise enough not to mess too much with the traditional Christmas pudding (he does make individual ones), but there is still plenty of variety to be found among his yule logs . . .

with chocolate twinned with a variety of different flavours, and all a far cry from a pre-packaged Swiss roll that some people pass off as a log fit for yuletide.

"Christmas is full of nuts, sultanas and spices, " said Desigar. "We try to follow tradition, but to also offer something that is new. So we do a dessert which consists of bitter-sweet chocolate, raisins soaked in rum, and a little chilli inside. You get the sweetness of the chocolate, you get a beautiful flavour from the rum-soaked raisins, and then you feel a little heat going down."

This particular creation is called Chocolate Rum and Raisin with a hint of Chilli - because more effort went into creating the dessert than went into coming up with a name for it. Other creations include tarts of rum and ginger, raspberry with slivers of pistachio and apricot and blueberry . . . all traditionally Christmassy, but none too traditional to be boring.

"You can buy tradition anywhere, " suggested Desigar. "But people get fed up with the same things at Christmastime . . . and a good dessert makes an excellent alternative to wine as a present to bring to Christmas dinner."