Phoenix Park on a crisp sunny autumn Sunday afternoon and the place is jammers. The place is hopping with roller-bladers and joggers and cyclists and lovers smooching on the grass. The zoo is doing great business and so are the ice-cream vans. It all looks very urban European and not a bit like a country in the grips of a recession. Perhaps it was all a dream.

Over at Farmleigh there are donkeys in the fields and it's bucolic and lovely. The car park is a five-minute stroll from the main house. The farmers' market has stalls from all the usual suspects so it's an opportunity to stock up on organic fruit and veg and designer sausages for the week ahead. A massive punnet of fabulous blueberries (€12) – far better value than those mean little trays in the supermarket – is enough to fill the whole family full of antioxidants for a week.

We're too hungry and not organised enough for a tour of the house but, by all accounts, it's well worth taking. There are eight of us, spanning three generations, as we head over to the Boathouse – an Italian café in the Dunne and Crecenzi stable which opens from 10.15 to 5.15 Thursday to Sunday and also on bank holidays. There are tables in front and a deck skirts the building so in summer you can sit and look out over the water and watch the ducks. It's a bit chaotic inside but we soon get the measure of things and manoeuvre a couple of tables together so that there is enough room for all of us. There are no menus, but the food offering is chalked on a board over the counter. There's an extensive selection of paninis and focaccia sandwiches, plus some wintry stews and hot pasta dishes. Between us we managed to cover a good cross-section of what was on offer.

The Boathouse is self-service but the waiting staff delivers hot dishes to the tables. Beef stew (€9) was a rich and flavoursome combination of meat, lentils, potatoes and winter vegetables. It was a substantial portion and enjoyed very much by the pair who ordered it (and the rest, who stuck their forks in for a taste). Canneloni (€12) came in meat and spinach versions, both really good – I thought the spinach had a slight edge. Lasagne (€12) was excellent too.

A minestrone soup (€5.50) was disappointingly cabbagey – not enough broth and too much long-cooked broccoli. Paninis too were underwhelming. We tried an Emiliano (€6.50) – parma ham, mozzarella and tomato and an Italiano (€5.50) – tomato, mozzarella and basil. They were both bland and verging on the soggy, the cheese not up to scratch.
Focaccia stuffed with black olive paste, speck, rocket and buffalo mozzarella (€8.50) might have been a better bet – it looked like it was going down well at an adjacent table.

With three slices of a rich chocolate fudge cake, excellent coffees, teas, waters and diet Cokes, the bill for a substantial lunch for eight came to €133.50, to which we added €20 for good-natured if somewhat haphazard service. That's less than €20 a head, with no stinting.

The Boathouse is a modest, noisy café (the acoustics are terrible and the expresso machine is extra loud) rather than somewhere to head for a long and leisurely lunch. You can end up queuing for quite some time. That said, some of the food is very good indeed – and the prices are keen. One to put on the list.

The Boathouse,

Farmleigh,
Phoenix Park,

Dublin

Rating: 3/5