Ananda had been 'on the list' for a couple of months before we eventually made it for lunch on the Sunday before Christmas. I can't help thinking that we did not experience it at its best. Located, inauspiciously, just up the steps from Kentucky Fried Chicken at the cinema end of Dundrum Town Centre, half a dozen tables at most were occupied – one by a large family group who must have been nearing the end of their meal when we arrived, judging by the reckless encouragement of the junior members of the party by their elders to perform their Christmas party pieces for the benefit of the rest of Ananda's customers. Whatever about the cuteness of one's own offspring, I'm inclined to the view that, in restaurants, those belonging to others should be seen and not heard. Gagged perhaps.

Ananda looks fabulous. There is chic magenta and gold wallpaper, dark brown flocked fabric on the chair backs and jewel-coloured velvet on the seats. Rajasthani carved wood panelling is used to stylish effect and a ceiling-high fringed curtain divides the rear section of the diningroom from the front. There is a sense that whatever might be going on in the rest of the world, (and Dundrum Town Centre encapsulates perfectly both the excesses of the past several years and privations to come) at Ananda all is calm and luxe.

The restaurant is a collaboration between Asheesh Dewan, who created the Jaipur chain, and Britain's first Michelin-starred Indian chef, Atul Kutcher, of London's famed Benares. Sunil Ghai, who has worked at Benares, is the executive chef. Our expectations were high.

We were disappointed to be given a limited set menu (keenly priced at €24.95), offering only three choices for starters and main courses, having heard and read so much about the reinvention of traditional Indian cuisine and innovation offered by Ananda. We demolished terrific popadoms and a selection of dips while we chose. We ordered starters of crab with mango, and chicken with cardamom and mace. The puréed crab looked, forgive me, like something the cat might have sicked up, and there was little of the taste explosion on the palate that we had expected. The chicken was flaccid in texture and there was no discernible cardamom flavour. So far, so nothing to get excited about.

We had ordered mains of Goan meatballs and guinea fowl with lentils and were waiting for these to arrive when we became aware, from the conversation between a waiter and the customers at a nearby table, that there was also a tasting menu available. We asked to switch, and the request was handled with good grace, an apology for not having made us aware of the option, and a glass of fizz on the house.

The Star Anise tasting menu is priced at €55 a head. For that, you get a starter thali that includes a single tandoori prawn, tulsi mahi tikka (a small char-grilled fish fillet infused with holy basil and lime), duck tikka (breast with fig and passion fruit chutney) and dhuhgar ki seekh (lamb sheikh glazed with clove cardamom and coriander mint pesto).

We found the fishcake a little bland, but the other elements were very good, particularly the duck. A main course thali – four little dishes of curry (lamb roganjosh, paneer narangi, prawn tawa jinga and chicken lababdar) – was accompanied by excellent nan breads, rice, spiced new potatoes and delicious spinach with garlic and tomatoes. There was not enough to distinguish the flavours of each curry – we were put in mind of what in America they call a red-sauce Italian joint, where one sauce does for every dish – and we ended up leaving much of what had been brought.

Our bill came to €110, to which we added €15 for service. We were not charged for three diet cokes, nor for the aborted set menu. I will return, at night, to put the full menu through its paces in the hope that we were unlucky on this occasion.

Ananda

Sandyford Road, Dundrum

Town Centre, Dublin 14

Tel: 01 296 0099

Rating: 3/5