There are three Diep At Home outlets in the Dublin area. Brody Sweeney has garnered attention recently for one that he opened on a stretch of the South Circular Road, there's another in Ranelagh and – nearest to me – in Blackrock.

At home, we try to avoid takeaways as much as possible. There's an amount of guilt that goes with picking up the phone to order dinner that doesn't sit easy when you're a journalist who spends a proportion of their working life banging on about how easy and economical it is to put delicious wholesome dinners on the table night after night "with no trouble at all".

And I'm always suspicious about the quality of the ingredients – a worry that's not assuaged when I come across a menu that trumpets proudly that, for example, all of the beef is Irish. (Diep's online menu, by the way does not do this. It says nothing at all about where its ingredients come from.)

To me, that's just a trigger to fret about where everything else comes from. And of course there's never anything free-range or organic on a takeaway menu. (Once you've made a decision that the provenance of what you eat is important it's hard to put that aside.)

Then there's the expense – the experience is rarely good enough to make you feel that it's money well spent.

That's a long-winded way of saying that we have ordered from Diep At Home on only one previous occasion – Alexis Pizza tends to be our Friday evening lazy option of choice. The quality is excellent and it almost counts as health food when compared to the grease-laden versions offered by our local multiples. It's a 'please all of the people all of the time' solution.

On this occasion there were five hungry people to be fed.

We shared six starters, three mains and two sides. Salt and Pepper Squid in Five Spice Tempura Batter with Wasabi Mayonnaise (€5.50) had gone soggy in transit – it wasn't pleasant. Chicken Satay (€5.50) was tasty enough (but where did the chicken come from?) but Crispy Pork Belly with Sweet Chilli Sauce (€5.50) (ditto) wasn't.

Tom Yam Goong (€6) – the hot and sour soup flavoured with lemongrass, lime, galangal and kaffir lime leaves – was deliciously sinus-clearing, although the few prawns bobbing around didn't taste of anything much. Pork Spring Rolls (€5.50) were crisp but not flavoursome. The best of the starter bunch was the Larb Ped (€6.50) – a duck salad with lime, chilli, lemongrass, ground rice and iceberg lettuce. The duck was plentiful and the dish came across as generous and exuberant. (I know there are issues with duck and provenance too, I've just made a decision to stop wittering on for the rest of this review lest I bore myself and you to death.)

For mains, we tried a Red Prawn Curry (€11.50) which came with steamed rice, Singapore Noodles (€10.95) and, from the Bangkok Street Food section of the menu, Phi Phi (€9.95) – described as spicy fried rice with beef, cashews, broccoli and ginger. The curry featured green beans and bamboo shoots and was adequate, although the consistency was gloopy. We found the Singapore Noodles – which included char sui pork as well as chicken and vegetables – dull and bland. The Phi Phi was the best of the bunch, although hardly meriting the two chilli warning, and we loved the Mixed Asian Greens (€5) – I'd order more of those the next time. Egg Fried Rice (€2.50) was fine.

All in all, the experience was disappointing. With the flavour palette available to them, Diep should be creating dishes that are vibrant with the zing of Southeast Asia, not dumbing down one of the world's greatest cuisines.

Our bill came to €77.90 including delivery. Will I do it again? Probably. When tiredness gets the better of me and I'm looking for an easy life. Will Diep replace Alexis Pizza in our house? Probably not.

Diep at home
Blackrock, Co Dublin
Tel: (01) 764 2076
★★