I had never been to the pretty seaside town of Dungarvan, Co Waterford, before pitching up at The Tannery on a Tuesday evening earlier this month, although I'd eaten Paul Flynn's food at the inaugural Cookbook Club dinner held in September.

The Cookbook Club (Thecookbookclub.ie) is the brainchild of Elaine Walsh, who hosts an evening once a month in a Dublin restaurant with a visiting chef - someone who has published a cookbook - who works with the restaurant's kitchen staff to produce a short menu of dishes from the book. Flynn was followed by Catherine Fulvio and future events will feature Clodagh McKenna and Domini Kemp. It's a great idea and one that I'm sure will go from strength to strength.

Flynn is a chef's chef; he's a man held in high esteem by his professional colleagues. He sources locally, using high-quality ingredients of good provenance, with much of the produce coming from the Flynns' own vegetable garden, located within 100 metres of the restaurant. Take that, food-miles.

His food was so good at the Cookbook Club that I decided to make the trek down to The Tannery and enjoy the unabridged experience.

I had an idea that it would take half a day to get there but with the new roads and bypasses it turned out to be a journey of less than two-and-a-half hours from Dublin.

The Tannery has accommodation as well as the restaurant, featuring stylish rooms in a beautifully restored townhouse around the corner and more in the building which houses the cookery school that Flynn and his wife Maire also run. There are also great overnight deals on offer.

The restaurant offers a set, three-course, all-evening menu for €28.50 as well as the à la carte. We opted to try both. First of all, though, we kicked off with a Crab Crème Brulée – Flynn's signature dish and one that has been much copied by chefs of lesser talent – to share. It's a sublime, rich ramekin of crabby, creamy, eggy deliciousness served with pickled cucumbers and melba toast.

From the set menu, we picked a Tannery Tasting Plate comprising pork rillette, ham hock terrine and rabbit pâté served with courgette chutney and apple and grape jellies with a glass of earthy beetroot soup alongside.

It was a substantial portion yet so good that we polished off the lot, along with the night's special starter of Brandade with Chorizo (€10) - a divine execution of the classic dish with a clever twist.

For mains, we chose the Pappardelle of Veal, Spinach and Parmesan with Crispy Shallot from the set menu. Ostensibly a simple dish, it was rich, complex and hugely satisfying.

The Suckling Pig Plate (€28) was piggy heaven - a small piece of slow-roasted belly, a cutlet and a piece of black pudding, served with crushed turnip, barley risotto with fresh herbs and celeriac cream. In the line of duty we shared chips served with Smoked Paprika Aioli (€4) – not a hardship, they were perfect.

After all that, a breather was in order - time to admire the smart room, take in the buzz, enjoy some banter with the staff and speculate about the other diners. After a decent interlude we rallied to order a superb, crisp Roasted Plum Oatcake with Apple Compote and Crystallised Ginger Ice-Cream (€9, an off-piste selection) and some cheese (€12.50), with all selections in optimum condition.

Our bill, including two 500ml pichets of wine, a green salad and coffee, came to €123.50 before service. (I see now that we weren't charged for the crab.)

Eating exclusively from the set menu, dinner with wine would work out at under €50 per head – excellent value for great food from one of the country's most talented chefs.

Our meal at The Tannery was flawless and, having finally discovered Dungarvan, I'll be heading down again at the earliest opportunity, perhaps to try out one of the courses in the cookery school.

I've never been to Padstow - Rick Stein's base in Cornwall - but I reckon that Dungarvan could be its Irish equivalent. It just needs Paul Flynn to open a great chipper – along the lines of Reel Dingle Fish in Kerry – and for someone to give him his own telly series to complete the package. Fingers crossed.