THE night kicks off with champagne but then - oh, no - green cabbage soup, followed quickly by fish stew. Not quite the stuff of decadent nights on the town, more for putting hair on your chest and fending off wintry colds.
The opening dinner of the Portuguese Food Festival in Dublin has only started and serious foodies are about to tuck in to some of the country's most popular dishes. After the soup, we are served fish and seafood stew and, for dessert, it's scrambled sweet eggs, pears in red wine or egg pudding.
"The country's cuisine is closely related to its people's character, culture and heritage," says Nuno Mendes de Almeida, director of the Portuguese Trade and Tourism Board. "It is flavoursome, simple, varied and yet it is uncomplicated. We don't resort to terribly sophisticated sauces like other cuisines."
Commenting on the importance of fish in Portugal's cuisine, his Spanish wife, Marisol, who is from Madrid, says that the fish to be had in Dublin is "very good - we eat a lot of fresh cod".
Writer Clare Boylan, who is wearing her Image food critic hat, is waiting to be impressed. She has just heard from her agent that her latest novel, Beloved Stranger, launched in Dublin a couple of weeks ago, is going to be published in the US.
Marius O'Reilly and Amo Sayed, of Joe O'Reilly Travel, have travelled up from Cork. David Bergin, president of the Ireland Portugal Society, sits beside them. The steaming bowls of soup arrive. Girding their loins, the three of them dig in.
Maureen Ledwith, director of the Futura Fashion Fair, is all in black, sparkling like a fish in jet black sequins and beads. She is accompanied by her husband, Edmond Hourican, who is perfectly co-ordinated in black - minus the sequins and beads, of course. Writer Fergus Linehan is also spotted at the dinner.
A dash is cut by pastry chef Alicia Giambrone and documentary-maker Jennifer Keegan. They want to taste the bread in particular - "Portugal's corn bread is amazing," they say.
Jorge Botelho Moniz, also of the Portuguese Trade and Tourism Board, loves living and working in Dublin. "I live on the northside because it's more typically Dublin," he says. "I go to my local and people know me."