THE last person you would expect to be fronting a posh hotel is Paul Weller. The Modfather has been a stone chip in the white-walled tyre of slick pop-rock stardom since he spat out Eton Rifles in 1979.

But he was a main element in photographer Lawrence Watson's Not Fade Away exhibition of portraits showing music legends put together for City Inn hotel in revitalised Piccadilly.

Two big photos of Weller were chosen for the stylish reception area and there was also a large picture of the curmudgeonly guitar genius in the restaurant, the City Café.

I don't usually like hotel restaurants. The average ones just go through their paces, with blandness from the kitchen and smiling disinterest from tackily dressed waiting staff. Even the better ones can suffer from grinding uniformity, have an atmosphere that is as anodyne as a James Blunt concert and are tied to the apron-strings of head office.

But after being seated in the dining room with the former Jam frontman staring down at us in a sharp suit and ridiculous hairstyle, I felt City Inn might be a little different.

The restaurant, all light greens and olives in the furniture with floor to ceiling mushroom-coloured curtains, is perfect summer decor, especially with rare bright sunshine streaming through the bank of tall windows along the side. I don't know why, but it gave a vague impression of a modernised, small country house, but without stuffy any nick-nacks.

We took a drink on the terrace beforehand where you come slap bang up against the city again with building work opposite, a tram rattling past and commuters racing to Piccadilly station a briefcase throw away, but it is not an unpleasant spot if you need reminding that you are still in a buzzing metropolis.

Virtually empty

Back in the dinning room things were very different. The place was virtually empty, just two other tables occupied at 8.30pm on a Friday. A few weeks ago a friend of mine complained to me that every good restaurant in Manchester was booked one night when he wanted an impromptu slap-up meal - so much for that crunch on credit.

He did not ring a hotel, but I have a feeling he will after I tell him about the new food at City Café. New executive chef Lee Scott - who was once head chef at Gordon Ramsay At The Savoy Grill - is now serving up his first complete menu after taking over the kitchen earlier this year from David Gale.

I found the new choices riveting; British in outlook and with interesting touches that, if successful, will prove stunning. The price isn't bad, either. Okay, starters are what you would expect, averaging about £7, but mains work out at about £15, with maybe the cheapest a la carte offering of any quality place in the city, £10.50 for fish pie.

My starter of Morecambe Bay shrimps (£8.50) were packed on to an oblong of toast, jammed with taste and came with needle-sized spears of pickled samphire, their size dwarfed by a seashore wave of flavour. Alongside was a small slab of confit of organic salmon.

The fish was deliciously almost uncooked, gravity being all that was needed to score a wound in it with my knife. Its heavenly succulence was cleansed by a mildly zingy mayonnaise.

My dining companion has a passing resemblance to Weller in his deck-shoed Style Council days and his soul boy predilections outed themselves when he asked if Reg Johnson was a Wigan Casino legend. I put him right and he went for the smoked duck from the Goosnargh legend, which came with a disparate salad of quartered pickled onions, muscat grapes, asparagus ribbons and topped with a cider vinaigrette (£7.50).

Scott's starters

Pickled ingredients are a theme in Scott's starters with pickled fennel and the grandaddy of them all, piccalilli.

The sliced of duck was encircled by a half-inch flavour reservoir of fat and was paté smooth in the mouth. Soul Boy is an expert on pickled onions and declared them a triumph.

We pushed the boat out on the wine from an interesting but hardly cheap list, and gave our order of a 2001 Crawford River Riesling (£36.50) and an intense look flashed across the face of our South African sommelier Marcin Czyszek, who exuded the same brooding passion as Weller above our heads.

"Petrol... zest of lemon... grass - an excellent choice." He may say that to all the soul boys, but he was convincing. Very good it was and went well with my companion's main of "posh fish and chips". Superior organic cod fillet with peas and lovely seasonal broad beans with smoked pomme puree and pea velouté (£16.50).

"Pea velouté? Is that like pey wet?" Soul Boy asked. Oh dear, you can take the lad out of Wigan Casino... "Sort of," said our unfazed waiter, "but it is more a velvety-smooth sauce."

I had a couple of issues with my main: aged British beef rump. The meat was not knockout and had cooled a little before it reached me. But that damp squib sat alongside little firework slivers of slow-cooked beef cheek, exploding flavour. There was also a delightful pomme anna, and glazed artichokes, which seemed a little too overpowering.

It may just be me, but I've been underwhelmed by fine dining desserts recently. It seems many chefs pour all their inventiveness into starters. So I was pleasantly surprised with Scott's selection. As sunshiny as The Style Council's Long Hot Summer, the choice also has a touch of fun. I had jelly.

Red fruit jelly with Sauternes dessert wine (£5.50) and yoghurt sorbet, which descended into a pleasing, sweet-shop mess after the lightest of attacks with the spoon. Soul Boy also loved his lime savarin (£5.50) - a light yeasty cake - with rum and raisin puree, roast banana and toffee foam.

A nice touch came when Marcin offered us free wines to match our desserts - a muscadet for me, a port for Soul Boy.

On reflection, after a quality meal at City Café, I think Weller was a good choice to glower down on our meal. He and City Cafe both are undoubtedly achingly cool, have a tendency to be a little quiet, but there is an individuality and undoubted passion in both their hearts.

City Café, City Inn Manchester, One Piccadilly Place, 1 Auburn Street, Manchester, M1 3DG (0161 242 1020, cityinn.com). Tweet