COCOA Rooms used to be Cathedral Arches, which seemed to struggle from the moment it opened. Towards the end of its tenure, the management gave fetish outfit Club Lash (the name gives it away) a monthly residency. Even this couldn't save the place. Now the site is reborn, but you can't help feeling that Cocoa Rooms missed a trick by not referring to its heritage and featuring rack of lamb or at least lashings of whipped cream.

It might even have been worth it for publicity value. The big job for Cocoa Rooms will be getting noticed and staying noticed. Cathedral Arches was killed by its location, despite being just over the road from Manchester Cathedral. Problem is, it's just over the River Irwell, too, and set 15 metres down. For passing trade to see the place they have to be looking in the right direction or strolling by on stilts. Since Mancunian girls find four inch stilettos difficult, let's hope this is doesn't catch on.

Fecklessness

Once you've found your way over to Cocoa Rooms, it turns out to be easy on the eye despite the overwhelmingly beige paint job. Beige has an aura of fecklessness and indicates timorous folk who fear colour. Here, though, it's a wise choice, suggestive of cocoa and providing a muted tone to what otherwise would be a dark space. The other fixtures and furnishings, from lamps to tables and chairs, are well thought out, too.

The menu is less well thought-out, skipping schizophrenically around the globe. Obviously to fill such a large space - the site occupies three railway arches - the management wanted to crowd please, so the food swerves from crumble to kulfi, from fish and chips to Mexican catfish. Generally, the cooking is good. Sides such as okra with pine nuts (é2.75) and shitake mushrooms with rocket (é2.95) show restraint and a degree of flair at the same time. Similarly, the hand-cut chips (as opposed to using hedge clippers?) at é2.50 do a fine job.

Another success was the main of lemon-glazed veal loin (é15.25). This came as a substantial chunk of meat, juicy, strongly flavoured and crowned with a subtle citrus tang. The overall effect was tarnished though by thyme-roasted vegetables, which overflowed with oil. A note to the staff here - the otherwise excellent waitress should have advised against us ordering the roasted vegetable side, as it came with lemon and thyme and provided identical root veg to those under the veal.

Another main of juniper roast pork (é12.50) was competent but drab in comparison. The meat was on the dry side while the figs and butter mash it came with, and which had seemed exotic on the menu, turned out to provide little in the way of lifting the dish.

Coy

More confused thinking had been in evidence with the assiette of Whitstable oysters (é6.25) sampled as a starter on a previous occasion. This would have been lovely but came topped, as is the fashion in some quarters, with pancetta (cured Italian bacon) and shallots. This means that where you would normally want the oyster to dance on the tongue and then coyly slither down the throat, here you have to chew it like gum or you'd choke on the pancetta.

For puddings, we had homemade rice pudding (é4.95) and mulled fruit crumble (é4.50). The pick was the latter, especially as it came with a beguiling fat dollop of clotted cream and had good texture. For refreshment we'd enjoyed a Pinotage (é18.25) from South Africa, a full bodied, kick-ass red. The broad selection of drinks is a quality that might require further exploration.

There's more good news when it comes to the crowd Cocoa appears to be attracting. Although the venue, on first acquaintance, feels that it might be aimed at gormless Cheshire Set clones, there's a pleasant spread of backgrounds and age groups among the clientele. Cocoa also keeps the music down to chatting levels at least until 11pm, vital when dining out. A further pleasing aspect - literally this time - is the view back over the river to Chetham's School of Music, the CIS tower, Urbis, the Cathedral and people passing on stilts.

If the kitchen can tone down the overcrowded menu and simplify things, Cocoa might be on to a winner. It's a modern conceit to believe that choice is always a good thing but, unless handled correctly, choice becomes chaos. Those specific food problems aside, Cocoa Rooms provides a mature and comfortable take on dining and drinking. And unlike at Club Lash, there are no strings attached.

Cocoa Rooms, 1-6 Chapel Street, Manchester (0161 834 3133 www.thecocoarooms.com). Sun-Wed, 11.30am-midnight; Thur-Fri 11.30am-2am.