I'D like to ask chefs to put it away. I just don't want to see it. Well, maybe the odd tantalising glimpse but not, full-on, right in my face.

We're talking about the indecent exposure of kitchens. The display of this functional space to the gaze of the customer has been a fashion for 15 years or more. Presumably, the idea is that restaurants are a species of drama, akin to a good soap, and the kitchen is the main character.

But that denies a far more important quality: cooking is the only alchemy that's ever worked. The heating of certain foods can produce magical results, transmuting base materials into items far richer and more rewarding.

Perhaps kitchens should be modelled on medieval churches. These were divided between the nave, for secular Joe Public, and the chancel, for the religious community.

Through the chancel screen the mysteries inside could be glimpsed by the worldly. These half-understood, half-seen visions added to the power of what was taking place.

Simple

Of course, if the cooking is simple, such as that in pizzerias, then exposed kitchens are fine. But with proper restaurants the revelation of a kitchen can be irksome. And if you're sat too close to the thing it can get annoying.

It just isn't pretty to get intimate with all those Tupperware stored collections of ingredients and all that bare-handling of grub by sweaty staff. Instead of being mysterious, the process becomes forensic, a culinary version of CSI.

This is what happened at No 4 Dine & Wine in Warburton Street in Didsbury. We were so close to the kitchen I felt like leaning in and giving the odd dish a helpful stir. They should brick the wall up and put a nice picture where it used to be. This would box-in the smallish dining room even more, but it would at least blank out all the Tupperware usage.

As for the food when it came, it was OK, nice, not bad. In reviewing terms writing about places such as No.4 Dine & Wine is nightmarish, because there's nothing particularly wrong about the food and nothing outstanding about it. I

t's hard to remember much about the proceedings apart from the lively chat over the table and a very hard but not unpleasant Italian Pinot Grigio by the name of La Francesca (é15.50).

We had starters of crispy duck wontons (é5.95) and smoked salmon (é6.50), both of which lacked character. The latter was better than the former and the potato cake which came with the salmon showed some talent.

But why I went for the wontons I have no idea as I was breaking Rule 12 of the Jonathan Schofield Dining Regulations. Maybe the heat had got to me. Rule 12 quite clearly states: "Never eat Oriental food cooked by Western chefs."

It's as plain as the nose on my face, or in No 4 Dine And Wine, it's as obvious as the kitchen. Rule 12 is there to save me from the toothless variants on Eastern cuisine that litter Brit-run restaurants the land over. These wontons were a case in point.

The mains were better. They were whole-hearted enough but lacked finesse. The belly pork with Bury black pudding (é11.25) should have been a banker, but the underlying sloppiness of the mash and mustard sauce dampened the strong flavours of the pork and black pudding.

The sea bass (é12.50) with asparagus, new potatoes and apparently, lime butter, was unambitious in the extreme. I probably could have cooked that, which, I assure you, is not the highest praise.

Over-represented

But then sea bass, tuna and salmon were the only fish choices available. Unless you can do something really special with these beasts you might as well not bother as they are over-represented on menus. Sea bass, in particular, has become so commonplace and so regularly farmed that they'll be given out in cereal packets soon.

The shared chocolate mousse pudding (é3.95) was decent enough but continued the theme in being a mess as far as composition went.

No.4 Dine & Wine could be so much better. It occupies two floors of a sweet little terrace down a cobbled street, close to a bookshop and opposite the Wendy J Levy art gallery.

The couple who run it need to tighten up in some areas. Above all, they need to take a long hard look at the menu, rationalise the ingredients and think about the combinations of flavours and the presentation. At the same time they should ditch the weird pale blue tiled floor and the grim canvasses. And that big distracting hole in the wall which allows that big distracting view of the kitchen has to go. Let's get the mystery back.

The impression you get from No.4 Dine & Wine is that it's ticking over on local custom. There is no reason to visit from further afield, and given the potential charm of the place, that constitutes a missed opportunity.

NO.4 Dine & Wine, 4, Warburton Street, Didsbury. Tel 0161 445 0448