The light touch...

When you have run a very successful restaurant, perhaps opening a hotel is the next obvious step. Yesterday's sale of The Savoy Group for £750 million must be, how shall we say, an inspiration. "One restaurant and 59 bedrooms" is how Michael Benyan and Mark Sainsbury describe their new urban inn, The Zetter. It inhabits a former Clerkenwell warehouse where Zetters Football Pools - a quaint version of the National Lottery - once had its headquarters.

Benyan, who was involved with The Quality Chop House and Kensington Place, helped Mark Sainsbury and his partners, the two Sam Clarks, when they launched the restaurant Moro in nearby Exmouth Market. It is the Clarks' informed but singular take on Spanish food which has kept Moro noisily packed at every mealtime since the opening nearly seven years ago.

The cooking at The Zetter is Italian. Head chef Megan Jones would seem to be one of those Welsh Italians. Last week's March menu was short, healthy and to the point.

If the first course of vignarola, a braise of artichokes, peas, broad beans and lettuce cooked in "wine-growers style", makes it onto the April list, the ingredients will have become a bit closer to being in their natural season. On a blustery night the various vegetables swum in a liquid the colour of a khaki mackintosh and the broad beans had wisely kept on their grey-green skins.

Octopus with celery and green olives - lots and lots of green olives - dressed with lemon, chopped flat-leaf parsley and unadvertised chilli, was a more sparkling assembly, much liked by my companion, who said it reminded him of being in Greece.

Chard, ricotta and pancetta ravioli came sauced with rather too much sage-flavoured melted butter, but they were nourishing little parcels. Braised chard - a relation of sugar beet with a history traceable to the ancient hanging gardens of Babylon - also accompanied grilled leg of lamb and could be ordered as a side dish for £2.50.

Roasted veal chop was chardless but came with Parma ham, sage and sautéed spinach. It was a fine piece of meat.

A beneficial vegetable quotient is present in other March main courses such as pan-fried mackerel with rosemary and new-season garlic, lentils and fennel salad and grilled brill with anchovy sauce plus cauliflower dressed with romesco, a sauce based on pounded fried bread and nuts.

We shared a dessert described as chestnut honey semi-freddo with blood orange and walnut biscuit. The biscuit was more like an almond-studded cantucci but a scoop of blood-orange sorbet alongside the sliced fresh fruit was a bonus and it was altogether a well-considered mix of flavours, textures and temperatures. I also liked the sound of vanilla and grappa pannacotta with rhubarb.

An interesting and varied selection of wines by the glass at prices from £3 to £9 is printed on the menu. The main wine list with helpful divisions of style is mainly Italian. Mineral water is bottled direct from The Zetter's own well, a throwback to the times when Clerkenwell was known for its spas, which must be a definite boost to profitability.