Light blazes out over the pavement and music wafts over the terrace at the back while inside the city's finest down their trendy Cruzcampos before taking their table and hoping it's in the more desirable front dining room.

No one can deny that this former cop shop has style, although that minimalist white painted brick walled dining room can feel a little cold and conversations also reverberate from wall to ceiling.

Orchestrating your evening will be the Marco who is at Milano, Marco Giove, who honed his craft at Rossi's and who realises there is one magic ingredient after style and atmosphere to wow the local punters looking for high-end Italian food and that is big portions.

They match the big prices. Main courses can easily nudge the £20 mark.

But this is not a case of never-mind-the-quality-feel-the-width, because the kitchen, headed by Franco Esposito, can rustle up some pretty fine flavours on the menu.

It's in Italian, with English translation, so has an air of glamour about it. How much more exciting is patatine fritte fatti in casa, even if you can't pronounce it, than skin-on home made chips?

An upmarket Sunday newspaper rates marco@milano as one of the top ten Italians in Britain and local restaurant critics love it, so why does the Good Food Guide, particularly sniffy about local restaurants this year, consistently ignore it?

I asked myself this question over the first thing we ate, thick slices of olivey focaccia bread dripping with a rich tomato sauce. They tasted as good as they looked and rather an advance on the good old Sheffield tomato dip and not much more at £1 per person.

My wife's starter of ravioli filled with sweet roast pumpkin (£7.60) was big enough to be a main course.

The filling was like velvet, the pasta cooked just right, and interest kept up with the addition of peas, parmesan, chopped chestnuts and baby tomatoes.

"Mmmm comfort food," she said, finishing off the last forkful.

My starter is an oddity for an Italian restaurant – a take on Chinese crispy duck and spring rolls: anatra aromatica in crosta (£7.80). Apart from the Thai fishcakes, it's the only non-Italian dish on the menu.

"We can't take them off," says Marco happily.

What you get are two cones of filo pastry filled with shredded meat and beansprouts, a square of crisp skin on a little green salad and hoi sin and sweet chilli dips.

So does it work? Yes and no. It's a lot more difficult to eat than the original but it's fun.

My main course is rabbit. Coniglio con polenta al parmigiano (£15.80) is three pieces of very tender rabbit in a rich tomato sauce spiked with a little bit of chilli and plenty of olives.

Some kitchens seem to lose their way cooking rabbit. I've had it as tough as old boots.


The Old Park Lodge, Archer Road, Millhouses, Sheffield. Tel: 0114 235 3080.n Open Tues-Sat 6– 1.30pm. Credit cards. Car park. Music. Disabled access and toilets.

My star ratings (out of five):
Food 4
Atmosphere 4
Service 5
Value 4
Middle market / Italian restaurant.