Gigi's Cucina: homemade food at Italian restaurant in Sheffield has the wow factor

The family run restaurant, on Oakbrook Road, aims to serve quality, affordable food for everyone to enjoy – and that aim is certainly achieved.

I booked a table for myself and my partner, Tom, on a Sunday evening, and we were impressed as soon as we walked through the door.

The setting is stylish and charming, with low lighting and exposed brick walls and wooden furniture which give it a modern feel.

The set al a carte menu offers a wide range of dishes to suit every taste and budget, and there is also a changing specials menu.

I decided to opt for one of the specials, spinach and mozzarella arancini with an arrabbiata sauce (£7.95), while Tom chose the salsicca which is local, butcher-made Sicilian recipe sausage, creamy friarielli, buffalo, mozzarella and crispy polenta (£9.95)

Arancini is one of my favourite dishes, and this was the best I have ever had. It came served as one big ball, and it truly was one big ball of amazing taste.

The filling was rich and plentiful and the creamy cheese was perfectly paired with the sharp tomato flavours of the fresh tomato sauce. The portions were generous, but I enjoyed it so much I could have happily had more.

Tom equally enjoyed his dish and was also impressed with the plentiful plate of gorgeous and moreish flavours.

The starters certainly made us eagerly anticipate the main course.

I chose the alle verdure, oven-baked paccheri pasta with courgette, red pepper, shallots, spinach, mushroom, ricotta and cream (£11.95), while Tom had the pollo ripieno, supreme of corn-fed chicken stuffed with taleggio and speck, creamed potatoes and wild mushroom sauce (£15.95).

When the meals arrived and Tom took his first bite he immediately said “wow” – one simple but powerful word that expressed just how delightful the food was.

He was particularly impressed with the homemade mushroom sauce which he said was delicious. It was clear to us both that the food had been lovingly created with the finest, freshest ingredients.

My pasta dish was also beautiful; layers of sweet pepper, tangy shallots, tender spinach, nutty mushrooms and wonderfully cheesy ricotta and cream.

The pasta was cooked in the classic Italian way, al dente. I admit that I usually have pasta which is softer – but that is just because, like most, I’m more used to the British way of cooking pasta rather than the traditional Italian way – and I still really enjoyed the dish.

We were too full to order desserts, but looking at the tempting puddings that were being served to other diners Tom and I agreed that we will have to return to the restaurant again soon to try one for ourselves. We are sure that they will also be of the highest quality.

We also had a rossini cocktail each (£6.95) to accompany the meal and our total bill came to £59.70.