This is what we made of the food at Sheffield's new Kashmiri-inspired restaurant

Wazwān restaurant and its sister cocktail bar Hungāma opened in the city centre hospitality complex on October 4, and has been created by Yorkshire brother and sister team Yousef and Hibah Mahmood, who hail from a long line of culinary experts.

Their grandparents, Mohammed Sabir MBE and Fazilat Sabir, founded the award-winning Aagrah restaurant group in 1977, and the new restaurant is in the same premises that used to be occupied by the Sheffield branch of Aagrah.

I went along with a dining companion to try the food a couple of days after Wazwān welcomed customers for the first time.

With elegant spotlights, and a candle illuminating every table, there is an intimate feel to the window-less restaurant, with the large, monochrome carpet tiles helping to add a pop of colour.

From the offset, the staff are friendly and attentive and quickly offer to fix you up with the classic staple of most Indian restaurants, poppadoms and a pickle tray – which we happily took them up on.

Wazwān’s helpful and gregarious general manager, Tom Gedney-Higham, was on hand to talk us through the plentiful variety of dishes on the menu and the wines, beers, cocktails and mocktails that would pair best with the dishes we were considering, and advised that we start with a few small plates to share.

We heeded Tom’s suggestion and ordered sev puri, a canape like snack, with chickpeas and British potatoes encased within a spherical rice cracker and topped off with noodles. You are advised to eat them in one go, and in doing so, you get to enjoy the full range of textures and flavours on offer, the latter of which were infinitely improved by the inclusion of tangy tamarind.

We also ordered a the tasty samosa chat, which is essentially a deconstructed samosa topped with a range of sauces and fresh peppers on the side, as well as their classic pakora dish, the recipe for which has been used by the Sabir family since the first Aagrah was opened in 1977. The pakora were delightful, and the accompanying creamy yet tangy sauce helped to give them a kick.

My dining companion also ordered a small plate of the machli masala, crisp golden white fish fillets with a subtle level of heat.

Moving to the mains, I selected the delicious and aromatic thowm wali sabzi, which is a fresh vegetarian selection, with herbs, garlic and corriander, cooked in a gorgeous spicy sauce, that managed not to overwhelm the taste or mouthfeel.

Meanwhile my dining companion opted for a the nihari, a perfectly-cooked lamb shank, falling off the bone, but retaining a good texture, in an aromatic sauce finished with green chillies to give it a punchy heat.

We shared a surprisingly flavoursome pilau rice, cooked with a selection of herbs that perfectly complimented one another, and a delicately thin rumali roti.

Among the paired drinks we enjoyed with our courses was a piantaferro primitivo red wine with the nihari, and a very pleasing cartographer mocktail with the small plates consisting of mango, fresh ginger and apple.

Overall I really enjoyed our evening at Wazwan. The food offering perfectly melds traditional Kashmiri dishes with a modern twist that encourages experimentation, while the drink pairing helps to add another dimension to the dining experience.

Our food and drink was complimentary.