Luciano's, Stourbridge

For authentic, home-made Italian cuisine in a cosy setting, look no further than the hidden gem that is Luciano's coffee house and restaurant.

Tucked away at the end of the quaint old-fashioned Victoria Passage in Stourbridge, it was clear from the near empty restaurant on the Monday night we visited that many have still to sample its hidden delights.

The sophisticated decor takes Italian influences from the opera house rather than the pizza parlour, with the modestly-sized first floor restaurant setting a cosy tone for diners.

And Luciano's is a proper Italian job, from its waitresses to its chefs and management.

Visiting with my fiancee, our first reaction on opening the menu was to gasp at the choices on offer - two pages full of starters, plus a range of main courses to follow.

There are plenty of steaks and a mouthwatering selection of pasta dishes.

It left us spoilt for choice and needing several minutes to make our minds up.

I opted for cocktail di gamberetti, an Italian version of prawn cocktail with Norwegian prawns served on a bed of lettuce with Marie rose sauce.

At £6.35 it is an expensive starter, but it was delicious, not skimping on the prawns as some places tend to do with this type of dish.

My partner ordered funghi piemontese at the slightly cheaper price of £5.95.

She was blown away by the succulent and varied tastes of the sauteed mushrooms in garlic and parsley butter and was impressed with the use of filo pastry to encase it all.

The only negative point we could make about the starters were that they were perhaps too big, but can that ever be a bad thing?

The dishes came with hot, freshly cooked bread rolls that also went down a treat, with the butter melting as it was spread on.

We moved on to the main course and after much musing I went for the petto di pollo Luciano. The menu says it is an old Roman connoisseur's dish and is clearly the influence of head chef Arrigo, who hails from the capital.

It is made up of a huge, and I mean huge, breast of chicken, with spicy Italian sausage and finely chopped peppers in a sun-blushed tomato sauce.

At £12.95 it was not bad value. It came with an impressive selection of tasty potatoes and vegetables.

The sausage was not to my taste but the rest of the dish was fantastic, the sauce was delicious and the chicken cooked to perfection.

I had a a preconception that this sort of restaurant offered too little food for too much money. I was wrong.

My fiancee went for the filleto al pepe verde which was priced at £16.95. The dish was a fillet steak in green peppercorn sauce.

She asked for it to be cooked rare and, as someone who is often disappointed when we eat out when that request is not met, said it was cooked beautifully.

She could not manage a dessert and opted instead for a freshly ground and delicious coffee.

But my eye had been caught by the home-made tirimasu, priced at £4. If you go to Luciano's, this is one delight you must sample.

Words cannot describe how good it was - it was the perfect end to a lovely evening.

My only real quibble was the cost of the food which may be responsible for keeping customers away.

Our bill for the night, for a three-course meal with two Cokes each, was a fraction short of £50. Not many will have that kind of cash to throw around on a week night and the restaurant had less than 10 people in there during our visit.

The owners have recognised this and offer a £12.95 three-course special set meal in the week, with the price going up to £17.95 on Saturdays.

Open from 10am to 2.30pm in the day as well, it offers lunches at reasonable prices and there are excellent coffees.

Wayne Beese

Victoria Passage,

Stourbridge

Tel: 01384 442119