It's Grim Up North: Luciano's at the Millstone, Anderton

Over the course of one week in May, seven different people I know had a meal at Luciano's.

Some recommended the place to me in person, some posted on Facebook about it and a one even took to Twitter to rave about their experience.

I felt the whole of Bolton was in on a secret I hadn't discovered yet so immediately put it at the top of my list of places to try.

It was a Wednesday and therefore it was Quiz Night at our local pub from 9pm. This meant we had a few hours after work to have an early dinner, so we took the opportunity and headed to Anderton.

Although we were eating early, at 6pm, we were not the only diners but the bubbly waitress allowed us to take our pick of tables so we ended up by the window looking out onto the beautiful garden.

I was, as per usual, lured into a goat's cheese starter. This was no ordinary, run of the mill goat's cheese starter however as it presented the cheese in three different ways: goat's cheese with red peppers and balsamic vinegar, a second portion covered in batter and honey and finally, a tempura style version.

This is probably the best starter I have had in a long time!

Hannah couldn't resist her usual favourite starter either and gleefully tucked into her tomato and mozzarella salad with basil dressing. It was made with the freshest of tomatoes and the cheese was full of flavour.

Almost everyone associates Italian restaurants with pasta or pizza but I always find that they do the best steaks too.

Filetto ai Porcini was my choice that paired a massive but perfectly cooked fillet steak with pancetta, porcini mushrooms, thyme and a red wine sauce. It almost beat me.

Almost.

After umming and ahhing over whether or not to have steak, Hannah went back to her traditional Italian choice of pasta. She was pleased to have done so as the salmon tagliatelle was excellent.