We had a lovely time with some friends at Gills & Co on Ecclesall Road recently. It’s a wine bar and we’d been trying to book on to one of their tastings, but as we couldn’t make the dates work, we just booked a table one evening instead, for some wine and food of our own choosing.

Between us, we tried a spectrum of fabulous wines, including fizzy, white, red and a wonderful orange coloured dessert wine, but no notes were taken, so I can’t really write about them. But, that’s not why we’re here…

I’d checked out the menu beforehand and there were GF options marked on, which was encouraging. And on arrival, what was even more encouraging was that they said it might take a bit longer to serve our food because they’d want to make sure they could take care with the cross contamination – so I very much relaxed at that point. And when I say ‘very much relaxed’, I was sufficiently relaxed that I forgot to take very many photos of what we ate – or indeed what we drank!

So, I’m very limited on photo evidence, but still wanted to do a quick post because the food was really good and I felt well looked after.

We started with a few nibbles – some lovely and plump Gourdal olives and a dish of dried figs and almonds – very civilised. Then for a main course, we shared two dishes, which were ribeye steak with peppercorn sauce, and baked squash with kale and pumpkin seeds. Both of these were wonderful. The steak was very succulent and perfectly cooked medium rare. I’m a big fan of peppercorn sauce and this was a good one. We also indulged in some fries with a side of truffle cheese sauce. Frankly, this was a revelation. Lots of people think truffle is over rated, but I’m not one of those and this was a-ma-zing. I’m inspired to go and make a truffle cauliflower cheese…

Much later, we indulged in some cheese, including a Poacher 50, which is a hard cheese, a bit like parmesan, a traditionally made red Leicester and a creamy Ribblesdale sheep cheese. We shared these between three of us, so it was just a taster, but rounded off the meal very well indeed. Anticipating the cheese, I had taken my own crackers, as I’m quite particular about decent gluten free crackers, so they are in the picture.

Both of these crackers are from M&S. The hexagonal one is their Cheese Crackers from the Made Without Wheat range. These are delicately thin with just the right amount of salt and I could eat them from the packet like crisps. The other is their Date and Walnut Toasts, which are a combination of crunchy and chewy, and a brilliant with a creamy cheese like brie.

It wasn’t a cheap evening, owing to the quantity and variety of wine consumed, but prices for the food varied from £4-5 for the nibbles, up to £28 for the ribeye. The squash was one of their ‘smaller plates’, at around the £10 mark.

I would definitely go back here. Everything was wonderfully high quality and the atmosphere was sophisticated but relaxed.

Gills & Co
525 Ecclesall Rd, Sheffield S11 8PR