THE frontage is unprepossessing and you might pass it by with barely noticing it’s there, thinking it’s just another café.

But don’t.

Il Paradiso del Cibo (translation: Paradise food) on Walmgate is the kind of restaurant and café that Britain, and York especially, needs more of.

Authentically Italian, customers can eat fresh food cooked to order and pay little more than it would cost for a Big Mac meal at McDonalds. Alternatively they can just call in for a coffee.

Barely more than half a dozen tables fit in to the tiny, slightly ramshackle establishment which is decorated with random references to Italy – dictionaries, the odd football shirt and a map.

There are no menus – diners choose what they would like to eat from a whiteboard and for anyone who has dined out at more refined Italian restaurants or even ordered a takeaway pizza, the prices are astounding.

Pasta dishes, which include favourites such as lasagne and cannelloni along with amatriciana (tomato sauce, wine, chilli, onions and pancetta) and campagnola (tomato sauce, garlic, roast vegetables and a touch of cream) are only £5.

Pizzas cost between £5 and £5.95, and use genuine Italian ingredients – no tandoori chicken here – and are made on the spot using fresh dough.

Salads are all £5.95 and include the classic caprese – fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and oregano.

When we visited yesterday lunchtime, the specials board included spaghetti alle cozze (mussels in a tomato sauce with garlic, basil and chilli) at £6.95, and home-made ravioli with porcini mushrooms, pancetta and provolone cheese – which unfortunately had already sold out – also at £6.95.

But my dining partner and I plumped for the lasagne (£5) from the pasta menu and the gnocci with ragu (£6.25) from the specials board.

We also had a pizza-style garlic bread (£3.50).

The garlic bread came first. Light, thin and crispy with fresh tomato sauce and garlic butter, it was a pleasure to eat after chewing through too many pizza bases made with a couple of kilos of week-old dough and a tin of Dolmio poured on top.

Halfway through the garlic bread came the gnocchi and lasagne, each served with a couple of pieces of ciabatta.

The gnocchi was basically faultless, silky smooth and covered in a ragu of fresh tomatoes, minced beef and strips of pork, topped off with a generous sprinkling of parmesan.

The lasagne too was pretty much perfect. My dining partner was complaining that the portion was too large for her but she still managed to polish off the dish which bore little resemblance to the Americanised version of lasagne which is often served – all beef and cheddar cheese.

The restaurant is now licensed so, as well as Italian fruit juices (£1) or cans of Coke (80p), diners also have a straight forward choice of red or white wine and beer – although there was no beer when we went.

We both plumped for the red wine which came served in plastic wine glasses – normally this would irritate me but in this case it just added to the charm. The wine was never going to win any awards but at £2 for a full glass poured at the table it would be churlish to talk about the bouquet and whether it had overtones of blackcurrant and melon. In fact we ended up having three glasses each coming to a grand total of £12 plus a diet Coke at 80p.

Time was running out so we decided against dessert but there was a choice of profiteroles or tiramisu at £2.75 and if they were anything like the main meals they would have been faultless.

Il Paradiso is, tellingly, popular with local Italians and the service is all you would expect. Our waiter’s English was poor and he was, sickeningly, the archetypal Italian stallion, but nothing was too much trouble. He even offered us a new table when it became obvious my dining partner was feeling the sun on her shoulders. The Sardinian owner, Paolo Silesu, came out of the kitchen when he was not cooking and chatted with customers. The charm exuded from the staff and the place itself was incredible.

In total, the bill came to £27.55 – but remember this included six glasses of wine. Two could have lunch here plus a soft drink for little more than a tenner and it would be better than other restaurants charging three times as much.

The café/restaurant is open on lunchtimes only but Paolo will open in the evening for groups of eight or more. Guests are then served a tasting menu lasting three hours and priced at £17.95 a head which includes assorted vegetables, organic meats and fresh, wild fish. Even if there are less than eight of you it is worth calling to check if others have booked. Alternatively, get seven friends together and have the restaurant to yourself.

Richard visited on Friday, July 25.

Il Paradiso Del Cibo, 40 Walmgate, York. Tel: 07733 298 083