Food review: Vineyard Cantonese, Telford

Without leaving the city, you can dine in Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, Jamaica, China, Ethiopia, Germany, France, Greece, India and more. Ireland, Italy, the Middle East and much of Europe and North and South America is also covered by restaurateurs, not forgetting South East Asia and North Africa. The world is, quite literally, your oyster.

Here in Shropshire, the tally probably isn’t as high as 26. But there are plenty of culinary cuisines to try, from Lebanese to Persian, from Bangladeshi to Italian and from Thai to Nepalese.

Many nations are represented brilliantly. Thai food, for instance, offers a variety of high quality thrills with restaurants in Broseley, Ludlow and Shrewsbury offering some of the best. The food of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan is similarly well-represented, with decent curry houses filling many towns. When it comes to Italy and Spain, we have more than our fair share – there are enjoyable Mediterranean restaurants across the county. And the food of Japan and Korea also gets a decent showing, particularly in Shrewsbury, with innovative chefs pushing the envelope.

And yet when it comes to the world’s biggest cuisine – Chinese – Shropshire can be found wanting. While there are decent takeaways in a number of towns, the county doesn’t have the sort of stand-out restaurants that it has in other categories. There are exceptions to the rule – there’s a delightful Chinese restaurant in Bridgnorth, for instance – but generally, the quality available for other national cuisines isn’t replicated when it comes to Chinese food.

There might be a number of reasons for that. While Japanese sushi or Middle Eastern mezze are relatively difficult to find, Chinese food is ubiquitous. Our supermarkets are packed with sweet and sour TV dinners, which sell for the cost of a pint of beer. Why would customers pay a little extra for something a little better when the alternatives are so cheap?

And yet that argument doesn’t really hold: there are plenty of decent pizzerias, burger joints and similar that take on and beat the pile-it-high-sell-it-cheap options.

The TripAdvisor crowd have their own favourites with Vineyard Cantonese, at Wellington, proving a favourite. It has 4.5 stars out of five with 90 per cent posting positive reviews. Service is rated more highly than food – I’d agree – and with the exception of a car park that encourages peculiar angles from drivers, there are no major issues.

That’s not to say the county’s discerning diners should immediately add it to their list of must-visit restaurants. While the service was good, the food was a little so-so. It was pleasant without any huge downsides, but it was far from being memorable or excellent. The local diners who purr enthusiastically about their neighbourhood restaurant may be correct in saying it provides lovely dinners for locals. But that’s not to say it plugs the gap by making itself a stand-out for Shropshire.

Vineyard Cantonese is located just outside Wellington and there’s ample parking outside for visitors. The interior is a mish-mash of Orient-meets-Telford, with Eastern-themed pictures on walls but a carpet that has little to do with the Far East.

Service was pretty good, though mistakes were made. I was greeted by a helpful young waiter on arrival who provided menus and drinks. My order for steamed rice, however, morphed into fried rice, though both he and a female restaurant manager were polite, efficient and well-mannered throughout.

The obligatory basket of prawn crackers were provided to nibble on while I perused the menu and made my selections. The choice is expansive, as many Chinese restaurant menus are, with a number of set diners, special seafood dishes – including fresh lobster with blackbean sauce, pan-fried dover sole and more. I wasn’t sure why asparagus was on the menu in autumn but that aside, the choices were good.

I started with deep fried crispy squid with sweet and sour sauce. The word ‘crispy’ had clearly been entered in error, for it was anything but. The batter was pale and light but lacked crunch. And the squid was decidedly underwhelming.

One of the best diners of my life was chilli and squid on a beach in Thailand. Seated with a group of 11 German diners and unable to converse, I immersed myself in the freshest flavours, simply served in exquisite surrounds. Fresh squid is a treat: light and delicate, tender and salty. But get squid wrong and it has the texture of a wet weather Pirelli. This was more the latter. I chewed and chewed and chewed – like a cow with brown grass – and while the flavours were pleasant, I ultimately conceded defeat.

My main was a little better: sizzling chicken fillet in Cantonese fruity sauce with fried – not steamed – rice. The rice was voluminous, enough for two, and perfectly pleasant. The sizzling skillet was generously full of chicken fillet, with a few shavings of onion, in a sauce that danced like a Strictly contestant. It lacked real body, however, and was pretty one dimensional. It was pleasant take-away food, but nothing to write home about.

And that, sadly, was the overriding impression of Vineyard. Pleasant staff, so-so food but nothing that made me wish to return or recommend it to friends. It was OK, not bad, kinda alright – rather than Bobby Dazzler good.

Shropshire is crying out for an exceptional Chinese restaurant; just as Birmingham has a few that are worth the 30-40 mile drive, so our county could do with something special. I’m not sure Vineyard Cantonese is it, though it obviously does a good job of catering to locals, who are enthusiastic about it online.

The search continues.