Hundred House Inn, near Bridgnorth

Star Rating: **** ANDY RICHARDSON offers profuse praise for one of region's most accomplished restaurants.

If one restaurant epitomises the flavours of Shropshire, it's the Hundred House Inn.

The Phillips family has been at the helm of the esteemed Bridgnorth eaterie for many years and the venue's high repute has been hard earned. Quality ingredients, rustic charm and unfussy service characterise the restaurant, where seasonal ingredients are usually to the fore.

Flavours are big and bold; chef Stuart Phillips and his willing brigade work hard to get the maximum from their ingredients by treating the food with respect and using plenty of fresh herbs and other seasonings.

The venue is, however, constantly evolving and my wife and I were keen to enjoy a taste of the 2010 incarnation.

We booked a table for two on a Saturday evening and, despite our early evening arrival, found the party was already in full swing.

A function hall was packed with partying revellers, the bar was overflowing with customers who were enjoying a selection of real ales while the restaurant was bustling with diners who'd booked on the basis of the venue's fine reputation.

Chef Phillips was mingling with customers in a genial manner, extending the arm of friendship to regulars and talking enthusiastically about ingredients and the workers in his kitchen.

His passion was infectious and, like other diners around us, we looked forward with relish to our evening's degustation.

The ever-willing, no-frills waiters and waitresses ferried drinks, canapés and bread to our table, along with copies of the day's a la carte menu. Selecting from the intelligently-constructed dishes proved tricky and we tookawhile to reach our decisions.

My wife decided to start with a chicken liver pate and toasted brioche. It was served with relish and eaten with the same. I started with the selection of tapas which, artfully, had been given a Hundred House makeover.

Wonderfully piquant home-made tomato relish, crisp, lovingly-dressed salad leaves and a selection of olives, hams, chorizo and bresaola sat alongside other pickles. It was sublime.

My wife chose monkfish with prawns in a deliciously savoury, cream sauce for her main course. The presentation was artful, the flavours delicate and light while the cooking was spot on with the monkfish a translucent shade. My wife purred her approval.

I, meanwhile, selected the venison loin with a suet pudding. The pudding was the evening's star turn. The pastry was unctuous and the filling meaty and strong.

It came with a skilled cooked loin, deep, rich game sauce, creamy dauphinoise and a selection of vegetables. Every element of the dish had been cooked with great craft, it had been presented sensibly, without over-embellishment, and the tastes were majestic.

We enjoyed a lengthy pause while we perused the desserts menu, trying to outwit one another by selecting a course that the other might offer a morsel of.

Eventually, my wife chose a honey ice-cream in a brandy basket with a poached pear. I went for the chocolate torte with blood orange ice-cream.

In truth, the desserts were the only courses that were of indeterminate quality. The torte lacked the smooth, creamy silkiness that it might have had, the pear lacked flavour and the ice-creams were good, rather than great.

But the overall impression was undiminished. The Hundred House remains at the forefront of cuisine in Shropshire and, in this critic's opinion, is one of two restaurants in the eastern arc of the county that should be on any discerning customers' 'must-visit' list; the other being in Much Wenlock.

Stuart Phillips, having been schooled in French kitchens, has learned a trick that the former Michelin-starred Ludlow restaurateur Shaun Hill knew so well. It is this: get maximum flavour from every part of a dish.

Expert seasoning, accurate cooking times, great flavour combinations and rich, flavoursome sauces make eating at the Hundred House Inn a real treat.

The food is ballsy, rustic, flavour-packed and classic, rather than showing the refinement that one might expect of a Michelin-starred eaterie.

The route from farm to fork is clear, with seasonal ingredients dominating, while the service is friendly, warm and sincere. Our dinner for two, with drinks, came to just over £60; remarkable value for a meal of such high pedigree.

My wife and I have visited the Hundred House Inn every 18 months or so, in recent times. Our latest visit gave us good reason to make more frequent sojourns to it.

ADDRESS

The Hundred House Inn, Telford to Bridgnorth Road (A442), Norton, near Ironbridge, TF11 9EE

Tel: 01952 580265

MENU SAMPLE

STARTERS

Homemade soup of the day, £4.95

Grilled scallops with sweet pepper coulis, bacon and Jersualem artichoke sandwich and Caesar salad, £7.95.

MAIN COURSES

Roast rack of Shropshire lamb with humous, ginger and sweet pepper with lemon- scented jus, £17.95

Grilled beef fillet with smoked bacon, blue cheese risotto and beef jus, £18.95.

DESSERTS

Tiramisu £5.95

Creme brulee with blueberries, £5.95.

ATMOSPHERE

Fun. The Hundred House is a charmingly boisterous pub with great character.

SERVICE

Good, It's friendly, attentive and warm, rather than overly sophisticated.

DISABLED FACILITIES

Staff help although listed buildings can be tricky to navigate.