Casa Naranjo, Shrewsbury

goes for an 'authentic' eating experience and discovers it's the real deal.

I'd been looking forward to a date with disappointment and this is the reason why. I'd planned to meet one of my dearest friends for dinner in a recently-opened restaurant in Shrewsbury. Casa Naranjo opened at the end of last year, promising townsfolk authentic tapas.

Experience has taught me that those promising 'authentic' anything usually don't deliver - especially when they're a thousand miles or so from the source of their inspiration. That rule of thumb generally tends to stand true for eateries specialising in all manner of foods.

When all's said and done, Shropshire doesn't have a convincing Italian, for instance; certainly not one where the chef arrives each morning to make fresh pasta and intensely piquant tomato sauce.

Its Indian restaurants offer reasonable service but, inevitably, are miles apart from those that dot the city streets of Mumbai and other major cities.

Shropshire has a number of fair-to-middling Thai and Chinese restaurants; but they also serve Anglicised versions of dishes that are popular on the streets of Beijing or Bangkok.

So when I booked a table for two at Casa Naranjo, I was ready for something of a let down. There are other eateries in Shropshire, for instance, that offer tapas menus; where ingredients like Herefordshire snails find themselves unconvincingly appended to the list.

Authentic? Schmauchtentic.

Invariably, local restaurants serve local food, albeit with an overseas twist.

Restaurateurs are not to blame for the discrepancy. Often, the ingredients required to provide authentic food simply aren't available. Take Italian and Spanish tomatoes, as an example. In their native countries, they are grown until they are shiny red and bright and bursting with sweet flavour. In the UK, more often than not, they're a pale imitation; watery and bland. The same is true for other ingredients, from vegetables and meat to fruit; they simply taste different if they're grown, reared or produced in different conditions.

There is, of course, more to an 'authentic' experience than the food. Again, take the example of local curry houses. When eating in restaurants in India, you're unlikely to find flock wallpaper or piped music from Ludovic Einaudi. Service, similarly, is worlds apart from what might be found in other nations.

Remarkably, Casa Naranjo breaks the rules and provides a truly authentic experience. The service, the decor, the atmosphere and the food are all distinctly Spanish. It helps, of course, that Casa Naranjo's proprietors are from Spain: Alfonso and Emma Yufera-Ruiz know exactly what it takes to recreate the experiences of their homeland.

Similarly, real thought has gone into the decor of the first-floor eaterie, in Barracks Passage, off Wyle Cop. There are terracotta pamments on the floor, wonderfully warm colours throughout and plenty of mirrors, posters and assorted ephemera that reeks of all things connected to Spain. The service is also of the friendly-without-frills type that you're more likely to find in Badajoz, Valencia or Zaragoza than a quiet backstreet in Shrewsbury.

But the food is something else. Simply prepared, bursting with zing-zang and of a high, high quality, it's the stand out ingredient in a classy operation. My friend and I selected two appetisers before a smorgasbord of hot meat, fish and vegetable tapas. They were ferried to our table throughout the evening, thereby avoiding a 'feast or famine' arrangement.

The Jamon Iberico de Bellota - Iberico acorn-cured ham, was sensational. Usually only available in Harrods or high-end delis, it was sweet and intensely flavoured; making Parma ham seem like Spam. The dressed Manchego cheese was deliciously savoury, the pinchos adobados (marinated and grilled chicken kebabs) were expertly cooked while a small pot of butter beans with chorizo were a treat.

A tortilla Espanola (traditional onion and potato omelette) was built like a high-rise while the patatas bravas (crispy fried potatoes with a spicy red pepper sauce) were devilishly hot.

An evening that had promised so little ended up offering so much; Shrewsbury's culinary scene has a shiny new star.

ADDRESS

Casa Naranjo, Barracks Passage, Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury SY1 1XA

Phone: 01743 588165

Website: www.casanaranjo.co.uk

MENU SAMPLE

APPETISERS AND COLD TAPAS

Dressed Manchego cheese £3.50; Iberico acorn-cured ham £8.50

HOT FISH AND MEAT TAPAS

Marinated and grilled chicken kebabs £4.25; Chorizo cooked with Rioja wine £4; Chicken thighs in a garlic sauce £4

HOT VEGETABLE TAPAS

Grilled asparagus £4; Garlic mushrooms with parsley and olive oil £3.50; Crispy fried potato with a spicy red pepper sauce £3

DESSERTS

Creme Catalana £3.95; Almond tart with vanilla ice cream £3.95

SERVICE

Exceptional. Busy, polite and intrinsically 'Spanish'

DISABLED

Access is not easy, as the venue is on a first floor building

ATMOSPHERE

Wonderful. It's evocative of the back streets of San Sebastian