The Jolly Frog, Leintwardine

The Jolly Frog, at Leintwardine, is a restaurant that divides opinion like few others in Shropshire,

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It is firmly established on the county's dining scene, having created its own niche as the county's foremost fish restaurant with a penchant for all things French.

But a cursory glance at the popular customer reviews site www.tripadvisor.co.uk reveals the contrasting opinions of diners.

Worrying comments lurk amid the clutch of 'excellent' ratings. Tripadvisor's ten most recent correspondents feature two 'average' rankings and one 'poor'.

Many of the criticisms relate to the Jolly Frog's service and a year ago, the restaurant achieved Tripadvisor's lowest rating, of 'terrible', an opinion that also focused on service issues.

Some viewed it as a grumpy old toad, rather than jolly frog. In recent weeks, however, there's been a change in ownership and that is likely to lead to a different approach.

It's important, of course, not to paint a picture that distorts the wider view. More than half of The Jolly Frog's public ratings are 'excellent', which is the highest available.

However, a significant minority have concerns.

I've eaten at the Jolly Frog on a number of occasions down the years and generally enjoyed the experience.

It is unashamedly French, offering food and service with Gallic flair.

Butter, garlic, cream and fish are the dominant flavours and ingredients while there has long been a hint of brusqueness about its service. The concerns of diners seem to be based on perception.

The Jolly Frog is, in essence, a bistro, offering reasonably simple meals in modest surrounds.

It's not the sort of fine dining emporium with Ludlow-esque standards of silver service.

A busy team flutter around the tables, never lingering too long, but offering a satisfactory level of attention. Those who enjoy unintrusive dining are routinely enthralled.

The decor is daringly original. On the ceiling are hung numerous vintage artefacts while the walls are dotted with drawings of frogs by children.

They combine to create a warm, family-friendly environment. The restaurant has one of the county's best-value meal deals, with three-courses for under £20 on offer for those who arrive before 7pm and are gone by 8.30pm.

Such inducements represent an innovative approach to 'turning tables' and on the night that we visited many of the guests had left by the appointed half hour.

After 8.30pm, however, prices rise considerably. Customers choosing certain main courses will find themselves paying more for one plate of food than they would have done for three. The advice is simple: get there in good time and enjoy the excellent early bird offer.

My friend and I booked a midweek table and arrived to find the venue more than half full, though by 8.30pm the reverse was true.

We sat at the Spartan wooden tables, which were bedecked in pretty checkered table cloths. The menu is reasonably short, an admirable trait that more restaurants should adopt.

There is little point in eateries offering scores of dishes, thereby stacking up an unworkable stock of ingredients.

Far better to stick to a theme and do it well. There were around five starters, five mains and five desserts and even though some of the more-expensive mains had already sold out – no monkfish or salmon for my partner and I – there were still plenty of good selections on offer.

My friend started with a pear and parsnip soup, which left her somewhat underwhelmed. The pear added a mildly grainy texture, which was pleasant, though its delicate, sweet flavour had been pretty well overwhelmed so that it tasted only of parsnip.

My starter was also pleasant but unmemorable. An over-seasoned risotto was thick with too much cream and had been cooked for too long, so that the grains of rice had lost their 'bite'. It had the appearance of a savoury rice pudding and the subtle flavours of vegetables, which should have been at the forefront, were lost.

And so to mains: my friend chose sea bass with sweet tomatoes and a buttery sauce, with a side salad, while I opted for a chicken with cassoulet and a side of spinach. We shared a bowl of double-fried chips.

When my friend's fish arrived, we thought it might swim off, so deep was the slick of melted butter. My cassoulet was also surrounded by a moat of melted butter, which was simply too rich and oily.

The sweet/savoury flavours of the cassoulet were masked. Ingeniously, I used my tomato and bean cassoulet to dam the tide of melted butter, so that I could enjoy the flavours of my main course. The chicken had been expertly cooked while my friend's sea bass had also been cooked with great precision.

For dessert, my friend enjoyed a toffee apple cake with ice cream, and was luke warm in her reception.

My panna cotta with blood orange and rhubarb was also no more than average. The setting agent in the panna cotta had been over-used, so that it lacked a jelly-like shimmer. It had a Weeble wobble – and wouldn't fall down.

It's easy to understand why The Jolly Frog has a mix of ardent admirers and fierce critics. The service, while to my liking, failed to win favour from my friend. And the food, while having obvious French influence, was too imprecise. At times it bordered on pastiche.

It felt like we were wallowing in nostalgia for the French style of yesteryear – as well as wallowing in butter.

While modern French cuisine is no longer heavy with garlic, cream, butter or other fats, The Jolly Frog is an unashamed devotee of the above. At times that can be richly enjoyable: at times it is simply anachronistic. Times have changed.

The Jolly Frog is pretty close to receiving a four-out-of-five review, and wouldn't lose a mark from this reviewer for its service, which was efficient and polite.

It loses a mark because the food was imprecise, particularly the risotto, and the natural flavours were overpowered by garlic, cream and butter.

ADDRESS

The Jolly Frog, The Todden, Leintwardine SY7 0LX

Tel: 01547 540298

Web: www.thejollyfrog.co.uk