I had often driven past The Bridge Inn at Dorrington on my way down the A49, but had never stopped before.
That’s like most of our customers, said the manager, Luca Zanus-Fortes.
But last Saturday night I had turned off the road and was pleasantly surprised.
Firstly, the inn has good sized grounds with well-maintained gardens and views of the Shropshire countryside.
Secondly, it was much bigger on the inside with seating for 80, most of which was occupied by 8pm – a very encouraging sign I thought.
Thirdly, the menu was much more imaginative than the usual pub fayre my wife Jan and I had half expected.
For starters I wondered about the black pudding in a pepper cream, but in the end I plumped for chicken liver, pork and pink peppercorn paté served with chutney, while Jan went for the home-made mushroom and garlic soup with crusty brown bread.
Again the main course put us in a dilemma. I was tempted by the crispy half roast duckling in a caramelized orange and brandy sauce, but in the end I chose the Bridge rossini fillet steak topped with Stilton cheese served in a red wine jus and my wife had the fresh grilled sea bass and house salad. Both meals were served with large dishes of carrots, cauliflower, boiled potatoes and chips.
From the array of tempting sweets we chose the lemon cheesecake and the bread and butter pudding followed by coffee.
After the meal we admitted to Luca that we were writing a review for the paper and asked what their plans were.
He said that the owners, Clive Szczepaneck and Jenny Dodd, were bringing in a new menu next week, planning an extension for 40 diners next year, then to tarmac more of the car park and to put lights around the gardens. But he said what would not change was that everything on the menu would be home-made, including even the tartar sauce.
We left fully satisfied with the food and glad we had turned off the road to follow the yellow brick restaurant – it had been a wizard night.
Review by John Butterworth.