Food Review: The Raven Hotel and Restaurant, Much Wenlock

The Raven is one of Shropshire’s more venerable restaurants. Run with wisdom and skill by Kirk Heywood and his team for a couple of decades, it’s popular with business types, tourists and residents from Shropshire.

A place for special occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, dates and more – it upholds high standards at all times.

Much Wenlock’s association with the Olympic movement means that from time to time it welcomes a crowd with the highest expectations. The great and the good have passed through its Barrow Street doors on a number of occasions, many marvelling at the way in which the venue celebrates its links with Dr William Penny Brookes. The English surgeon, magistrate, botanist, and educationalist helped to inspire the modern Olympic Games. His original version of that event, the Wenlock Olympian Games, was founded for the promotion of physical education and personal betterment.

Consistently holding two AA rosettes, The Raven ranks alongside a starry group of loved and respected Shropshire restaurants – the likes of The Hundred House, at Norton; Sebastians, at Oswestry; The Crown Country Inn, near Craven Arms. Food is generally good, with some imperfections, service is helpful and engaged while the prices are spot on.

That’s not to say there’s not room for improvement – as with virtually all restaurants, there is. When my friend and I visited on one of the hottest days of the year, the food was notable for two reasons. The most obvious aspect is the quality of the produce. Few restaurants in Shropshire pay as much attention to provenance as The Raven. Its ingredients are delightful, celebrating the best of peak condition, in-season produce. The kitchen’s love of great ingredients led in 2014 to the launch of an offshoot – The Marketplace – which is situated in an old cart shed, adjacent to The Raven. It opens Tuesday to Saturday to complement the existing array of independent retailers in the town by selling an array of larder products. Customers can enjoy tea, Shropshire coffee, a hot soup of the day, homemade artisan bread, savoury tartlets and sweet treats.

It also stocks fresh fish – at different times of year, there’s mackerel, red mullet, hake, sea bass, salmon, scallops, cod, haddock, tuna, brill, monkfish, prawns, mussels, lobsters and soft shell crabs. And season supplies of fresh vegetable and fruits are also available, from super healthy flower sprouts to star fruit and vibrant rainbow chard to multi-coloured heritage carrots. Such ingredients find their way into the dishes cooked by The Raven’s chefs – though the second notable reason is that it’s not always used to best effect. Our dinner was decent, though over-ambition and a lack of precision downgraded what in the hands of a better chef would have been a superlative dinner. There were a number of curious decisions – erroneous ingredients, odd plating and the like – that left is thinking: ‘Why have they done that’? There were too many dots of this and that, as though the chef was trying too hard to impress and lacked the confidence to let his ingredients do the talking.

The menu was well-judged and balanced, with five starters, five mains and five desserts. And with such appetising choices on offer, my friend and I both found it tricky to choose. After deliberation, she opted for a piece of salmon, cooked at 48 degrees so that it was perfectly translucent and just set. It was served with a cucumber jelly, sorbet and gel – the cook getting a little cheffy with the presentation.

My seared Orkney diver scallops were delicious, as was the last of the season’s asparagus and a salt-baked carrot purée. An additional consommé was less so; it lacked. Consommé, prepared and cooked well, should be a chef’s ‘wow’ dish. The Raven’s wasn’t. It lacked depth of flavour, was under-seasoned and insipid and also had a greasy aftertaste.

Our mains promised much, but didn’t quite deliver. My friend chose a delicious turbot and chicken wings number, served with celeriac, chicken jus and sea vegetables. The idea was exceptional – Simpsons, in Birmingham, cooks a similar dish to one Michelin star standard. And yet the execution let it down. While the chicken wings were deliciously crisp and the chicken jus deliciously savoury, the turbot was a little overcooked. When chef’s are cooking to a higher standard, it’s all about the minor detail – the extra 30 seconds here, or, in the case of the turbot, the minute-less there.

I opted for a lamb saddle, which was served with a bon bon shoulder, heritage carrot, quenelle of black kalamata olives and broad bean hummus. Again, there were aspects that stood out – the broad bean hummus was both original and delicious, the kalamata was beautifully paired with the lamb, the jus was intense and rich while the saddle was elegantly cooked and the bon bon wonderfully crisp and more-ish. And yet the dish was served on two large plates, with the slice of lamb and jus on one round, main course plate and the remainder served on a separate, oblong main course plate. And while that didn’t affect the flavours, the presentation was odd and unnecessary.

Desserts were better than average without causing excitement. My friend opted for a lemon curd slice, which had a curious texture, that was served with a too-sweet raspberry sorbet and mini meringues that should have been crisp but were in fact chewy (the latter failing was probably down to the intense temperatures of the day). My vanilla and gin panna cotta lacked vanilla and looked more pretty than it tasted.

Service was good. The restaurant manager was charming throughout the evening while a younger assistant did a good job of ferrying plates, making inter-course conversation and asking whether we’d enjoyed a dinner.

The answer to her final question was yes, mostly. The ingredients were magnificent but the cooking, presentation and ideas were sometimes awry. Dinner felt as though it needed an experienced hand to say calm down and focus on the basics and don’t worry about the whistles and bells.

And yet for all of the minor imperfections – and that’s what they were, for The Raven does a far better job than most – my friend and I had a thoroughly pleasant evening. The dining room is a delight, service is a treat and the ingredients and most of the dishes were pleasurable.