With mulled wine and classical music in front of a roaring fire as the aperitif to a perfect evening, the Thornescroft restaurant was clearly never going to disappoint.

Seven miles from both Wolverhampon and Bridgnorth along the A454, the low-beamed but airy, spacious dining area provided a mouthwatering environment for a sumptuous meal.

Starters included remoulade of salmon, Shropshire bales - pate-stuffed mushrooms - baked goat cheese provencale and cider mussells.

For main courses, the choice include mouselline of sole Cressonniere, chicken marengo, Shropshire lamb steak, saute of beef stroganoff, tempura of chicken and scampi, mushroom and Mascarpone parcels and baked aubergine roullard.

The list goes on, and vegetarians I would say are well catered for if the
descriptions of their three main dish choices are anything to go by. We both opted for soup of the day, French onion, which was perfection. It was presented with a pontoon of cheese-topped bread, accompanied by thick cut bread, and was delicious.

Next I went for medallions of beef bearnaise, while my dining companion
plumped for duck a la Thornescroft.

Both came served with broccoli mornay, two types of potato and courgettes provencales, all of which were scrumptious. The duck - and it looked like half a duck - was dressed in a tasty honey, apricot and brandy sauce

My meat came with a carefully prepared sauce and was plenty for even the greediest of appetites. For dessert I had ginger, lemon and honey baked sponge and my friend had a keylime pie, with a tasty biscuit base drizzled with chocolate. Both were sublime and the highest compliment that can be paid was that we finished them Despite being full to bursting.

Not including drinks - and a special treat was finding the restaurant was offering mulled wine on tap in the run-up to Christmas - the bill came in at £52. So a special restaurant for a special occasion: service was prompt and unobtrusive, the restaurant itself pleasant and the food stunning.

The Thornescroft is that all too rare occurence in eating out - you could stick a pin in the menu and know you're going to enjoy whatever you choose.

Gill Bonnett
Express & Star, Friday, November 28th, 2003

Thank you for not smoking in the Restaurant
and for switching off your mobile phone