258.The Walrus.

 

  Back in Ludlow, it seemed a good idea to venture forth elsewhere in Shropshire to eat somewhere I have been intending to visit for a long time - The Walrus in Shrewsbury. It’s always an adventure putting one’s trust in Transport for Wales-run trains which makes a very good argument for governments, particularly the Welsh one, never being allowed to run public transport, especially when their hegemony extends itself over the border into the Marches and England. At least with privately-run West Midlands Trains we can rely on them being hopelessly unreliable and not have any false hopes that the train will arrive on time or even that it will turn up at all.

  Still, I did indeed put my trust in TFW and it did indeed manage to convey me relatively uneventfully, the half hour journey from Ludlow to Shrewsbury, through empty green countryside and looming hills, dotted with sheep or cattle, past the towns of Craven Arms and Church Stretton. What a pleasure it is to visit Shrewsbury with its links with Charles Darwin and how exciting to be visiting a much loved dining establishment to discover how high-end food had evolved in this part of Shropshire and The Midlands

  I was pleased with my welcome at the restaurant, which had opened in October 2018 and is listed by Michelin, and happy to be seated downstairs in full view of the kitchen where Chefs Ben Hall and his partner Carla were going about their work quietly and efficiently. I was also impressed that, apart from Hall himself the restaurant appeared to be run by an excellent all-woman crew. There were obvious problems with the restaurant itself in that the toilets are located up steep stairs making them inaccessible to some customers and in particular anyone in a wheelchair. I liked the soothing grey and blue decor with the portrait of a walrus looking down on the lower dining room. Which begged the question of how the restaurant got its name. On enquiring I was told it had been named after the Beatles’ record, “I am the walrus”, an apparent favourite of Chef’s which sent me running (metaphorically) to the internet to look the song up and I was fascinated to find that the lyrics have a number of allusions to food items which may or may not have some relevance to Chef’s interest in the song.

  And so to the menu. On Friday evenings only a six course tasting menu is available - at the very reasonable price of £60  (though a wine flight will add another £90 to the bill). To start, three pleasing amuses gueules were delivered to the table - all with crispy textures in them - one a fine cheesy mousse another with bresaola and the other with artichoke crisps on an excellent potato salad base that worked very well for me. A flying start.

  The first starter was delicious - an oblong of delightful, subtly flavoured smoked eel with sweetly pickled cucumber and slices of carrot, the mild heat of thinly sliced radish, Exmoor caviar and hints of horseradish.  It was an excellent summery dish and the next course was, if anything even better - drapes of very thin slices of very tasty Lancashire porchetta, the flavours heightened by Shropshire truffle and gooseberries. For me the dish was unimpeachable.

  On to fried spinach pasta dumplings with crispy kale, Parmesan and onion. Delightfully cheesy and the crispy kale brought with it the pleasures of Chinese-restaurant-style ‘crispy seaweed’. Then the meat course - Goosenagh duck cooked perfectly to my tastes and accompanied by a fabulous little square of brilliantly conceived duck leg and squash lasagne which raised a fine plate of duck breast to a legendary status - eternally memorable and complemented by glazed plum, an excellent sauce, mushroom purée and cabbage - none of these ingredients were out of place.

  Oh wow! That lasagne.

  There were two desserts. The first was very pleasing - slices of macerated cherries, buttermilk semi-fredo, shards of meringue and cherry sorbet - everything had its place and helped the dish along. I very much enjoyed too, the second dessert of aerated dark chocolate (the aeration was that little touch which raised the dish above what some chefs often produce) and miso caramel mousse, both paired very happily with delicious coconut ice cream. It was all such a pleasure.

   I had the feeling that this had been a meal of items which Chef himself really enjoyed and perhaps that’s something other chefs should do - prepare the meal as though they were going to pay £60, £70, £80 and so on for it so that they could sit back with relish and indulge themselves with it and emerge from it content and happy they had something not only that little bit special but also just plain fun and pleasurable.

  

 

  I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to The Walrus and thought it a restaurant well worth making a special journey to eat in. I note that the restaurant will close at the end of this month and will be relocated elsewhere in Shrewsbury. In some ways this is sad - it is a lovely  restaurant but clearly the single upstairs lavatory is a real practical problem and may be one of those non-food issues that causes the Michelin inspectors to hold back from awarding The Walrus a Michelin star.

  I look forward to visiting the new Walrus and eating Ben Hall and Carla’s cooking again.