Stelgreco, Shrewsbury

Star rating: *** Ah Greece! Land of Homer, heroes and houmous. As seasoned visitors to the Greek isles, my wife Joy and I looked forward to visiting Stelgreco, Shrewsbury’s new Greek taverna in Castle Foregate.

It was a chilly night when we arrived at the restaurant, at the site of a former camping and outdoors shop.

On entering we were immediately hit by the size of the place, which has been transformed into a modern, stylish restaurant with not so much as a vine-laden trellis in sight.

The taverna has been open for six months and provides traditional Greek and Cypriot dishes. In fact, our waiter later informed us, Stelgreco boasts one Greek chef and one from Cyprus.

The restaurant is split over three levels, and after our hats and coats where whisked away we were shown to our table on the middle level, occupying a commanding view of the impressive bar.

Stelgreco was in full swing by mid-evening with just about every table taken and several large groups lapping up the atmosphere.

Our waiter welcomed us to the table and presented us with our reading matter for the night - the drinks list, food menu, meze specialities and the comprehensive wine list.

As we shuffled the menus between us I ordered a couple of bottles of Mythos, a holiday favourite Greek lager (best consumed at the side of a pool with the sun beating down).

The host of meze dishes on adjoining tables looked most impressive but we decided to stick with the main menu.

Vegetarian diners are well catered for with several starters and mains including Yemista, vegetables stuffed with rice, garlic and herbs and baked in the oven (£11.95), a selection of dips - houmous tzatziki, taramasalata - all served with hot pitta bread (£5.50)

For starters I opted for Keftedes (£4.50) - herby pork, onion and potato meatballs served with a tangy tomato relish on the side. Joy went for Calamari (£4.75) and we ordered a bottle of Makedonikos, a crisp white wine.

Well pleased with my wine selection, I was then told the wine came in 500ml or litre carafes.

We went for the larger option and at £15.95 for a litre the wine proved to be a delight and lived up to its description of having a smooth lavender after-taste.

The Keftedes were extremely tasty, firm and meaty and the relish proved to be the perfect accompaniment.

Joy was also pleased with the Calamari; the deep-fried squid rings came in a light, seasoned batter and were lovely and crisp. They were served with a salad garnish, however some bread on the side would have been welcome.

Then we came to the main course. I chose Kleftiko (£11.95) - this lamb dish came with a timbal of wild rice, Mediterranean vegetables and coriander roast potatoes.

Joy had selected Afelia (£11.95), a favourite from her student days in Manchester. The dish was described as medallions of pork marinated in wine with garlic and herbs, served with bulgar wheat pilaf and Mediterranean vegetables.

The waiter was most accommodating when she asked to skip the wheat pilaf and instead brought roast potatoes.

To be fair, both the main courses were disappointing.

While my lamb was beautifully cooked, very tender and really did fall off the bone, the presentation left much to be desired.

The Mediterranean veg - which consisted of tired looking cauliflower (which neither of us tried), green beans and enough carrots to put opticians out of business - were piled onto the plate. I couldn’t taste any coriander in the potatoes and frankly I’ve had better.

The big letdown was the Afelia. The aforementioned medallions of pork turned out to be two big steaks that would have kept any navvy happy. The meat was tough in parts and tasted very bland.

Unfortunately I can’t report on the desserts as we were not offered any and we hadn’t noticed any before the menus were removed.

We decided against a coffee, a selection of Greek, Turkish and Italian were on offer, and called for the bill.

No-one could grumble at the price of £54 for pre-dinner drinks, two courses and a litre of wine; in fact, all the menu prices were sensibly pitched.

All-in-all the evening failed to revive memories of carefree Hellenic nights.

Thankfully there was no Nana Mouskouri backing music, no traditional plate smashing and sadly few smashing plates of food.

ADDRESS
Stelgreco, 13 Castle Foregate, Shrewsbury
Te: (01743) 359020

MENU SAMPLE
Starters
Fazokia Piaz - bean, carrot and spring onion salad (£4.25); Dolmades - vine leaves stuffed with pork, rice and herbs (£4.95). Vegetarian option also available

Main courses
From the charcoal grill
Pork Souvlakia - skewered pork marinated in lemon oil and oregano served with hot pitta and salad (£11.95); Shefetalia - hand-rolled pork, parsley and mint sausages with pitta and salad (£12.50)

Seafood
Swordfish £13.25, salmon £13.50, sea bream £15.50

ATMOSPHERE
Saturday night fever - busy, buzzing with plenty of good natured chat

SERVICE
Attentive, informative waiter service. All staff were smartly turned out

DISABLED FACILITIES
Lower level easily caters for disabled needs

By John Hindmarch