Star rating: *** At the Shropshire Star we are of course always interested in places that you, the readers, think we should check out for food reviews, writes Cathy Stanworth.

So, when we received an e-mail about an Indian restaurant in Wem from a reader, we quickly acted on it.

A customer had enjoyed a takeaway at the Ivory Lounge in Wem. So much so, that she and her partner went back to eat in the restaurant.

The e-mail told us that diners were invited to take along their own alcohol, which made me think that they perhaps hadn’t been open that long.

Visiting on a Friday night, my boyfriend Simon and I easily found the address on Leek Street and were pleased to discover a car park directly opposite, next to the Co-op.

The venue lies above shops and a staircase leads up to the front door – sadly not ideal for some disabled customers. We found a sign on the door saying that as credit and debit cards couldn’t be accepted at the Ivory Lounge at that time, customers were asked to pay by cash. Yet another clue that it was a new eaterie.

Now, as the last time I ate at a restaurant that invited you to take along your own booze ended up being a balti in Telford where the tables were packed too closely together and the clientele a bit rowdy, I wasn’t really that sure what to expect of the Ivory Lounge.

However, I need not have worried.

From outside, looking up from the road through tall windows, it looked quite nice. We could see diners being taken to their tables by smartly dressed waiters.

Stepping through the door we were immediately welcomed by smiling waiters who offered to take our bottle of chilled Chardonnay and open it for us at the table.

Simon told them that we’d booked a table for two and we were shown through straight away and given a choice of tables. The venue had a bar and lounge with a few sofas and a large dining area. As well as the tall windows, the dining area had modern tables, chairs and décor, and was very clean.

The waiters were meticulous in how the table was laid and nothing was too much trouble. They also kept on asking if we were happy with everything.

We settled down and the menu soon followed. On the front it said that it had been put together by their exclusive chef Janu Miah, one of Birmingham’s renowned culinary specialists. It said he had “culinary knowledge” in different cuisines including Indian, French, Italian, Oriental, Thai, Pakistani and Bangladeshi, and that the dishes were “modernised” Indian cuisine.

I was impressed with the big choice of dishes. I wanted to choose something that I knew well. For starters I chose onion bhaji (£2.95) followed by monkfish exclusive – cooked with potatoes, carrots, onions and peppers in a medium-hot sauce (£10.95) – and pilau rice (£2.10). Simon decided to start with king prawn puri (£4.50) followed by chicken passanda, cooked with fresh cream and yoghurt (£7.95) and pilau rice.

We were asked if we wanted any poppadoms first, and we ordered a couple.

Now, hands up how many people have gone to an Indian restaurant and ordered poppadoms only to have them presented with the classic stainless steel trio of twirling bowls containing onion slices, a cooling mint dip and that over-the-top lime pickle concoction that blows your brains out but you just can’t help eating anyway.

Well, here we were served them in three modern porcelain dishes containing plenty of everything. And the dips tasted different. The mint one was very cool and the pickle was actually palatable! I was now beginning to think we were on to something special.

For my starter I got three good sized, hot and very tasty onion bhajis, served with a fresh salad garnish. They were delicious. Simon had a good portion of prawn puri. He said it was as good as any he had had before.

There wasn’t a huge delay in waiting for our mains. On mine, I know through experience that monkfish is easily overcooked and when this happens it can be quite tough to eat. Yet here, the pieces in my monkfish exclusive were succulent and as light as a feather. Totally delicious. The sauce was full of flavour and went with it perfectly. And my rice was so light I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had floated away. I was very impressed.

Simon said that his dish was very good and very tasty.

For pudding we could have chosen from a good list of frozen desserts but we didn’t have any space left in our tummies, so had to pass on that and finish our meal simply with coffee and mints.

Our trip out to Wem had been worthwhile. Thanks for the tip-off and please keep them coming. The Ivory Lounge at Wem comes highly recommended by The Shropshire Star.

ADDRESS
Ivory Lounge, Leek Street, Wem.
Tel: 01939 233555.

MENU SAMPLE
Starters
Garlic chilli prawn pastries fusion (£3.75); Garlic mushrooms (£2.75); Shamee kebab (£3.25)

Main courses
Chicken or lamb sylheti (£8.50); Thai red curry (£8.95); Vegetable biryani (£6.95)

Desserts
Banana fritter (£2.50); Fresh fruit salad (£2.50); Strawberry flute (£3.25)ATMOSPHERE
Friendly and relaxed. All diners were properly taken care of.

SERVICE
Excellent, nothing was too much trouble

DISABLED FACILITIES
None