Eat Up, Shrewsbury

We're Shropshire, not London, and concept restaurants seem as appropriate to our sleepy county as foie gras at a conference for vegetarians. We want decent country pubs, neighbourhood bistros and a smattering of fine dining.

In this parish, Peruvian pop-ups, Brazillian smokehouses and restaurants dedicated to the art of ceviche are as relevant as liquid nitrogen at a Sunday roast.

We know what we like and we like what we know. Or do we?

One Shropshire restaurant has helped to redefine the county's dining scheme in recent years.

Eat Up, in Shrewsbury's Milk Street, has brought a new concept to eating out.

Its food is smart and stylish, actually, scratch that, that's wrong. It's food is fun and infectious, like a great riff in a pop song. It sticks in the memory and brings a smile to the face. Hell, it makes you feel like dancing – but only at weekends.

The venue eschews sophistication like a combat-short-wearing, long-haired rocker at a Red Hot Chili Peppers gig. It's family-friendly and preppy, it's welcoming and cool, it ticks all of the right boxes for family diners, yummy mummies, couples and friends.

You know what, the team behind Eat Up ought to forget simply catering for the masses at their Milk Street venue, they ought to get on their tandem and travel around the county showing other restaurateurs how it's done. Their formula, you see, is pretty much spot on. Let's run down a few of the things that Eat Up is not, so you can see where it's coming from.

Eat Up's not stuffy, formal, focused on fine dining, stiff, pretentious, at the cutting edge of molecular gastronomy, trying to win any awards or worried about whether you turn up in a T-shirt and a pair of 501s. It's not a humble boozer, it doesn't do junk, it doesn't buy in its dishes from well-known providers of pre-cooked, fast-chill dinners and it doesn't cut corners to save itself a few bob.

And these are some of the things that it does do: has a concern about the provenance of its food, develops relationships with the best local suppliers, plays decent music, has staff who smile and care about whether you're enjoying your visit or not, employs a brigade of decent chefs, offers quirky food with a twist, welcomes kids, doesn't rip people off and charges prices that are affordable to the masses.

It sits somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. It's an everyman – and woman and child – kinda place. It's the sort of venue where people hang out, where friends catch up for coffee and a cake during the day, or chow down on a gourmet burger on Fridays. It's the sort of venue where the orange juice and lemonade are freshly squeezed, rather than coming straight from a dusty old bottle.

Eat Up was launched about 18 months ago by husband-and-wife team Brian and Amy Turner. Brian, an experienced event caterer, had enjoyed a life-long career in catering and had always wanted to open his own café-cum-restaurant. His charming wife, Amy, has a flair for interiors and design and wanted to put her stamp on the style and character of their venue. Her kids' zone, near to giant windows, is particularly impressive.

They found a fantastic venue, on the first floor of an historic building in Milk Street, which provided a vast, open space and views across Shrewsbury town centre. They stocked it with the day's newspapers, tables groaning with deep, rich chocolate brownies and created menus that give people what they like – rather than serve as an egocentric vehicle for showy chefs. Oh, and they hung a bike on the wall, as you do. And behind it, they painted: 'We heart Great Food', which is kinda nice.

They serve only the best of local produce and offer British-inspired dishes with a creative edge. Their concept is simple: they want their restaurant to have the look and feel of eating at the family table at home, with your nearest and dearest. And that's exactly what it's like – except we don't have a bike hanging above the kitchen clock in our kitchen.

Much as I love fine dining, I'm also passionate about humble grub. One of my long-standing favourites in Shropshire is the Green Café, in Ludlow, a light-and-airy café that sells real food for less than a tenner. That also has no air of pretence, it offers simple food cooked with exceptional ingredients and sells them for prices that people can afford. If you've not yet eaten there, I'd urge you to. It does such a good job that it's earned listings in both the Good Food Guide and the Michelin Guide. Last month's menu featured such seasonal treats as hand-dived Scottish scallops, cauliflower piccalilli, Victoria Plum cordial, rainbow carrots, tagliatelle, cavolo nero puree, lemon and buttermilk scones with lemon curd.

The food at the Green Café is marginally better than that on offer at Eat Up and that's no slight. In truth, there's only two or three restaurants in Shropshire that can outgun the Green Café. But the environment at Eat Up is miles ahead.

I've visited Eat Up on a number of occasions since its launch. Normally, that's been for hot chocolate and cake. On another occasion when I hoped to eat from its regular menu, there was no room at the menu: the cavernous venue was full and we decamped to a nearby venue.

I made sure of a table more recently, arriving as the clock struck five and Eat Up opened for its evening service. I felt like the drunk waiting by the doors of the pub at 11am, determined not to miss out. I was welcomed by Brian with a polite 'good evening', and offered a choice of table. The soundtrack, gently piped into the room, comprised Bon Iver, Radiohead and the best of music from 1994 onwards. It was music to this audiophile's ears and made for pleasant listening.

The menu was just as enjoyable to read. Five starters, six mains and four desserts, plus cheese, featured. I never understand why restaurants offer much more than that. I always smell a rat – or a gone-off piece of fish – when venues offer a dozen or more choices. There's no way they can keep all of those ingredients fresh without resorting to the freezer. Eat Up did things just right. While I fancied a couple of options from the list of starters – the smoked pressing of Maynard's ham hock, piccalilli and breads sounded particularly appetising – I'd fallen head-over-heels in love with three of the mains. I realised three savoury courses would be just plain greedy, though the thought did enter my head, and so asked the venue's exceptional waiter – James – if I could order a scaled-down version of one of the mains to start. He smiled, knowingly, as though that were the most obvious thing in the world to request.

The resulting dish, a light, sweet and flavoursome salad of sweet nectarine, creamy goats cheese and honeyed pecan nuts, was a treat. A younger, fresher goat's cheese would have elevated it to the ranks of greatness, but I didn't complain and the slate upon which it had been served was soon clear.

I ummed and aahed incessantly over my choice of main. The roast corn-fed chicken with creamed leeks, rosti potato and rocket pesto was giving me come-hither eyes – but I rejected it in favour of a robust plate of slow roast belly pork, chorizo and broad bean hash and a cider jus. I'm glad I did. It was a treat – three days later, I can still taste the delicate balance of savoury, umami flavour. A million-and-one-venues offer slow-roast pork, and then fail to cook it in that way. The square of delicious British Lop belly that I was served had, indeed, been slow roasted. Rendered with unctuous, intensely-flavoured fat, it fell apart. The warming, paprika-infused hash was terrific and the jus knocked my socks off.

Pud was brilliant. Passion fruit tart with lime crème fraiche, served in a scooped-out passion fruit, was dreamy, flavoursome, sharp and light. The pastry could have been a little better, but otherwise it was faultless.

Eat Up deserves its plaudits. Cleverly-conceived, the family firm's love of food is evident on every plate and in every gesture during service. There are no short cuts, no episodes of laziness and no making-do-with-second best. It's a very deserving recipient of our second highest mark.

ADDRESS

Eat Up, 2 Milk Sreet, Shrewsbury, SY1 1SZ

Tel: 01743 341181

Web: www.eatupshrewsbury.co.uk