Jenko's, Telford

Rating **** James Shaw and his wife are impressed with a carvery meal.

Rating **** James Shaw

and his wife are impressed with a carvery meal.

Jenko's in Telford - or, should I say The Compasses - is a rather deceptive location for Sunday lunch.

Not in a bad way, of course , rather the entrance gives very little indication of what lies beyond.

That is what Claire and I found when we decided to try its Sunday lunch menu.

The first part is a traditional pub, with the standard bar, tables and lovely a smell of Mongolian spices hanging in the air.

So we assumed that Sunday lunch was some sort of exotic affair.

Again, we were wrong.

Although Jenko's is rightly famous for its Mongolian barbecue, Sundays are handed over to the traditional meats, lots of veg, and as many accompaniments that you can cram on to your plate.

And boy, they do it well.

The staff were polite and eager to make sure nothing was left to chance.

Well, almost nothing - but I'll come to that later.

The Sunday lunches are served in broadly similar manner to the Mongolian food, in that it is mostly carvery-based.

We couldn't count all the meats on offer, but the traditional beef, gammon and turkey options took centre stage and demanded my full focus.

But how could I ignore the mash?

Regular readers will know that I pay very little attention to accompaniments, but on this occasion I fell in love.

I had an image in my mind of a chef hammering away in the kitchen for hours, such was the creamy, fluffy texture of the mash.

It seemed to have a slightly meaty flavour - but only a tiny hint - and was just so delicious. Mash lovers everywhere will be delighted.

It was the same case with the roast potatoes, although not quite to the same degree.

Anyway, back to the meat.

The three options that I took back to my table were all thickly carved and well cooked.

I supposed I shouldn't be surprised that in a restaurant where meat is the major attraction, one of the biggest attractions is, erm, the meat.

But I will say it again - choose Sunday lunch at Jenko's and you will not be disappointed.

So what could wrong?

Certainly not the desserts - we were handed a menu full of delicious options.

I went for the triple chocolate brownie, while Claire had banoffee.

Young Louis, who by now was wild-eyed and excited about every dessert that passed our table, was delighted to receive three scoops of vanilla ice cream.

My dessert was everything I had hoped for - three fantastic chunks of brownie, smothered in sauce, ice cream and lots of chocolate.

Louis loved his ice cream and Claire enjoyed her banoffee. While it was sweet enough with a coating of toffee and caramel, the flavour of the banana was ever-present and dominant throughout.

The desserts were a credit to the restaurant.

So where did the staff go wrong?

I supposed we should have asked at the start of our meal - or at least assumed - but at no point were we told we could go up for second helpings.

To be honest, we piled our plates so high that we probably wouldn't have visited the meat counter again, but that wasn't the point.

And at £10.95 for a carvery meal, albeit with a dessert, we felt a little dissatisfied.

So yes, I will knock a star off for the price and lack of communication - but having said that, there was very little else wrong.

ADDRESS

Jenko's/The Compasses Inn, 72 Beverley Road, Ketley, Telford TF2 6SD

Tel: 01952 617997

Web: www.jenkos.co.uk

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