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Alongside the River Severn in the historically important Ironbridge Gorge, the Valley Hotel makes a convenient watering hole after you retreat footsore and culturally overdosed from the world-renowned wonders of the cradle of Britain's Industrial Revolution.

The cuisine is not easy to define, beyond saying that it is broad to the point of being eclectic, without any over-fussiness. The á la carte menu offers a range of dishes with English and Continental influences, with a good selection of vegetarian dishes; honest, wholesome food is the order of the day and the support for the restaurant is not by any means confined to those who only seek the nearest refuge. The wine list is supportive with bins from the Old and New World.

An individually priced menu has been introduced to enhance the whole experience, incorporating the best of local ingredients, as in carpaccio of beef fillet, tomato, shallot salsa, fresh horseradish, parmesan shavings, and pea shoot salad, Chez Maw daily soup, or Oriental style duck cakes with Asian salad, pineapple chutney and hoi sin dressing. Not so local but just as appealing for those who like something honest and full bodied from the sea there is pan fried fillet of Cornish mackerel, pickled vegetables, cream cheese fritters and tomato dressing.

There is something tremendously reassuring about confident starters, removing any possible element of doubt about what comes next, leaving you free to anticipate with pleasure the rest of the meal, the company, the view over the Gorge, try to coincide your meal with an early summer sunset, and something exhilarating from the cellar.

Move on to a selection of main courses that would do credit to a menu in a stylish West End brasserie. Longmans 28 day hung sirloin of beef is served with red onion marmalade, dauphinoise potato, buttered beans and red wine jus.

Roast butter basted free range chicken breast, fillet of sea bass and braised shoulder of Welsh lamb are all regular attenders on the menu, which finishes on a note of triumph with sticky toffee and date pudding with vanilla pod ice cream and toffee sauce, or maybe an raspberry pannacotta with yoghurt sorbet, oat crumble and raspberry syrup.

Currently holding a 2 AA rosette award for high standard cuisine and service, this is most certainly one of the better restaurants in a part of Shropshire renowned for its outstanding scenery. The dining room, for instance, has the benefit of an adjoining bar and patio area, which overlooks award winning Parkland and the River Severn, in the centre of this World Heritage site.

For more information, and details about staying at the Valley Hotel, do visit their Website.

Part of the Whitbread family, Table Table restaurants aim to bring great value tasty pub food to an ever increasing eating-out public who like well prepared and genuine food served by friendly staff in relaxing surroundings. If that sounds too much like a dream come true be assured that at Table Table they also walk the talk, and are pleased to have the chance to prove it.

Their well located restaurants are spread across a wide range of decors and styles, and all of them share a determination to provide comfort, warmth and relaxation. Their buffet menus for special occasions are remarkable value.

In keeping with modern trends they provide dishes to nibble or share as guests consider the spread of options on a menu that could be described as British with welcome incursions. So as you share long Italian flatbread, and dough balls and dips, or a sharing platter with an imaginative range of finger food starting with garlic and breaded mushrooms, it's time to think about the relative merits of aromatic duck parcels, a prawn cocktail, breaded Camembert or sticky chicken goujons to name but a few.

Many an innocent dish from the past has been hi-jacked in the best possible sense into becoming what is now called a 'pub classic'. Wiltshire cure ham with eggs is served with chunky chips and beef, mushroom and ale pie, or chicken and chips are all familiar with British tables, be they in the dining room or the kitchen. Now they have been added to by chicken fajitas, a sweet red pepper, crème fraiche and fennel tart, a leg of duck slowly cooked and served with a Bramley apple and cider sauce, or chilli con carne with basmati rice, sour cream and guacamole and nachos. So is the humble burger with six enticing toppings.

The point is they, and others, are all here at Table Table, well prepared with quality ingredients, and presented in a way that makes you hungry even if you thought you weren't.

Getting down to the more serious side of the table keep an eye open for the seafood pie, a delightful assembly of things fishy including crayfish, red snapper, prawns and clams. Many of their steaks are 28 days matured, including a 7oz fillet. All steaks are served with watercress, roasted cherry tomatoes, a flat mushroom and chunky chips. A choice from 4 sauces adds the final touch of enjoyment.

Pastas and salads embrace some well known and loved names, but for sheer enjoyment the hot smoked salmon salad takes some beating - flakes of hot smoked salmon mixed with a house salad and soy and ginger sauce. A real winner.

Snacks aplenty cover hot baguettes with the like of grilled pork loin and Bramley apple sauce, sandwiches filled with Cheddar cheese, or prawns and Marie Rose sauce, and jacket potatoes with such temptations as chilli con carne. Add a bowl of chips for only a little extra.

A well travelled wine list offers helpful advice for the uninitiated and there's an impressive choice of draught and bottled beers and lagers. All in all it would appear that Table Table are more than achieving their aims, providing the opportunity for people to eat out enjoyably, with excellent value for money. Long may they continue to do so.

For completely up to date information on menu changes and special offers do make a regular check on their lively Website.

The Beefeater Grill range of restaurants, owned by the well established firm of Whitbread has transformed over time into what is now predominantly a cooking platform for chargrill. The restaurants are warm, modern and stylish, with low lighting and contemporary artwork. A comfortable, cosy, mainly booth layout offers guests their own space with no feeling of being hurried at any point. Staff are friendly and helpful if need be - what a difference that can make to a good evening out.

Be it the wide open spaces of Argentina, the intimate setting of a French restaurant, or a busy grill in London's West End, there's no denying the popularity of chargrill. As the production of quality beef, chicken, fish and lamb has grown, prices have come down by comparison, and the simple and traditional art of minimally cooking dishes by chargrill, sealing in the flavours and tastes by intense heat has caught the public imagination.

All the steaks at Beefeater Grill are matured for a minimum of 28 days before being seasoned. Whether it be juicy rib eye, the classic sirloin, that emblem of the Sunday lunch, a tender fillet, or a delicious 7oz rump, all grilled to your own specification, you're never far away from perfection. Even beefburgers have shaken off their dubious image and the highly popular Beefeater burgers are made from 100% beef.

The popular sirloin with giant prawns offers a treat to those for whom an alliance between sea and pasture is a natural attraction, whilst a 16oz steak platter links rump, fillet, sirloin and rib eye into one mouth-watering dish served with chips, battered onion rings, grilled tomato, a flat mushroom and peppercorn and brandy sauce.

Many of us love rib meat, and the rack of ribs at a Beefeater Grill has a meaty rack smoky flavour; maple ribs of pork with a choice of three sauces, mojito, smoked caramel and apple glaze, or Bourbon and black BBQ. And if all else fails and you are totally baffled by the wealth of choices, ask to have a word with the Steakmaster who will help find what is right for you, together with the best cooking method. These guys leave nothing to chance.

On a menu that is a delight to read, let alone choose a meal from, expect to find smaller dishes such as traditional prawn cocktail, whitebait, chicken liver pâté and baked Camembert, or juicy lamb koftas served with yoghurt and mint dip. There's something about a good steak meal that always leaves a gap for a little temptation to sweeten up the scene and from amongst twelve options look for Belgian chocolate cheesecake, treacle sponge pudding or a caramel apple crumble pie.

Throughout the day a wide range of more general dishes are yours for the ordering, sandwiches, jackets, classic favourites like fish and chips, pasta, salads, and sharing dishes of nachos, potato shells and a Beefeater Grill combo. Next door to many of the restaurants are Premier Inns, so staying the night whatever the circumstances need not be a problem.

And what about wine? Endorsed by Matthew Jukes, wine writer in the Daily Mail and bon viveur in his own right, a wine list that marches with the menu completes an impressive and compelling invitation to enjoy whatever takes your fancy at the nearest Beefeater Grill.

Click on their Website for menu updates and special offers.

At last somebody's done it! The waterfront overlooking the River Severn at Ironbridge Gorge has been crying out for years to shake off its tearoom image and host a proper restaurant, and Eric and Beb Bruce have picked up the challenge. Fresh from their highly successful operation at Oswestry they have established a serious restaurant that offers a flexible and fast changing menu that still manages to retain the favourites of the regular customers, of whom there is an increasing number.

Amongst starters you are likely to encounter expect black pudding with chorizo sausage, mushrooms, bacon and a soft poached egg, with its wonderful overtones of that splendid meal we call breakfast. Or perhaps prawn and smoked haddock ravioli with shellfish sauce appeals?

Main courses can offer individual roast rack of local lamb, medallions of venison with sun-dried cranberries and a cognac cream sauce, whilst even hardened carnivores might feel drawn to a plum tomato, red onion and mozzarella tart wild mushroom soufflé.

Desserts of apple charlotte with clotted cream and apricot sauce, or dark Belgian chocolate torte with their own preserved cherries in cognac are frequently to be seen, and their cheese platter is a work of the art.

Décor is tasteful and exudes warmth. This is a long overdue addition to that exciting historical hot spot that surrounds the Iron Bridge.

Frankie and Benny's combine classic American and Italian in both style and cuisine. They specialise in home style cooking 'just like Mamma used to make it'. This is a great place to take the entire family and represents excellent value for money. The restaurant and bar is suitable for any occasion, whether it's a leisurely lunch, a family meal or a fantastic evening with friends - they make sure you have a wonderful time.

Walking into the restaurant is like stepping back into 1950s New York, from the clatter and chatter of the open kitchen to the bottle lined bar. Walls with black and white family photographs showing life in Brooklyn's 'Little Italy' surround cosy booth seating and tables. Combined with the classic music of the fifties, a mix of American swing and beat, they definitely provide a fun and friendly atmosphere for all to enjoy.

Frankie and Benny's offers starters, main courses and delicious desserts, and favourites include char-grilled burgers, pizzas, pastas, steaks and house specialities such as chicken parmigiana, BBQ ribs, lamb shank and much more. The bar serves a wide range of beers, wines, spirits, cocktails and soft drinks.

Start with sticky wings, crispy coated chicken strips, tiger prawn skewer or Frankie's fried calamari and if you are dining in a group choose the giant sampler platter. The pastas, calzone and pizzas are all made freshly on order. An interesting dish on the menu is a the Boston 7 speciality pizza fully loaded with slices of pork meatballs, spicy pepperoni, ham, crispy bacon, chicken, peppers and red onion, served on a BBQ sauce base. They also serve a variety of sandwiches and burgers throughout the day.

A good value lunch menu is available on weekdays from 11am until 5pm offering a range of popular dishes from the main carte with one course at £5.95, two courses at £7.95 and three courses at £8.95.

For children up to the age of eleven, an all-inclusive menu features a selection of main courses, desserts and drinks starting at £3.95. As an added treat, they'll also receive an activity pack to entertain them whilst you eat.

Enjoy an American Italian meal at Frankie and Benny's with freshly prepared food and warm hospitality that makes you feel right at home.

On the Shropshire/Staffordshire borders the word is out. Paul and Christine Waite, formerly of the New Inns at Kiddemore Green have re-appeared, less than two miles away at The Royal Oak in Bishopswood.

Between them they have transformed the run-down Royal Oak into a friendly neighbourhood bar and restaurant, using clever re-arrangement of the space, cool colours and rustic furniture, with a cosy back bar for the locals, to make a venue that is well on the way to achieving the same levels of popularity as their former location.

Chris is offering the same simple but satisfying dishes, with minimal formality, the sort of pub grub that people love, at prices that miraculously have hardly changed since they left their former hot spot three years ago.

With a short, unpretentious wine list, Timothy Taylor's Landord and other top flight real ales on the taps, they are well focused on the local community's needs. This is not gourmet dining, it is wholesome, well-cooked food in generous proportions, every bit as good as you'd enjoy at home - dare it be said, sometimes better - at prices people simply cannot afford to ignore, in congenial surroundings. Just try their Sunday lunch menu if you want proof of this.

Here is neighbourhood living at its best. When Paul and Chris were at the New Inns you often had to wait for a table - there are more of them at The Royal Oak and believe me they are going to need every one of them.

See you there.

A touch of Le Francais in the culinary jungle of Shropshire is always to be welcomed. It is provided at Ironbridge by Johnny Coleau, a legendary figure in his time who has transformed The Grove Hotel complex into a credible watering hole for the residents of Telford and many thousands of tourists who descend upon the Gorge every year to bring themselves up to date with the Industrial Revolution so ably presented by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.

Transformed it may be, but French it remains, from the candlelit basement with the check cloths to the bistro bar where such dishes as coq au vin or boeuf bourguignon mingle with the baguettes.

At weekends, however, a whiff of old England is to be detected, with traditional Sunday roasts of beef and lamb, and a casserole perhaps to keep the Francophiles in a state of serendipity. They extol the virtues of a lack of chips on Sunday, but quite gladly provide them for the rest of the week - and there's me thinking the chip was pretty universal by now.

Friendly staff do a good job looking after what is without doubt a busy place, with a good atmosphere well tuned to the locals, and for party occasions.

Hadley Park is one of those typical tall, red-brick Shropshire/Staffordshire houses that come in varying degrees of sophistication, in this case agreeably well up the scale; its restaurant offers an eclectic mix of contemporary English dishes, it was awarded a coveted AA Rosette only four months after being re-opened. It is sited in a handsome conservatory, which makes a thoroughly convincing effort in looking as though it belongs to the house it serves.

The seasonal menu comes in two or three course versions and there is also a table d'hote version. The food carries convincing evidence of freshness and individual preparation and starters could include smoked salmon, melon dressed up with lemon sorbet and fresh fruit or a delightful cream of natural smoked haddock and chive soup, nicely topped off with a well-timed poached egg.

Main courses follow a safe path with roast fillet of pork, a tomato and garlic risotto with a mixed cheese finish or poached fillets of lemon sole as fairly typical. A classical note is struck with summer berry pudding served with clotted cream and tuille biscuit, and the banoffee pudding has to be amongst the better versions of that sturdy favourite; however, my choice would be the warm lemon and almond pudding with lemon syrup and vanilla ice cream, which sounds too tempting to be able to resist. The wine list is equal to most occasions.

Hadley Park has 12 bedrooms that each have their own sense of personal style, their individuality provides guests with a relaxing 'home from home' atmosphere. Recently refurbished, the bedrooms offer all the comforts of home coupled with some added luxuries that make a stay at Hadley Park memorable. All of the rooms are fully en-suite with luxury bathrooms, TVs, tea and coffee making facilities and feature impressive views across the Shropshire countryside.