Relax in peaceful haven where you won't play with your food

SECRET Service has noted before just how much competition there is in the pleasant village of Shardlow for the money people spend eating out.

Apart from eight very different pubs, all doing food, there is a well-thought-of Indian restaurant and a large Chinese.

However, after recent visits both at lunchtime and in the evening, your spy is prepared to declare that the Shakespeare Inn, on the left on the main road as you approach from Derby, is making a strong case to be the best of the bunch.

Lunches are straightforward and very well priced but it was the evening fare which recently proved a particular pleasure.

Behind the pub is an extension, built to look a good deal older than it actually is, housing the restaurant, which is conservatively but elegantly decorated. Well away from the main part of the pub, it is a peaceful and relaxing haven, an old-style restaurant, if you will, and none the worse for that.

Secret Service and party were quite happy to be offered the chance to peruse the menu over a drink in the lounge before sitting down.

The menu is extensive, with plenty of vegetarian options, and manages to offer a few surprises without baffling non-experts.

Thus, one of our party tucked into a starter of avocado and prawns with a pleasant seafood dressing, while another enjoyed honeydew melon with ginger. A third chose pineapple – a very large wedge of it, too – with prawns and a seafood dressing, while your spy opted for the pate. You can get sparing amounts of pate in some places but, here, there was so much, the complementary crusty bread already on the table had to be utilised.

All the main courses arrived with communal dishes of chips and vegetables and, again, there was no skimping on the portions. Your spy opted for surf and turf, which was a 10oz steak along with scampi, and was thoroughly impressed.

Nor were there any complaints from the others for the high-quality and tender beef stroganoff, the leg of lamb steak and the house special Shakespeare chicken, a large breast in a rich and enjoyable white sauce.

Only two of the party had enough room for puddings and each had apple crumble, unremarkable but exactly what you would expect.

If there was to be a minor criticism, it was the chips were a little overdone but, having previously tried the Shakespeare for lunch, Secret Service can say this is not a common problem.

Service was quick and pleasant; the surroundings completely relaxing.

What they have achieved at the Shakespeare is sophistication without pretension. It's not an easy balance to get right.

SHAKESPEARE INN

WHERE: London Road, Shardlow.

MEAL FOR FOUR: Pineapple and prawns £3.95, melon and ginger £2.95, pate £3.55, avocado and prawns £3.95; leg of lamb steak £9.75; beef stroganoff £9.75, Shakespeare chicken £8.95; surf and turf £13.95; hot apple crumble £3.25 x 2.

TOTAL: £63.30.

CALL: 01332 792728.