Shropshire Magazine

Pan-fried venison steak with sauteed potatoes and a bramble and rosemary jus.

Neil Thomas gets round to dining at The Royal Oak in Welshpool — and rather wishes he’d visited earlier. Pictures: Russell Davies

The hotel’s elegant frontage.

Welshpool claims to have the largest sheep market in Europe. Given the preponderance of off-white four-legged woolly things wandering the hillsides going ‘baa’, that might not come to you as a complete bolt from the blue. It’s a pretty impressive claim nonetheless.

For a small town to boast the biggest of anything in Europe is quite a feather in the cap. There are, though, many other things to admire about Welshpool aside from packed pens of Lleyn, although I speak with the unabashed bias of one who lives nearby.

The town is one of the gateways to Mid Wales, a summer tourist trap of snarled-up traffic if ever there was.

Coachloads and car-loads head there — or here, in my case — either passing through coast-bound or tempted to stop by attractions like Powis Castle and its acclaimed gardens; the Welshpool-to-Llanfair steam railway, which cuts through 10 miles of breathtaking countryside; the Montgomery Canal beside which is a town-centre museum; the footpath along Offa’s Dyke; the Dingle garden centre; and ‘silver-friendly’ destination shops such as a two-storey Edinburgh Woollen Mill in a converted rail station — my 77-year-old mother can’t come to stay without insisting on a visit — and Coed-y-Dinas country store.

Welshpool also has its fair share of excellent pubs and a couple of decent cafés. It is not, however, over-blessed with restaurants. Whether locals and visitors alike prefer pub food, eating at home or simply drinking, who knows? Whatever the reason, few restaurateurs have thought it worth the trouble of opening here. So bless The Corn Store, Revells and The Royal Oak Hotel. They are all within around 300 yards of one another and provide Welshpool’s main European restaurants (there are fine Indian and Chinese eating houses).

My wife Vanessa and I have visited The Corn Store on several occasions and can attest to its excellence. We have never eaten at Revells and, although we have had a drink or two in The Royal Oak, we had never dined there, so decided to put that right.

The hotel was extensively refurbished in 2008 and the result is a thoroughly bright, modern bar and tastefully lit and decorated restaurant. A great deal of care and attention — as well as no little cash — has clearly gone into the refurbishment and the Royal Oak must now be one of the premier venues in Mid Wales. This was recognised by an invitation to join Welsh Rarebits: Hotels of Distinction.

Its pre-eminence as a meeting place, conference centre, wedding venue and party haunt means that The Royal Oak is, in many ways, at the heart of Welshpool social life.

It has a rich history. The Grade-II-listed hotel takes its name from an oak tree which used to mark The Cross in the centre of Welshpool — the site nowadays of surely the busiest traffic-controlled crossroads in Powys — and dates back more than 350 years. It was once part of the Powis Castle estate and is, in fact, a former manor house of the Earls of Powis, as well as a coaching stop.

Still, however impressive its past, it is what is does in the here and now that tends to impress the hungry guest. First contact is with the staff and here The Royal Oak scores highly. The team who served us in bar and restaurant were young, enthusiastic, efficient and friendly. From the moment we arrived and were served drinks in the bar and handed menus, to the time we departed, we felt valued.

The menu, which varies slightly at weekends from weekdays, offers a decent choice of meat, fish and vegetarian options and some imagination has clearly gone into putting it together.

I started with butternut squash, asparagus and red onion risotto while Vanessa chose garlic king prawns on a bed of rocket salad with a sweet chilli sauce.

We could, though, have chosen soup; a shortcrust tartlet of garlic mushrooms and ribbons of bacon in a creamy stilton sauce; chicken liver parfait, red onion jam and toast; smoked salmon with tzatziki and granary cob, or pigeon breast simmered in a port, walnut and grape sauce. So, as you can see, we were not short of options.

Head chef Alastair Nickless.

I tucked into a large poached fillet of salmon for main course, with buttered spinach and a white wine, prawn and sweet pepper sauce. This was a generous portion, accompanied by excellently prepared fresh local vegetables including carrots, parsnips, baby new potatoes and broccoli.

Vanessa’s pan-fried venison steak came with sautéed potatoes and a bramble and rosemary jus.

Options

Again, we chose from a wide range of options including goat’s cheese, sun-blushed tomato and spinach strudel, sweet pepper and pesto coulis; spinach cannelloni filled with vegetables and glazed with cheese sauce; a brace of confit duck legs, chive mash, orange reduction and seasonal vegetables; pot-roasted spring chicken with a thyme and red wine reduction; potato gnocchi in tomato sauce with pesto dressing; seared supreme of tuna on a bed of jasmine rice and Thai green curry sauce; medallions of pork fillet with asparagus spears, meadow mushrooms and dry sherry sauce; pan-fried medallions of beef fillet flamed in brandy with soft green peppercorns and cream; and braised lamb shank on a bed of mash with redcurrant and rosemary jus.

We were also tempted by the sirloin or rib-eye steaks, either plain or with a variety of sauces. There were a string of side-orders, although helpings were so generous that we weren’t tempted by extra vegetables, chips or salads. Thankfully there was a short hiatus before the desserts were offered, the staff thoughtfully giving us time to digest our hearty mains before tempting us further.

I chose chocolate fondant which came with a delicious walnut ice-cream, while Vanessa did her best to finish a large slice of apple pie.

Other desserts to be found at The Royal Oak include sticky chocolate sponge, sticky toffee sponge, bread and butter pudding, crème brulée, and chocolate truffle torte and orange sorbet.

There was an excellent wine list, offering a wide choice with a clear explanation next to each bottle of its origin with a numbered key showing the extent of its dryness or sweetness. I chose a nicely chilled Sancerre.

Two excellent double espressos were a perfect way to round off the meal. Coffee is something of a speciality since the hotel is a franchise of the Costa chain, which represents rather an enterprising move on the part of the management.

The Royal Oak offers a relaxing dining experience in pleasant, convivial surroundings. It is a place that tries hard to please in an unfussy, unpretentious way. Its staff don’t lose sight of the need to maintain professional standards while remembering that pleasantness goes a long way. They seem to hold great store by a rather old-fashioned maxim in service - that the customer comes first.

• The Royal Oak Hotel, The Cross, Welshpool, Powys SY21 7DG. Telephone: 01938 552217. www.royaloakhotel.info

Care and attention have gone into the Oak’s refurbishment.