Food Sleuth: Shaw's, Broad Street

Shaw's

Broad Street

RESTAURANTS with cheeky mark-ups can expect a tanning in the next few months. I walked through town late last Thursday night – at a time of the week when trade starts to pick up – and through the windows you could see a lot of underemployed waiters inspecting their fingernails.

The catering businesses most likely to survive the recession are those that are very good, and those that are very good value (which does not necessarily mean cheap).

If you are looking for value you could do a lot worse than waddle down Broad Street. We are not in Michelin star territory here, but you will find places where you can pleasurably pack your gut, get change from three tenners and not end up being scoped in A&E.

Shaw's has set the standard in Broad Street for quite a few autumns and in spite of a change or two of management the deal remains the same – starting with the knowledge that, when you set foot in the restaurant's ground floor dining room, you will not be asked to help pay for an unnecessarily ritzy decor.

That is not to damn Shaw's interior designers. Frankly I prefer shabby chic, as long as it is not too self-conscious. Here, oddments of furniture fill the floor and the walls bear souvenirs of exotic brewing operations: we have advertisements for Leffe and Staropramen, the latter flanked by a cactus.

I considered the blackboard tapas menu (gambas, meatballs, veggie pasta, etc) but ate instead from the luncheon special menu (two courses for under a tenner, three for not much more).

Instead of the bubble and squeak with right-on sustainable white fish – hake, as it happened, not something ghastly like coley – I started with soup of the day: a leek and potato job.

The leek flavour was uppermost in a smooth, pistachio-hued broth topped with a swirl of cream. After adding the necessary hint of salt, it was just fine.

For my main course I chose the Dovedale risotto, made with the mild blue cheese produced at the Stilton creamery at Hartington, on the east bank of the Dove. If my memory is up to scratch, you can buy the stuff in the little shop overlooking Hartington village square.

The dish appeared to be made with a longer-grain rice than usual risotto staples like arborio and, although the dish was pleasant and comforting, as good risottos should be, it was a little monotonous.

Dessert, however, was splendid. Bread and butter pudding has become irritatingly ubiquitous in recent years but here was something different – a version made with thick-cut brioche instead of bread, studded with the fattest sultanas and lifted with a hint of orange (the accompanying creme was graced with zest and scented with Cointreau).

It passed the first test when presented on the table, for my slice was exceptionally large. The taste matched the dimensions and it may have been the best third course I have seen off in a couple of months.

To drink I had the alcohol-free lager brewed in Bremen by Beck's. It is one of only two no- or lo- alcohol efforts in my experience to be fit for the table.

The tab came to a florin under £15, which I thought was a very decent deal. Factor in the relaxed, slightly Bohemian atmosphere and the friendly, grown-up service and Shaw's easily passes the value test. Not bad.