The Armoury

Good vibe, good food, let down by some lacklustre desserts.

Food

The menu was a wonderful mixture of everything I want to eat. I chose an entrée of Pigeon Breast, Bacon and Black Pudding Salad (£6.25), which was sparse on ingredients, but big on taste. The pigeon was delicate and gamey, paired with some good quality bacon. I didn’t really think the black pudding added much though. I only wish there was more of everything. The main of Spicy Moroccan Lamb Shoulder with Olive and Almond Cous Cous (£14.95) was excellent too. Melt in the mouth lamb shoulder, with a flavoursome but not overpowering Moroccan sauce. The desserts were a bit disappointing though, the Belgian Waffle with Honeycomb Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce (£5.25) was definitely NOT made to order. The waffle was very dry from being heated again, and the chocolate sauce was sickly sweet, and the honeycomb ice cream only added more sweetness. The Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream (£5.25) has been done to death at a million places, yet we cannot help but order it, as on a good winter’s night, a good pudding can do wonders. Unfortunately, this pudding was not good. It suffers from some overheating in the microwave, so that the pudding was so dry, a large amount of sauce was needed to rescue it. If the sauce was great I wouldn’t mind – but this one was just thick and sweet.

A great start was ruined by some lacklustre desserts.

Rating - 6

Atmosphere

The place was really pumping on this late Friday evening, with big groups of young and old, all having a night out “on the town” I suppose. There were also a few couples scattered here and there. We made a beeline for the fireplace and the seat next to the floor to seat bookcase with a collection of old books. They have managed to make the big loft style place quite cosy, and the vibe was excellent.

Rating - 2.5

Service

The wait staff were quite trustworthy I think. They let us order whatever (without keeping a tab), and just told us to settle the bill at the end. Considering the amount of people that are going in and out of the place, they are definitely working on trust alone.

The staff were really nice and really pleasant though.

Rating - 3

C-factor

Compared to London, a bargain, as always, but for the country, average.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 12.5

Info

Victoria Quay
Victoria Avenue
Welsh Bridge
Shrewsbury
SY1 1HH
Phone +44 (0) 17 4334 0525
Website