"RESTAURANT LIVED UP TO EXPECTATIONS"
By Lavinia Graham writing in the

Oct 25, 2003

"There are some restaurants worth starving yourself for, and the Hundred House at Norton is one such place so lunch was kept to the bare minimum in anticipation of an evening feast.

Griddled scallops with sweet pepper coulis, bacon and Jerusalem artichoke sandwich and Caesar salad

For us the Hundred House is a special occasion restaurant, usually reserved for anniversaries and celebration dinners. But just the once a visit on a cold and damp October night made an otherwise ordinary evening that little bit special. You don't need to take my word for it though, countless awards and accolades have been bestowed on this family-run hotel and restaurant over the years, but this prestige is reflected in the prices.

That can be the problem for award-winning restaurants, customers come in with great expectations, and appetites to match - they've read the rave reviews and want to taste it for themselves. So does the Hundred House live up to its hearty portions of praise? Well it's never disappointed in our experience.

Owned by the Phillips family, who just recently won a Les Routier's award for hosts of the year, son Stuart rules the kitchen while the rest of the family run the hotel and restaurant. And the restaurant area seems to grow each time we visit, long since overspilling from the dedicated dining room into an area of the bar neatly cordoned off with a pair of altar gates; and then beyond threatening to devour the territory of the lowly drinkers. No, there's no doubting food is the focus at this hostelry.

Mum Sylvia's passion for herbs is evident everywhere from the dried bunches hanging from the rafters to the arrangements of fresh herbs plucked from her garden, arranged in lieu of flowers on each table. So much more useful to flavour your food and drinks than a manky old carnation.

Surrounded by all these herbs we soon felt a hunger for some food to accompany them. I went for the griddled scallops with sweet pepper coulis, bacon and Jerusalem artichoke sandwich and Caesar salad (£7.95). The three large scallops were perfectly cooked, their sweet flesh divine on their own, but even better with the crispy bacon, artichoke, Caesar dressing and pepper coulis. Alex, who is lost when there is no pate on the menu was relieved to find a rich chicken liver pate served with chutney and brioche (£5.95). Although he wasn't a big fan of the orange chutney he gave the dish an eight out of ten on his personal pate scoreboard, quite an accolade considering the dedicated research he selflessly puts in!

Picking a main course was quite an effort given the choices, even the vegetarian options (black bean and spiced broccoli tortilla with avocado salad) looked appealing to us carnivores which must say something. Knowing we would be reviewing the meal and therefore couldn't order the same dish, Alex wasted no time in 'bagging' the grilled beef fillet served with smoked bacon, blue cheese risotto and beef jus (£18.95). With the beef off limits I mulled over the tuna fillet, rabbit sausages, Hereford duck and several lamb dishes, and eventually chose the lamb cutlets served with hummus, chermoula and a lemon scented jus (£16.95). The strong Moroccan flavours of the chermoula combined with the garlicky hummus and lemon jus threatened to overpower the lamb, but I really enjoyed the dish.

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Reproduced by kind permission Shropshire Star