Our undercover meal reviewer, The Insider, discovers some good, honest straightforward grub at a traditional village pub.

What has Masterchef done to this country’s food? Don’t get me wrong, British cuisine has never been better – we enjoy a satura of styles which is as forward thinking and inventive as anywhere else on earth, and that isn’t a claim you could make 20 years ago.

But sometimes, you just don’t need a menu that is wordier than War And Peace, and you don’t want to spend a wintry evening trying to wedge a spoon into the unreachable corner of a triangular dish to get a taste of the wafer thin slices of brine-infused pears in a charcoal reduction which just set you back £20.

On a cold January night, when a chill wind is rending the branches from the trees and a pub or restaurant feels like a cocoon from the outside world, all you really need is a good old-fashioned steak and ale pie.

Which brings me to the Dog Inn and Davenport Arms.

Set away from prying eyes in Worfield, near Bridgnorth, the Dog (as we shall call it for brevity reasons) could not be further removed from the world of wordy menus and scientific gastronomy.

The whole village is full of squat buildings propping one another up at jaunty angles, and the old fashioned-looking pub sits perfectly with its surroundings.

Unlike many modern, glass fronted, soul-free pubs,The Dog has no designated parking, although you can leave your car on-street at the front, and it retains the decor and feel of an old country pub.

Inside the Dog Inn and Davenport Arms, Worfield

It’s hardly The Slaughtered Lamb, the pub from American Werewolf In London where all the chatter stops the moment the door opens, but it has the rustic air of an old pub which comes from another age.

The frightful weather and post Christmas midweek night blues had driven many would-be customers indoors, and we were one of three tables eating. More promisingly, when we had tried to book on a Saturday in November we couldn’t get a table.

Settling in with a pint of Shropshire brew Hobson’s Best – one of three handpulled ales – the menu was a straightforward read, and it took all of three minutes for us to order.

My partner kicked off with a bowl of garlic mushrooms, which were dripping in butter and served with a crusty roll, while I tucked into an aromatic duck salad of the type you might expect to find in a Chinese restaurant.

Both were good, flavoursome and fresh, and were light enough to leave us wanting more.

It arrived in abundance, with plates piled high with good grub. My partner took up the mantle of the steak and ale pie – and didn’t regret it.

A good pub pie is a relatively easy thing to get right, but not an easy thing to make excellent. The Dog’s effort was flaky, with a rich red wine sauce, and fitted the bill nicely – it certainly helped us forget about the cold outside world, so must have been fairly successful.

I, in turn, opted for the sirloin steak with peppercorn sauce. I asked for it medium, and that was just how it came, pink throughout but not bloody. It wasn’t the plumpest steak I’ll ever cut into, but it wasn’t stringy or fatty, and was well cooked. The sauce was thick and flavoursome, and peppery enough to add some much needed punch to the traditional garni.

We both had chips, which had clearly been sliced in the kitchen a matter of seconds before rather than bought in frozen, and had the uniquely home-cooked feel that you so often long for in pubs.

By then, my companion had fallen by the wayside, despite having tucked into her pie with such giddy abandon, and I was left to plough a lone furrow through the dessert.

With it being such a quiet night, I was disappointed but not shocked to learn that the kitchen had closed while we were eating our mains, but after asking about desserts, the chef was tracked down and a limited menu made available. It seemed strange that the kitchen would close for desserts while a service was still ongoing, but everyone needs to cut their cloth according to what’s there, and if it costs more to keep a kitchen open an extra hour than comes back in then that’s a choice an owner will make.

All the same, I was grateful to them for reopening the kitchen, as my eyes had alighted on the top option on the dessert menu: sticky toffee pudding, in brackets beside which was the boastful word ‘legendary’. If that’s not a challenge, I’d love to know what is.

It was good. Probably a step above many sticky toffee desserts, but it didn’t quite live up to its claims – I’ve certainly had better.

The whole meal – two-and-a-half courses plus drinks – came home at just over £47, which I reckon is about the going rate for a decent meal out nowadays.

In a world where even the humble crisp comes wrapped in highfalutin rhetoric, it’s comforting to know that there remains a market for traditional pub food.

The Dog’s steaks aren’t ‘organic, hand-reared Anglo-Scottish Aberdeen Angus steaks’, it’s chips aren’t ‘hand-sliced maris piper fries’, and it’s desserts aren’t ‘drizzled’ in anything, and it’s all the more pleasant a place for it.

The Worfield pub won’t have Heston Blumenthal glancing anxiously over his shoulder, but everything it does is wholesome, honest, and straight down the line.

Sometimes, in the depths of winter, you couldn’t ask for anything more.

ADDRESS
Dog Inn and Davenport Arms, Main Street, Worfield WV15 5LF
Tel: 01746 716020

MENU SAMPLE
STARTERS:
Garlic mushrooms – £4.95
Aromatic duck – £4.95

MAINS:
Steak & ale pie – £8.95
Sirloin steak – £12.50, peppercorn sauce £2 extra

DESSERTS
Sticky toffee pudding with ice cream or custard – £4.50
Apple crumble with ice cream or custard – £4.50