Drawn in as if by a magnet by the A-boards advertising lunchtime deals my cousin, his wife and myself took the steps from Fish Street and followed the directions.
Approaching the restaurant in St Alkmond’s Square, past a dumped pallet, we saw a squat little building with mesh grills over the windows, and looking rather like a hidden toilet block. Or perhaps a village hall where the committee is worried about the windows being smashed by vandals.
The colourful signs beckoned us in and I was trusting the word of a local bar manager who revealed to me the secrets of the food that we were about to experience.
La Lanterna, St. Alkmunds Square, Shrewsbury
And my cousin had already offered to pay for the food, so all was set up. I was keeping my fingers and toes crossed that my reputation in the eyes of the family would not be utterly and irrevocably ruined.
But as soon as you take the steps down into the bowels of the building it is immediately obvious that this is something different. The building is actually the old vestry at the back of St Julian’s Church and there is a neatness to the place that indicates that it is lovingly looked after.
Once inside the very small restaurant it is clear where the owner’s passions lie; it is Italy through and through. There are football flags on the walls, little nick-nacks, maps of the Italian peninsula, and the sort of stuff that you might buy when wandering around the Colosseum in Roma.
We were in luck when the three of us dropped in off the street, without booking, for lunch to find there was room for us. It is not always like this apparently and evening meals must be booked up.
As I became more and more absorbed in the surroundings and the atmosphere of the smells and the music, it was almost as if I was transported back in time to that great holiday wandering around Sienna and Florence.
If you think Italy means pizza, think again. I didn’t spot any of the flat stuff that is such a staple of the the big chains that offer Italian foods, or any miscellaneous pineapple looking for some carbohydrates to sit on top of.
As it was lunchtime we skipped the antipasti and went straight for the pasta main dishes. All soaked away with a nice bottle of Italian (of course) red wine and some water for the three of us.
The restaurant seats around 30 people and is extremely cosy, the kind of place where one can imagine that many a romantic liaison has been witnessed by the walls and the waiters during the some three decades that it has been open.
We didn’t have to wait long before our food came out to our well decorated table – and no wonder as it was still cooking in the dish.
My cannelloni verdi – pasta tubes in tomato sauce filled with ricotta and spinach topped with mushrooms and a cheese and tomato sauce – arrived still bubbling away. It was like a molten lake of lava and it came with a heat warning.
But it was gorgeous and needed to be so hot to stop me opening my mouth and shovelling it in. You see, I am sophisticated like that.
My relatives were very impressed with my cousin’s wife proclaiming the best lasagne she had ever tasted.
We decided not to have dessert – although I had my eyes fixed on the Italian cheese and port for £12.50. There was still a little more Shrewsbury sightseeing where I could pretend to be a kind of guide. I know some of the good pubs anyway.
The total bill was more than one might pay elsewhere, in High Street chains, and came to about £25 per head.
That was a pretty decent price for the experience of being transported to Italy during a couple of lunchtime hours.
My guests left town with their bellies happily full of great food and my ears ringing with their promises that they would be back again.
Happy family members and a reputation maintained; what more can one ask for a culinary and cultural experience.
To book and for more info on the menu, visit the La Lanterna website.