The Forge Café is at The British Ironworks open air museum in Shropshire. Their menu is classic British cafe food, but they stand out from the norm with their amazing quality and service. With an array of delicious and mouth-watering goodies that are so tempting you will want them all.
Their stand out item has to be their impressive Afternoon Teas. These are brought out like royalty in the cafe. Stacked high with finger sandwiches, chunky chips, slabs of sponge cake and of course the piece de resistance is their iconic Madagascan scones with jam and cream.
Sadly we weren't here for that today, but i was very excited to try their everyday lunch menu.
Top Info
🍳The Forge Full English Breakfast
🫛Vegetarian and Vegan options
🍰So many amazing looking homemade cakes
🥪Classic British Lunch Menu
👶Children's Menu
🍰Traditional Afternoon Teas
🌭Savoury Afternoon Tea
🫛Vegan Afternoon Tea
🍗Daily Specials
💰Reasonably priced menu
💰Get 10% off in cafe and shop if a member
🦁Sculpture Trail and walks
🛝 Children's play area
🏠 Large showroom with lots of home accessories
🏠 Independent shops
🚗 Whitehall, Aston, Oswestry Shropshire SY11 4JH
⭐Top Tip⭐
We went for lunch at 11.30am. The cafe was quiet then and we managed to order straight away and our food came out in less than 10 minutes. Later on we noticed queues in the cafe so its definitely a good idea to go either early or late for lunch or to book a table before hand.
We walked in to the cafe and straight away it was a feast for the eyes. The sculptures and artwork outside had made its way into the cafe too. There was a storm trooper, Spider man hanging down from the ceiling and Elliot and E.T. riding a bike up in the rafters. Not forgetting the beautiful metal tree as a centre piece between all the tables.
We took our seats, the girls bench was once within a car as it was made from the front of a Mini Cooper. The air was full of music as there was a live singer playing in the cafe. Stood with his acoustic guitar singing old school rock songs it added to the feeling of the day beautifully.
What We Ordered
My girls love a jacket potato when out and as the children's menu didn't have one we ordered them an adult one each. These were massive! They came with their chosen topping or one beans and cheese and one with tuna, mayo and sweetcorn. They looked gorgeous and came with a nicely presented salad and homemade coleslaw too.
My husband went for a coronation chicken sandwich and I went for a coronation chicken wrap. The fillings were full of flavour and you got plenty of it too. The white bread was that door stopper type and my wrap as been grilled once wrapped up so was nicely warmed. Both came with some really nice crisps and coleslaw. A side salad would have been nice to have but i just stole some of my daughters from her jacket potato.
Breakfast Menu
Their breakfast menu has a really good selection, including their classic full English, a vegan full English and a fully loaded full English if your up for the challenge and worked up an appetite from walking around the sculpture park. If you want something a little different there is "Eggs Benedict" which is always a favourite of mine when having breakfast out. But check this one out as I've never seen "Eggs Cypriot" before. Halloumi, mushrooms, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce on a muffin! The menu keeps going with offerings of French Toast or Pancakes or a good old Bacon or sausage butty. ⭐ To make their breakfasts even better if you go Mon - Fri between 10- 10.30am then their classic full English is only £5 instead of £8.50 which a great deal.
Lunch Menu
A classic British menu, not over complicated but serving what they offer very well. With sandwiches, jacket potatoes, soup and locally made sausage rolls. There is also a couple of special boards by the counter which you must remember to check as these had some great meal options on. on our visit we could have had Southern Fried Chicken Burger, BBQ Pulled Pork Bap, Crock Pot Beef Brisket and Yorkshire Pudding, Fully Loaded Beef Chilli, Halloumi and Rainbow Salad Wrap and Homemade Cheese & Tomato Quiche. These special really upped the yummy meal options the cafe offers.
Afternoon Teas
There are a few options on the Afternoon Tea menu. The traditional, The Vegan and The Savoury. The Savoury really catches my eye with sandwiches, soup, sausage roll, triple cooked chips, and a cheese scone with chutney.
All are £22 per head and have to be pre ordered. I would really recommend pre booking one well in advance as these are hugely popular and often get fully booked at weekends. The price is really reasonable for such a high quality Afternoon Tea.
Children's Menu
The options for children was also good. At just £5.50 for any of the hot meals or £5.95 for a Safari Kids Lunch box where you can choose 5 items to go inside your box.
There is something for all tastes including a mini breakfast, sausage, fish fingers, tomato pasta and ham, eggs and chips.
Seating
They have a range of seating indoors & outdoors which can be used to eat your cafe purchases. They also have a wonderful undercover garden room with abundant fresh air and a large canopy area with plenty of seating!
It is recommended you book a table especially at weekends as the cafe can get busy.
If you would like to read about the rest of The British Ironworks Centre click here The British Ironworks Centre (daysoutandmealsout.com)
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