Food Review

Eating Out Column

Every week we try out the culinary delights on offer in and around the Forest and let you know what we think.

NOW that it’s reopened, though, there’s only one question to ask – can the new management cook up a breakfast good enough to draw in the next generation of popstars and film actors?
The “Standard Breakfast” – a rasher of bacon, a sausage, a fried egg, a tomato, mushrooms, beans, two slices of black pudding, two pieces of toast and a trucker’s coffee (just an hors d’oeuvres in comparison with the Big Breakfast) – is a meal to build your day on.
It’s just the kind of food you can imagine a rock guitarist wolfing down the morning after a sweaty gig in Lydney Town Hall: wholesome and plentiful.
The bacon is thick-cut, almost like gammon, while the egg is fried to wobbly perfection.
Best of all are the mushrooms, cooked without being over-cooked. The texture is firm and the flavour is fresh.
And coming in at £4.10, the Silver Fox breakfast gives you a lot of protein for your pound.
In fact the new owners, Chris Huxstep and Bob Osborne, have geared the whole menu towards customers with bigger appetites than budgets.
The pair are hoping to put the café back on the local map after a year’s closure, and to earn a reputation for good value food served with a smile.
But for many the real attraction of the Silver Fox Café will be more to do with its rhinestone-spangled history.
Both rooms are practically wallpapered with memory: the walls are studded with old adverts and black-and-white photos of the bands who have visited the café.
The location is also well worth the drive. One room looks out on the Severn, and with the sun streaming in through the windows, the atmosphere is second to none.