Good food in England?
 

Okay, so we have the post about bad food in England. But what about good food? What do you recommend? I'm not looking for particular restaurant suggestions, just general food.

What are things one shouldn't miss? (I'm a vegetarian, but let's keep these broad, so any meaty or non-meaty foods are fine)

Here are a few things I know about already:
digestives
Indian food
fish and chips
cider

What else? For instance, if I were to give someone advice on a similar topic for Norway, I'd highly recommend going into a Narvesen (or other convenience store) and buying a bag of three boller with raisins. They're sweet buns that children (and I) love. Or I could come up with a number of things you should buy if you went into a grocery store in Norway.

So how about England? What should I order at a pub? What should I buy if I go into a grocery store? What's good in England?

Also, when I was in London last, about 13 years ago, I remember going into pubs and getting basically steak fries with blue cheese salad dressing. Any idea what that's called? Just chips?

Fish and chips?

You can give it a miss.

In general, I never eat British food while (or should I saw "whilst") in England. I never eat American food in New York either.

I do like warm beer and ale however. Seriously. I prefer to the freezing cold stuff that's served here.

Cadbury Chocolate bars. Mmmm so much better than the Cadbury's in US or Canada.
Try malt vinegar on your chips (fries).

Crisps ( potato chips) Again, different from ours.

Clotted cream on your scones.

YOu can tell I like all the goodie things.

Enjoy.

British food is pretty much awful, in my opinion. The only decent food I've ever had was in ethnic restaurants (Indian, etc.). There, it is as you would expect, and you can order as you like from the menu. There is no special cutesy British-named food that I would recommend. The pub food I've had has been execrable.

"There is no special cutesy British-named food that I would recommend."

Oh, come now. How could you ignore the wonderful "spotted dick"?

Other don't miss items?

Sticky toffee pudding
Indian food
Clotted cream and strawberry jam on scones

OK, I think I ran out of ideas.

There's decent pizza in England now. ASK is a chain as is Pizza Express. They're both far better than chain pizza in the US (imo). ASK also has good pastas and salads.

Pret A Manger is another chain with good sandwiches, salads etc.

I think the Chinese food there is often good too.

In a pub I always have the Indian dish (usually a curry of some kind).

Marks & Spencer has decent take out food both cold (sandwiches) and hot (to be microwaved).

Lots of English are vegetarian. YOu should find lots of options there.

Harden's is a good restaurant guide for the UK. http://www.hardens.com/

eating healthy in London

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34799197

If you are going to eat at Pizza Express, eat at the one with the nice view of the Thames next to the new Globe Theater.

Turkish and Greek food is good in London.

I think all countries have good and bad food....I think it is perhaps what we take from our own countries and how we view different types of food that may give way to how we judge good or bad.

Good food----of course the fish and chips. I didn't have traditional deep battered fish and chips, but the fish and chips I did have was nice and fresh and NOT oily.

Pasties----particularly the beef pot pie type....had a great one that tasted like tender roasted beef with a wonderful dark cravy in a crispy pastry wrap. Yum!

Shepard's pie in a London pub was great.

And you have to admit that their premade sandwiches are both great in the selection (such things as curry chicken, chicken with chutney, sun-dried tomato, super good all veggie sandwiches, etc.) and their freshness.

And if you find a good bacon sandwich, go for it....quite tasty!

I don't think that the food you'll find in Britain is any better or worse than what you can expect to find in pretty much any other country. Some pubs do good meals and some don't just like some restaurants do good meals and some don't.

In terms of British specialties--I'm a huge fan of sticky toffee pudding and chip butties. At the grocery store, digestives, jaffa cakes, P&J smoothies, Lion bars, and squash (diluting juice) are all worth a try!

I agree with kodi that Cadbury's chocolates are better in the UK. So is Tetley tea and salt and vinegar crisps.

Really, the Indian food is not to be missed, it seemed like even the tiniest of little country hamlets had an Indian food restaurant that was just better than the one before it. That was the only time in my life I've eaten an entirely meatless meal and left so stuffed I couldn't move. You can discuss with the waitstaff your tolerance for spices and they will moderate the spices or kick it up a notch, depending on your preference. And there is plenty of good Chinese "take-aways". When we were there we ate lots of ethnic food and loved it but always wished we could get some genuine decent English cooking. We had an apartment in the suburb of Weybridge, and when we walked to the train station we would walk past this old large home and wondered who lived inside. Well, one night we walked around what we thought was the back of the house, only to find that the back was really the front, and that it was actually a small hotel with a restaurant. Ok, what to lose? We went inside and had an absolutely exquisite meal, which was a sort of combination of English and Continental cuisine. So . . when you visit, you may want to ask around and see if any hotels nearby are known for good food, and give it a try.

Move up a scale from Digestives and try Chocolate Hobnobs.
Sausages, mash and onion gravy
A Sunday roast
Chicken and mushroom pie
Fish, chips and mushy peas
Beef Wellington
Treacle pudding and custard
Not too healthy but great as a treat. There hasn't been a development of the Eat-your-own-body-weight-in-lard restaurant chain like there is in the US so if you do enjoy this food you'll probably get one average sized portion not a glutton's daily intake.

In the grocery stores, try the Hobnobs - a chewy oat version of the digestives. They are great plain or with milk chocolate or with "plain chocolate" (dark chocolate).

Also, the digestives that are filled with caramel and have chocolate on them are quite tasty.

My children love the Yorkie chocolate bars - they're pretty funny with their "no girls" theme. We have heard that there is a "no boys" Yorkie bar, but have yet to find one.

I love the English cheeses, and of course the teas are amazing.

We thought the English seemed obsessed with rocket (arugula)- it seemed to be on every menu. In one restaurant it was in our salad and in our pasta. It was very good, though.

My husband loves HP sauce (HP stands for "Houses of Parliament", it's a brown condiment). We bring back big bottles of the stuff. He loves to have it on almost any meat. I know that I have cooked something amazingly delicious when he doesn't smother it with HP!

Sorry Henneth, we must have been writing about Hobnobs at the same time!

Actually milk in England is very tasty. Seriously.

noe,
I nearly mentioned HP sauce as well. Thankfully my local World Market in Kansas City sells both of these!!

Henneth, thanks for the suggestion of World Market - we have one just a few miles from my house, so I will have to check it out. There is a specialty British food shop about 20 miles from, but it is too far and too expensive to frequent. The local grocery stores carry HP Steak sauce but not the regular HP. We find some of our favorite British food at Highland Games that we attend, but they are no bargain.

We've certainly had our fair share of good food in England. Some of our favourites:

- Deep friend camembert and spicy potato wedges (The Plough, nr. Banbury)

- Delicious soups and home-made breads (The Bear, Moreton on Marsh; The Ship Inn, Portloe, Cornwall)

- Clotted cream keys (Badger's Tea Rooms, Chipping Campden)

- Old fashioned ploughman's (like the one served at Lygon Arms in Chipping Campden)

- Steak and kidney pie (Cross Keys, Epperstone, Nottingham)
- Apple and rhubard pie with fresh cream (to die for) (")

- Best fish and chips (Victory Inn, St. Mawes)

- Cornish Pasties (Jolly Sailor Take-away, St. Mawes)

- Chicken and cheesy bake (Falkland Arms, Great Tew)

- Sunday roast (Basil St. Hotel, London)

- Sunday lunch complete with yorkshire pudding (Roseland Inn, Philleigh)

- Ham and chicken pie with potatoes and vegetables (The Duke of York near Victoria Station)

- A vegetarian dish of brie and broccoli in a kind of crusty, spiced crust with fresh potatoes, carrots, caulliflower and green beans that was amazing. (William IV, Benenden, Kent)

- Chicken escalope w. new potatoes in onion and chicken broth, w. carrots, cauliflower and zucchini, and a home-made salsa, side salad (Joel's, Chipping Campden)

- Home-made sausage and chips (Snowshills Arms, Cotwolds)

- Rib-eye steak brought sizzling to your table (Harbour Inn Pub, Porthleven, Cornwall)

I also like the freshly made chicken kiev you can get at the supermarkets, and the soups in cartons that always tastes better than the crap we get here in Canada.

And although I know they aren't only available in England, I swear Kit Kat chocolate bars taste better there. As do the wine gums and that chocolate bar w. nuts and raisins.

I think I have to go have a snack.

Rick...How many pounds did you put on when you were here...lol

:-)

Muck

Wanamama is supposed to be very good. It's basically Asian noodles but it sure sounds good. I sent a friend and she raved.

It's not cheap though. There are numberous shops throughout London.

Blackduff