"Rules" for tourists visiting England
Jan 6th, 2007, 01:09 PM
#41
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 400
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Have to disagree with walkinaround on what constitutes weird and unnatural tourist behaviour. For me "I didn't vote for Bush" is the perfect introduction, and saves me spending the rest of the conversation wondering what sort of person they are.
As for eating at Rules...no, I've tried three times and I can't come up with a suitable way to put it. What audere said.
As for eating at Rules...no, I've tried three times and I can't come up with a suitable way to put it. What audere said.
Jan 8th, 2007, 06:08 AM
#45
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 193
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
NeoPatrick - granted there is always an exception to the rule and "Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese" is an honourable exception.
Stonehenge is more than just a pile of stones but it does seem a lot of tourists just go to London with Stonehenge as their only trip outside London and it seems such a waste when Avebury is just down the road
Another important rule is that the London Dungeon is more hysterical than historical
Stonehenge is more than just a pile of stones but it does seem a lot of tourists just go to London with Stonehenge as their only trip outside London and it seems such a waste when Avebury is just down the road
Another important rule is that the London Dungeon is more hysterical than historical
Jan 8th, 2007, 06:27 AM
#46
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,184
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
"you might think it's quaint and nice here but the majority of people are dreaming about moving away."
Apparently one in twenty Brits leave every year, and one in five live abroad, mainly in France, Spain the US and Australia.
The success of British colonisation is best explained by the miserable weather back home.
82° scattered cloud with a light north easterly breeze here in the French Caribbean.
Apparently one in twenty Brits leave every year, and one in five live abroad, mainly in France, Spain the US and Australia.
The success of British colonisation is best explained by the miserable weather back home.
82° scattered cloud with a light north easterly breeze here in the French Caribbean.
Jan 8th, 2007, 06:39 AM
#48
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The most recent (IPPR: early December 2006) estimate of Britons living abroad was 5.5 million, or rather less than 10% of the number living in the UK.
Annual emigration is now, says IPPR, about 198,000. Of whom roughly half decide to come home anyway. That nets out at one person in 600 deciding to leave and having the feck to stick with the decision.
The report's author was Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
Annual emigration is now, says IPPR, about 198,000. Of whom roughly half decide to come home anyway. That nets out at one person in 600 deciding to leave and having the feck to stick with the decision.
The report's author was Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
Jan 8th, 2007, 06:43 AM
#49
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 36,842
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I realized I placed a post on a wrong thread -- the one about favorite London restaurant -- that should have gone here. So here it is. I know some people don't like the sort of thing I'm describing, but we do, so I'm seriously looking for suggestions:
"By the way, my partner and I love good game dishes. He'd loves venison loin, simply prepared, and I love partridge or grouse or pheasant, served with traditional British side dishes and desserts. We'd like to go to a dressy and elegant place surrounded by antiques and featuring fine service -- something more "atmospherically British".
Since Rules is considered rubbish, could some of you give us a list of places that would suitably replace Rules with the above criteria for our future visits to London? This is a type of dining we can't get at home and I'd enjoy as a nice change from the typical "modern cuisine" places which abound now both in London and at home. I'm willing to try a replacement, I just don't know what they'd be."
"By the way, my partner and I love good game dishes. He'd loves venison loin, simply prepared, and I love partridge or grouse or pheasant, served with traditional British side dishes and desserts. We'd like to go to a dressy and elegant place surrounded by antiques and featuring fine service -- something more "atmospherically British".
Since Rules is considered rubbish, could some of you give us a list of places that would suitably replace Rules with the above criteria for our future visits to London? This is a type of dining we can't get at home and I'd enjoy as a nice change from the typical "modern cuisine" places which abound now both in London and at home. I'm willing to try a replacement, I just don't know what they'd be."
Jan 8th, 2007, 06:52 AM
#50
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,057
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
To be honest Patrick, if what you're looking for is the bells and whistles, fawning and cloches, experience that you get at Rules, they're about as good at it as you're going to get, short of being invited into a private member's club. Fortnums or the Savoy Grill are close, but pretty much the same.
However what you are looking at is food preserved in aspic, both literally and figuratively and the reason that it attracts dislike from people like me is that it represents much of what we have spent decades getting away from.
If you think of it as an, expensive, experience rather than great food then it's fine. If you want to eat well then almost anywhere else in it's price bracket is IMHO preferreable.
Chacun a son gout and all that.
However what you are looking at is food preserved in aspic, both literally and figuratively and the reason that it attracts dislike from people like me is that it represents much of what we have spent decades getting away from.
If you think of it as an, expensive, experience rather than great food then it's fine. If you want to eat well then almost anywhere else in it's price bracket is IMHO preferreable.
Chacun a son gout and all that.
Jan 8th, 2007, 07:01 AM
#51
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 36,842
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Huh? Fresh venison loin or wild pheasant shot and brought in daily is "food preserved in aspic"? What the hell are you talking about? If you simply mean that only "modern cutting edge cusine" should be eaten by classy people, and that anything classic or traditional is beneath you, so be it.
You seem to miss the point. Yes, I like great food, but please tell me the other places where I can get FRESH wild game in a nice setting -- don't give me that nebulous malarkey that has nothing to do with the topic, please. Or are you just suggesting that no person with "class" would dare to eat fresh wild game? I just don't get your post other than some attempt to be a put down of anyone who has tastes or food interests different from yours.
You seem to miss the point. Yes, I like great food, but please tell me the other places where I can get FRESH wild game in a nice setting -- don't give me that nebulous malarkey that has nothing to do with the topic, please. Or are you just suggesting that no person with "class" would dare to eat fresh wild game? I just don't get your post other than some attempt to be a put down of anyone who has tastes or food interests different from yours.
Jan 8th, 2007, 07:32 AM
#52
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,057
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Calm down. You'll give yourself Rockfords. Mind you if you eat at Rules too often you'll get gout!
You appear to be wilfully misinterpreting what I'm saying.
I am basically saying that Rules is effectively a theme park experience with all the bumfluffery that we used to confuse with actual good cooking. If you want that experience, then fine, as I said Rules do this as well as anyone. There are similar such as wiltons but really you might as well go to Rules as to Wiltons or the Ritz or Fortnums, as they do what they do very well. I just don't like what they do. It's fake.
What gets my goat is that a lot of people think that this is in some way representative of what british food is like - it isn't. It's a snapshot of an era that's long gone. There's a place in Battersea that sells Roman empire food, I have eaten there and it's fun, but having said that I wouldn't want people to think that it represents Italian cookery.
There are people who are very good with meat and game - try St Johns in Smithfield, or richard Corrigan at Lyndsey House (this is really really good and knocks rules into a tricorn hat)
If you enjor Rules, then go there - each to their own and that. It's just that to me it is stale and represents theme park tourism/food. I'm sure most big cities have similar places (I am thinking of a rubbish dinner I had at La Coupole as being somewhat similar).
You appear to be wilfully misinterpreting what I'm saying.
I am basically saying that Rules is effectively a theme park experience with all the bumfluffery that we used to confuse with actual good cooking. If you want that experience, then fine, as I said Rules do this as well as anyone. There are similar such as wiltons but really you might as well go to Rules as to Wiltons or the Ritz or Fortnums, as they do what they do very well. I just don't like what they do. It's fake.
What gets my goat is that a lot of people think that this is in some way representative of what british food is like - it isn't. It's a snapshot of an era that's long gone. There's a place in Battersea that sells Roman empire food, I have eaten there and it's fun, but having said that I wouldn't want people to think that it represents Italian cookery.
There are people who are very good with meat and game - try St Johns in Smithfield, or richard Corrigan at Lyndsey House (this is really really good and knocks rules into a tricorn hat)
If you enjor Rules, then go there - each to their own and that. It's just that to me it is stale and represents theme park tourism/food. I'm sure most big cities have similar places (I am thinking of a rubbish dinner I had at La Coupole as being somewhat similar).
Jan 8th, 2007, 08:43 AM
#56
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,085
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sorry can we go back to ice, for just a mo..
Since when do we never have Ice in our drinks? I have ice everything I wish it to be in.
Another rule.
Please try to remember that Wales is not in England.
Also try to consider that there is more to the UK than London.
;-)
Muck
Since when do we never have Ice in our drinks? I have ice everything I wish it to be in.
Another rule.
Please try to remember that Wales is not in England.
Also try to consider that there is more to the UK than London.
;-)
Muck
Jan 8th, 2007, 08:52 AM
#57
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 36,842
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Why is fresh game an oxymoron? If you shoot a pheasant and prepare and serve it the next day -- I'd call it fresh. Same with deer.
And thanks for the recommendations of St Johns in Smithfield and richard Corrigan at Lyndsey House.
I'm beginning to understand this whole Rules is rubbish idea. If someone doesn't like "old fashioned" or a particular type of food served then it's easier to call it rubbish than to say "it's not my kind of dining".
But now I do understand. I have a friend who refuses to go to one place because the waiters wear tuxedos and he considers that so old fashioned and pretentious. Another Asian friend refuses to go to any Asian restaurant because "that's what I grew up with, I want something new". Still another refuses to go to one of our more "trendy" spots because they feature comfort foods like meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and pot roast, the kind of food he grew up with and is so "over", no matter how good it might be.
And thanks for the recommendations of St Johns in Smithfield and richard Corrigan at Lyndsey House.
I'm beginning to understand this whole Rules is rubbish idea. If someone doesn't like "old fashioned" or a particular type of food served then it's easier to call it rubbish than to say "it's not my kind of dining".
But now I do understand. I have a friend who refuses to go to one place because the waiters wear tuxedos and he considers that so old fashioned and pretentious. Another Asian friend refuses to go to any Asian restaurant because "that's what I grew up with, I want something new". Still another refuses to go to one of our more "trendy" spots because they feature comfort foods like meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and pot roast, the kind of food he grew up with and is so "over", no matter how good it might be.
Jan 8th, 2007, 08:54 AM
#58
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 5,056
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
No, I've never understood the 'no ice in the UK' thing either. It's rare to be served a drink without ice these days, but you only get a couple of icecubes, not the glass half-full of ice, so I guess they don't count it.
Pubs and bars almost always have ice buckets on the bar as well so you can always add more if you are that desperate to dilute your drink.
Pubs and bars almost always have ice buckets on the bar as well so you can always add more if you are that desperate to dilute your drink.
Jan 8th, 2007, 09:18 AM
#59
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,060
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well game served the same day is likely to be as tough and dry as Old Harry and it won't taste "gamey".
You should hang it for a few days before eating it. In the old days, you waited until the head fell off.
You should hang it for a few days before eating it. In the old days, you waited until the head fell off.
