UK trip- restaurants
Mar 16th, 2011 | 05:05 AM
#21
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 6,282
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P.S. Also sadly, most salmon in Scotland is the farmed, flabby, fatty variety - oftehn not even from Scotland. It is extremely unusual to see Scottish wild salmon in a shop or on a menu and you'd only get it in the more expensive restaurants. For cooking at home I tend to buy Alaskan wild salmon.
Mar 16th, 2011 | 05:44 AM
#22
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
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"indicative of the area"
In Edinburgh, Northumberland, Bath and London you're going to struggle. In Bath and London, there simply isn't any local cuisine (unless you define Indian as local, but then they can do that everywhere else in Britain)- and there really isn't in Northumberland.
In Scotland, all decent restaurants will feature a number of distinctively "Scottish" dishes - though your fellow diners won't particularly bother.
What all decent resturants in all these places will do is feature the source of the raw materials, and most claim to get a growing proportion of them locally. There's known to be a huge amount of outright duplicity about this, and even if the facts are accurate, it's often hokum: lamb imported from New Zealand uses less energy, and if seafreighted emits less carbon, than lamb eaten at the pub opposite the English farm it's been reared on, and mutton and beef taste all the better for ageing anyway. As Caroline points out, Scottish farmed salmon is just as boring as frozen Chilean salmon, whether it's served on the edges of Loch Fyne or in the middle of London.
However the hearts of the "local food" fad, though muddled, are in the right place. What REALLY matters - and what they often get right - is eating food in season: by and large the kind of place that claims "local" ingreds really will serve you Cox's, asparagus, raspberries, Jersey Royal potatoes, game and rhubarb when God, not Frigidaire, intended you to eat them.
In Edinburgh, Northumberland, Bath and London you're going to struggle. In Bath and London, there simply isn't any local cuisine (unless you define Indian as local, but then they can do that everywhere else in Britain)- and there really isn't in Northumberland.
In Scotland, all decent restaurants will feature a number of distinctively "Scottish" dishes - though your fellow diners won't particularly bother.
What all decent resturants in all these places will do is feature the source of the raw materials, and most claim to get a growing proportion of them locally. There's known to be a huge amount of outright duplicity about this, and even if the facts are accurate, it's often hokum: lamb imported from New Zealand uses less energy, and if seafreighted emits less carbon, than lamb eaten at the pub opposite the English farm it's been reared on, and mutton and beef taste all the better for ageing anyway. As Caroline points out, Scottish farmed salmon is just as boring as frozen Chilean salmon, whether it's served on the edges of Loch Fyne or in the middle of London.
However the hearts of the "local food" fad, though muddled, are in the right place. What REALLY matters - and what they often get right - is eating food in season: by and large the kind of place that claims "local" ingreds really will serve you Cox's, asparagus, raspberries, Jersey Royal potatoes, game and rhubarb when God, not Frigidaire, intended you to eat them.
Mar 17th, 2011 | 01:56 AM
#24
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 6,282
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Well BigRuss,I'm glad your wife found some good wild salmon ! Just pointing out that it's not the norm.
OP, what Flanner says about eating food which is locally in season is a very good point and is is often tastier. If you are interested, when in EDinburgh go to the framers' market on Castle Terrace (Saturdays 9-2, best to get there early to have space to browse, see everything on offer before anything runs out and maybe even chat to the farmers & find out which restaurants are using their produce). It will give you an idea of what's locally in season and good to eat (excepting the main fish stall which does import stuff like tuna). I have for example enjoyed asparagus and fresh tomatoes much more since I started *only* buying them from the farmers' market when they are in season here, eating lots then and not buying them at all the rest of the year, plus there's the excitement of waiting for things to appear like the aforementioned asapragus, tomatoes and also game. When will you be here ?
OP, what Flanner says about eating food which is locally in season is a very good point and is is often tastier. If you are interested, when in EDinburgh go to the framers' market on Castle Terrace (Saturdays 9-2, best to get there early to have space to browse, see everything on offer before anything runs out and maybe even chat to the farmers & find out which restaurants are using their produce). It will give you an idea of what's locally in season and good to eat (excepting the main fish stall which does import stuff like tuna). I have for example enjoyed asparagus and fresh tomatoes much more since I started *only* buying them from the farmers' market when they are in season here, eating lots then and not buying them at all the rest of the year, plus there's the excitement of waiting for things to appear like the aforementioned asapragus, tomatoes and also game. When will you be here ?
