Sorry, I didn't read it that way.

It seems a smiley-face is sometimes added after what could be construed as ridicule or dissent, meant, I believe, to confuse us into not replying to the real intent. There are definitely some smiley-face abusers around here.

The OP is pretty obviously not thinking of Chicken tikka - that ain't a 'foodie' thing.>

Describing yourself as such over here would define yourself much more as a gourmet or lover of refined food>

OP - Let me apologize for thinking you may have been looking for gourmet fine foods and not necessarily for popular foods - national dishes, etc. Sorry about misreading your intents.

Cheers! (Don't miss the fried Mars Bars!)

The Black Swan is now the #1 restaurant in the world, accordingn to TripAdvisor ratings.

>>The Black Swan is now the #1 restaurant in the world, accordingn to TripAdvisor ratings.<<

As was posted up thread . . .

Thank you so much for pointing out my error, Janis. So sorry to have mentioned it again.

Maybe when posted twice, information becomes worth half as much? I cannot imagine any other reason why it would require mentioning.

Sorry ekscrunchy. I really was not being snarky and didn't mean to discount your post in any way. I was in a hurry and intended to say the article posted up thread has more of the details.

I think Janis has exaggerated the number of 3 star Michelin places in London - I make it 3 with another 2 in Berkshire - that said, I think she is absolutely right that the OP would be very readily able to fulfil their ambitions with some careful research and planning.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned UK soups. Wife and I are vegetarians and never had a problem finding an incredibly delicious soup whether in a pub or a finer dining establishment.

In fact you can play the vegetarian card, even if you are not, and non-beef items that are not on the menu may appear.

Our experience there increased the frequency that we have soups at home as a main, along with decent bread.

In any case we both thought food in the UK was vastly underrated, not even counting the incredibly good ethnic food, Indian, Middle East, SE Asian, Turkish ...

Maybe we are easy to please?

This is based on several months spent in the UK on a combination of business and pleasure trips between 2001 and 2010.

Nelson, just curious ~. When you ordered soups, as a vegetarian, did you ask if they have a chicken or beef base? Or per haps that isn’t an issue for you?

29FEB, yes we always ask if the soups have a chicken or beef base. If the server isn't sure they always go back to the kitchen to find out.

We are not totally dogmatic about it, so will occasionally take a chicken base if there are no other appealing options, but that doesn't happen often. We won't take beef because we don't like the taste anymore. Chicken bases are typically buried by other flavors, unless it was lousy chicken to start with, which happens in the US more than Europe.

We'll also have miso soups which might be fish based.

Unfortunately most French onion soups are beef based, so rare to find one of those, but there were plenty of veggie base soups with broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes, whatever, plus bean soups, creamy mushroom soups, ... It worked out more often than not.

Thank you Nelson, I often am with rather strict vegetarians and this question comes up frequently. Sympathy to any who have to forego French onion soup!

Thanks again.

I often travel with strict vegetarians, in the UK such food will normally a small "v" next to it on the menu, or you can ask, or if you need to choose full veggie only restaurants, I recommend https://www.happycow.net/ as a guide for local places.