What's English Food
 

I'm planning to go to London next year. I'd like to try authentic English food for lunch and dinner. I did a search using Fodors for restaurants in the London area offering it but it doesn't tell you what to order, what the menu is or what English food is or what to expect. They mostly mention the decor and the atmosphere of the restaurants but nothing specific about the food.
I'd like to seat down and order a dish knowing what it is and more important knowing that it is English.
I'd appreciate your help.

There's nothing tastier than Mr Brains Pork Faggots!

English food per se is dull - Simpson's Divan offers smart classic English food, but more in the French style. It was always in vogue to have a cook from France in one's grand household.

Only peasants ate traditional English foods, don't bother wasting your time with it.

You can get a good idea by looking at
http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/cookbook.htm

It's a recipe site but will show you some typical dishes.

I remember fondly, Bramston Pickle and cheese sandwiches in a pub behind Selfridges. Baps are good!
I love Salads in London, the tomatoes and cucumbers are small, perfect and sweet.
We eat a lot of Indian food in London, never had any I did not like.
Scones and clotted cream ...just the thought makes me weep from homesickness for England.
Dishes that I love the sound of (although I don't even eat them)...Bangers & Mash, Bubble and Squeak, Shepherds Pie :)
I think there is a restaurant called Clarks? that serves Roast Beef and all the trimmings, Veddy Veddy English :)

An elderly uncle took us to Rules for a fine British dinner.

Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, and 2 veg, followed by gooseberry fool with cream.

You probably couldn't last very long surviving on it, :) but I love Devon clotted cream.

http://www.devon-calling.com/food%20...tted-cream.htm

P.S. I just noticed that website mentions "toasted Cornish saffron bread." That sounds rather tasty.

As an outsider it seems to me that English food can include anything from curries to roast beef, the English have been borrowing food ideas for centuries, and since WWII they've become a world-class food nation. In the restaurants at least, just like the USA.

timeout.com, squaremeal.co.uk
are two websites that offer lots of restaurant suggestions and comments.

Curries are not English food, they are of Indian/Pakistani origin, don't get yourself confused.

English food is traced back to medieval times - English food implies wholly derived from England, not recipes that have been adapted/borrowed from other nations.

Sylvia, thanks for the great link!

Clarke's is not an "English" restaurant..Sally Clarke is a transplanted Californian..but she does some of the best food in London and her breads are splendid as is her wine list.
English food of today would include something from every corner of the world as does London.
If you are looking for nursery food or something you read about in Dickens, you can find it. Try a "caf" full English breakfast for a real fry up! Simpson's for Roast beef , pubs ( real ones) for shepherds pie, ploughman's, etc)
But London has some of the best foodand the best chefs in the world ..give them a try!

My daughter spent a year of college in London. She claimed that they (the school) managed to put corn in just about every dish served! She didn't touch corn-on-the-cob that entire summer. ;)

Linda

Agree with the corn strangeness. In Dublin they even put corn in the tuna salad. And its all nasty canned corn - no real fresh corn - even in the summer (perhaps they can't grow it in England/Ireland).

And obviously if you;ve never had fresh-picked corn you don;t know what it should taste like and just keep eating the nasty canned stuff. (My father grew up a farm and he calls it pig corn - the leftovers not good enough for people so its used to slop the hogs.)

English Food: For me, I like the simple Ploughman's lunch.
It was strange to me when I first visited France many years ago and saw those fields of corn but never seeing any on a menu. It's to feed the animals mainly, I think.

You musn't forget to try Marmite on dry toast--the epitome of English food.

I should also have mentioned Spotted Dick, a favourite of my late father-in-law.

My favorite English food is scones with clotted cream. I came home from the UK a few years ago and called stores all over town looking for clotted cream. I finally found it, and this is now one of my favorite treats. I also love curry bowls, but M_K is correct in pointing out that these are not really English food. However it has been my experience that they are better in the UK than the US, so that's why I associate them with travelling to England.

Lavernedrye, I have heard of spotted dick, but I'm embarrassed to say I don't know what it is. Please explain.

I had a most memorable dessert in an english pub years ago, I think it was called Sticky Pudding, white cake topped with warm caramel sauce.