British food is delicious!

[Jovialis]

Dropping in for a minute, I’m on vacation currently in London, and I must say it is a really beautiful city. I loved it from the minute we got here. I particularly want to mention how much I adore British cuisine, specifically nose to tail. Yes, it fantastic! Last night I ate deviled kidneys, bone marrow on parsley salad, snails and barely, and lamb broth. Today I had scotch eggs, and various meat pies for lunch. I’m looking forward to dinner tonight.

I absolutely love and appreciate British food!

[Salento]

If you enjoy this kind of cuisine, try the Steak and Kidney Pie.

Beef Wellington for me :)

... SoHo, and Covent Garden for shopping.

... Kew Garden (exotic plants from everywhere) ...

[Jovialis]

Thus far I've seen St. Paul's Cathedral, which I was really into, because I am a fan of Lord Nelson, and Lord Wellington. The Parliament building, which was fascinating; our tour guide was very good. The British Museum, which had the Rosetta Stone, and really great Greek, Roman, and Etruscan pieces. They also had great Neolithic artifacts, as well as Bell Beaker remains. The Globe theater, and Buckingham Palace from the outside. We went around Piccadilly Circus, to different shops. Tomorrow, we are seeing more stuff too.

[Salento]

I spent about one year in London. I still have a National Insurance Number Card, and a huge driver’s license made of paper

[Jovialis]

Nice! I could see myself living here, if I could.

[Salento]

imho Competitive people won’t like working for too long in the UK.

most people that love the London way and system of doing things (Social prog. help and stuff), will never make it in New York :)

[Jovialis]

Today we saw Westminster Abby, and the Tower of London. It was marvelous!

Also, people should really control their children, I saw some toddler walking all over memorial of the unknown solider.

[Jovialis]

Cool, perfect timing for this revelation

[Salento]

In England they had Muffins, but NO English Muffins (at my time)

and the Breakfast:

Eggs, soft Bacon, huge thick slice of tomato beans strange black pudding, ...

Fish & Chips with vinegar every Friday afternoon for me ...

[Maciamo]

I love London and I have generally had very positive experiences with British food all over Britain. France may be renowned for its fine cuisine, but in my experience quality in cheaper restaurants is often disappointing. To eat well in France one has to pay at least 30€ for a meal (without drinks), unless one eats bread or pastries (also excellent). That's not the case in Britain, where the quality tends to be more consistent. But Britain also has more nationwide food chains. As soon as a restaurant works well, the business-minded Brits expand it into a chain, which the French almost never do (the exception being the bakery chain Paul, now found in 30 countries around the world).

[Carlos]

I don't know anything about British cuisine. I think they eat eggs with bacon and make meat pies. For the rest in Spain it does not have very good press or there is not a very clear image of its gastronomy or its specialties, in general there is not much interest and for something it should be.

[Angela]

I don't know anything about British cuisine. I think they eat eggs with bacon and make meat pies. For the rest in Spain it does not have very good press or there is not a very clear image of its gastronomy or its specialties, in general there is not much interest and for something it should be.

If you eat "foreign", as in Indian, Chinese, Italian, etc. I think it can be good, so long as you keep away from the chains. I tried Zizzi when I was last there. It's like Olive Garden if it was 50% worse.

I mean, look at this monstrosity:
[
English food itself I don't like, nor do food critics rate it very highly. I can't stand pub food, for instance, as the pastry at the ones I've tried was stodgy and tough. Nor do I like kidneys. I'm not a fan of the vaunted "full English" breakfast, either. Black pudding??? Also, the worst baked beans I've ever eaten in my life. So long as you stick to bacon eggs and toast it's O.K.

I rent out my condo to a lot of British people over the summer. How they can stand Florida in July and August I don't know, but I'm happy to have them. They're always thrilled by the food, they tell me, by which they mean places like Applebee's and Chico's etc!

It's gotten better over the years, though. When I was in England for my honeymoon, I stuck it out a week and then started crying over dinner one night, so we went back to France to finish up our trip.

[Jovialis]

I love London and I have generally had very positive experiences with British food all over Britain. France may be renowned for its fine cuisine, but in my experience quality in cheaper restaurants is often disappointing. To eat well in France one has to pay at least 30€ for a meal (without drinks), unless one eats bread or pastries (also excellent). That's not the case in Britain, where the quality tends to be more consistent. But Britain also has more nationwide food chains. As soon as a restaurant works well, the business-minded Brits expand it into a chain, which the French almost never do (the exception being the bakery chain Paul, now found in 30 countries around the world).

My favorite restaurant that we ate at in London, was Lyle's. It is actually on the San Pellegrino top 10 restaurants of the world; every course was delicious. But the Blackfriars had excellent fish and chips, and meat pie.

Paris is next on our list in the coming months.

[Maciamo]

My favorite restaurant that we ate at in London, was Lyle's. It is actually on the San Pellegrino top 10 restaurants of the world; every course was delicious. But the Blackfriars had excellent fish and chips, and meat pie.

Good to know. I have bookmarked them for the next time I am in London.

[Maciamo]

It's gotten better over the years, though. When I was in England for my honeymoon, I stuck it out a week and then started crying over dinner one night, so we went back to France to finish up our trip.

British cuisine has made tremendous progress in a few decades. It used to be disgusting and that's why the stereotype still clings, but nowadays there are terrific British restaurants.

[Salento]

it’s also perception.

The extensive use of offals in their cuisine are repugnant to many.

They look at the Menu, they grossed out, and they won’t try those dishes, but it's possible that if they didn t know the ingredients, they would have liked it.

[Tutkun Arnaut]

Its not only the chefs who made the food taste good, its also the ingridients! Let say following the same procedures to make cheese, Italian cheese is a lot better than american cheese! American Italians brought cows from Sicily to improve the cheese made in USA, result was it was not the cow, but the food cow is eating. American made cheese was not as good as Italian one. My point is how good the ingredients produced in England are, to make the food good. I never been in England but in Usa there are great regional differences related to food!

[Angela]

it’s also perception.

The extensive use of offals in their cuisine are reprehensible to many.

They look at the Menu, they grossed out, and they won’t try those dishes, but it's possible that if they didn t know the ingredients, they would have liked it.






Extensive use of offal

It's possible. I don't usually like any of it: kidney, liver, intestines, you name it, so I feel their pain.:) The problem for me is that the pastry it's encased in is usually tough and hard as a rock, and the vegetables are water logged and soggy. I mean, who would invent mashed peas??? They're one of my least favorite vegetables to start with, and they're not improved by mashing and underseasoning.

The French feature a lot of offal too, and you can find it in Italian restaurants too, but there's also other great food on the menu.

As I said, the food scene has improved a lot in London, if not in the provinces, but "English" food itself is just not my cup of tea. :)

I will definitely try the restaurant Jovialis recommended next time I'm there, though.

[Jovialis]

Its not only the chefs who made the food taste good, its also the ingridients! Let say following the same procedures to make cheese, Italian cheese is a lot better than american cheese! American Italians brought cows from Sicily to improve the cheese made in USA, result was it was not the cow, but the food cow is eating. American made cheese was not as good as Italian one. My point is how good the ingredients produced in England are, to make the food good. I never been in England but in Usa there are great regional differences related to food!

They say New York/New Jersey pizza is the best in the United States (not in the world), mainly because of the water here.

[Angela]

They say New York/New Jersey pizza is the best in the United States (not in the world), mainly because of the water here.

I definitely think that's possible.

N.Y.C. has great tasting as well as very clean water. Imagine trying to cook in New Orleans. No wonder they use so many spices.

[Tutkun Arnaut]

They say New York/New Jersey pizza is the best in the United States (not in the world), mainly because of the water here.

True! Because all ingredients are imported from Italy! Canned sauce from Italy, cheese from Italy, flower from Italy and water is imported from Canada

[Salento]

True! Because all ingredients are imported from Italy! Canned sauce from Italy, cheese from Italy, flower from Italy and water is imported from Canada

Are you saying that the city water in New York comes from Canada?

[Tutkun Arnaut]

Are you saying that the city water in New York comes from Canada?

some of it! The cities reservuars are close to Canada

[TardisBlue]

If you eat "foreign", as in Indian, Chinese, Italian, etc. I think it can be good, so long as you keep away from the chains. I tried Zizzi when I was last there. It's like Olive Garden if it was 50% worse.

I don't know Olive Garden but Zizzi is an abomination. I ate there once in London - we were really hungry after a 3 hour walk around the city and wanted Italian food. Unfortunately, the small authentic-like restaurant we were aiming for was full, so we settled for Zizzi. Big mistake… the pizza dough was undercooked, all floppy and soaked by the "tomato sauce" (which tasted almost like ketchup), and when you lifted the edge of it, all the topping would slide down.

As for British food, I don't know much about it, but I love some of their desserts - crumbles, Eaton mess… and the Scottish shortbreads are to die for. I love cheesecakes too, but apparently it's Greek.

[Angela]

The water doesn't come from anywhere near Canada, which is about 300 miles away. It comes from the Catskills and the Delaware catchment area, which are maybe an hour or an hour and a half north and northwest of the city. It's a beautiful part of the country.



It's true that the best Italian restaurants and even pizzerias import canned tomatoes, romano and parmigiano cheese (hard cheeses), olive oil, etc. from Italy. However, some neighborhood pizzerias don't. Mozzarella, which spoils very quickly, is almost always locally sourced.

One of the reasons Italian American cooking is different from Italian cooking is precisely because a lot of ingredients weren't frequently available in the early years. I think I remember that when we first came we couldn't get prosciutto, for example.