7 ms·
>And infinitely better food than a British pub ;) This is an old trope. Like the English language, British cuisine takes all the good bits from everywhere and
by fnord123 7y ago
>And infinitely better food than a British pub ;)
This is an old trope. Like the English language, British cuisine takes all the good bits from everywhere and if you go to pubs in England you can find some terrific food. Of course, it can very variable, but all in all I'd say London is shoulder to shoulder with Naples as the food capitals of Europe.
- shrikant 7y agoYou're right, British cuisine does take all the good bits from everywhere, but then brings them down to its level ;) While I've definitely had great food in pubs and I agree that London has spectacular food options, I'd still opine that across England as a whole, "good pub food" is the exception rather than the norm.
- mhh__ 7y agoCan't remember exactly where it was now (Cambridge-way) but I went to (what looked like) a traditional English pub that happened to serve really good Thai food. Slightly bizarre pairing but very tasty.
- pjc50 7y agoThat's the Wrestlers on Newmarket Road :)
- stuaxo 7y agoThere are a lot of those around. There's a pretty good on in Brighton. Thai restaurant upstairs, pub downstairs (where you can order the Thai food too). Similar thing near me in London, very middling karaoke pub with pretty decent curry from upstairs.
- mhh__ 7y agoThere was no separation, it was an English pub serving Thai grub rather than a double premises. The chef was apparently of some note although I didn't look into it.
- Doctor_Fegg 7y agoIt's 100% the norm in plenty of areas of Britain. Here in the Cotswolds we're spoilt for choice - there's at least one good food pub in pretty much every village. The same's true of the Yorkshire Dales, much of Mid-Wales, much of the South-West, and so on. Generally in the ex-industrial areas it'll be less impressive. Pub food in much of the Midlands, for example, is essentially whatever's offered by the owning chain (often Marstons or Greene King). But it's not necessarily terrible, and there are some smaller chains who are pretty good (e.g. Brunning & Price). It's more a function of the fact that the pub is ubiquitous in British society - you wouldn't expect haute cuisine from a bar in the Midwest either.
- DanBC 7y ago> Here in the Cotswolds we're spoilt for choice - there's at least one good food pub in pretty much every village. To be fair for every Green Dragon (Cowley) or Tunnel House (Coates / Sapperton) there are plenty of tourist traps selling pre-made cook-chill food from microwaves or tired carveries.
- Doctor_Fegg 7y agoThe Tunnel House is great. The Daneway at the other end is very different in character but equally enjoyable. I think the tourist trap pubs are largely restricted to the few honeypots - Bourton-on-the-Water springs to mind, but then I've had good pub food in both Stow and Broadway.
- cogidub 7y ago>> Generally in the ex-industrial areas These are the places people actually live.
- pm215 7y agoNot exclusively -- London's the biggest city, and more generally the south east of England covers one tenth of the land area but has over one third of the UK population living there. So lots of people live down south, as well as in the industrial north.
- paganel 7y agoThe run of the mill food-serving court is way better in Napoli or in other Mediterranean countries compared to the similar locations in London (or in other Northern big cities) for the simple reason that those Mediterranean locations have easier and cheaper access to fresher (and better) food. Maybe some high-end London locations have the same easy access to fresh and better food (via dedicated airplane rides), but that does not make London one of "the food capitals of Europe".
- Neil44 7y agoI downvoted because I found your claim that London does not have access to fresh food to be unlikely and unsubstantiated
- paganel 7y agoAfaik there are no agricultural fields surrounding London nor there is any fresh see-food to speak of. I've visited London only once 10 years ago but I don't remember any fishermen bringing their catch in the morning in downtown London and I'm pretty sure things have not changed since then. Later edit: Please do substantiate your point in what you think makes London food great, with some examples, maybe I've been living in the dark all this time in thinking that a place that glorifies "fish and chips" cannot be the "culinary capital of Europe".
- alimw 7y agoWhat do you imagine does surround London? Empty moors and badlands? Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billingsgate_Fish_Market https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billingsgate_Fish_Market
- paganel 7y agoIs it fish caught in that same day like you can get in any Greek taverna in the Cyclades? Or frozen fish brought in from half a continent away? > What do you imagine does surround London? Suburbia? Is there anything else for a radius of 50-60 km?
- rawTruthHurts 7y agoTechnically yes but no. The source products are not great and the implementations vary much for the worse. 》London is shoulder to shoulder with Naples as the food capitals ^ yeah... <insert expletive here>
- stuaxo 7y agoBefore I had my daughter we used to spend a lot of time in restaurants in London and there is some really great food around.
- rawTruthHurts 7y agoMaybe you should have spent some more time living around the world before making such an outrageous statement.
- dTal 7y agoIt's not outrageous. The sheer variety of food in London is astonishing. In fact, in my opinion London's defining feature is that it contains the world in microcosm - every culture in the world owns a slice of London. And so every cuisine finds an ambassador there. And yes, Sturgeon's Law applies there as everywhere. But it's not difficult to eat somewhere 1) unlike anything you've had before, and 2) incredible, every time you go out.
- dzhiurgis 7y agoSpent 5 years in London. If found an average cafe/takeaway/pub (worked in one) is gonna be quite sad especially when compared the average with any other country (except Scandinavia).
- fnbr 7y agoYeah, absolutely. Now, the high end is fantastic, but the average meal was _not good_.
- mstade 7y agoI can't tell if this is serious or satire, especially given the "English language" comparison. It's either a stupendous comment or just stupendously ignorant, and I can't seem to figure out which. Kudos, I guess? :o)
- chrisseaton 7y agoSome British pubs have been amongst literally the best restaurants in the world - as judged by the French, of all people. You know they wouldn't be giving a British pub any kind of award lightly.
- mstade 7y agoOutliers don't define the mean though.
- stuaxo 7y agoThere are a lot of good ones around. Even the middling pubs seem to make some sort of effort these days.
- goatinaboat 7y agoSince the smoking ban a lot of pubs have had to reinvent themselves and many went “gastro”
- Balanceinfinity 7y agothe best food in London is always in the restaurants from the places the British colonized: Indian, Middle eastern, American, etc. English food - traditionally English food - is better than it used to be, but still down the gastro list.
- fnord123 7y agoThose are all British now. Just as words have etymologies, cuisine (and probably most aspects of culture, really) travels and becomes adopted.