British Food: Classic or Dud (S&D too)

"The Cod’s Scallops"

wtf - fuck off hipsters!

our two local chippies are awful, not sure if there is a decent one in Cambridge at all, nearest good one I know is in Ely

most chippies are bad ime.

whereas a good chippy is sublime. my favourites I've ever been to are the Anstruther Fish Bar (in Anstruther, Fife, prosaically enough) and Colman's in South Shields are the best i've been to

oof, my posts

There was briefly another good quality one down the road in Savile Town that was set up by someone who had a shop in Hudds with a really good rep as well near the old tech college site. And if you ever went past after Friday mosque there would be queues of people and groups eating outside and it always seemed to be more busy and thriving than all the lousy fast-food fleapit dives offering cheap fried chicken and pizzas. And then someone had the bright idea of buying it up and turning it into another bad fast-food fleapit with hygiene score written on with a sharpie. So yeah good chippies are definitely the exception!

i like tons of brit food by default bc a lot of it is part of Australian food culture (obv).

gimme all that fried dough & assorted meats encased in pastry *chef’s kiss*

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl),

An Australian expat just opened a bar in Tupelo and he has meat pies and rissoles on the menu, looking forward to trying it out.

oooh yum

He found a basement space and called it Downunder, so props there.

my two great chippies of last year were in milford on sea and sheerness. unsurprisingly being by the sea is an advantage

although actually saying that there's an incredible one in hackney central now, with superb vegan options too

yeah being by the sea is only an advantage if they have a clue what they are doing. And loads of by the sea are probably paying sky high rents and pushed to squeeze the business end harder rather than put out quality food.

Most of the chippies I went to in Newquay were shite tbh.

milford on sea one was good because the place is pretty posh (albeit quiet and out of the way), sheerness one was good because it was in a fucking backstreet in a derelict industrial wasteland in one of england's least fashionable towns

both knew what they were doing but maybe the place either has to be eerily picture-perfect or long-destroyed for the magic to take hold

maybe lack of tourism either way is key

although actually saying that there's an incredible one in hackney central now, with superb vegan options too

Where’s the sheerness one?

tbh I haven't had a bad one in Hastings. but while I usually go to one that's near the fishing harbour, no idea if the fish actually come from there or if they just get them from a wholesaler somewhere else

been to that one (I think - bit posh, feels like a gastropub inside) and yes, it was very good

It's been 16 months since I left the UK and I'm over most of my cravings now but occasionally I'll see a picture of a bag of British chippy chips on Instagram or Twitter and I want it so bad I could die. Greasy, soggy, undercooked and soaked in vinegar but amazing.

Sheerness one is on Google Maps as Blue Town Fish Bar but it's actually Bluetown Fish & Chips, on the so-called High Street of Blue Town, which is basically a semi-abandoned dockland area at the tip of the island, not too far from the station. The guy who runs it is...Turkish, I think? Been doing fish and chips in the area for decades apparently. Anyway everything is freshly cooked to order and the chips are amazing. I thoroughly recommend a visit. Check out the ecstatic Google reviews if you're not sure!

Laughing Halibut - that takes me back - think I last went there in my schooldays.

Hackney one is Sutton & Son - v good

Ty, I will check out that one! Wasn’t impressed by Sutton & Sons when I lived in Hackney.

presumably new ownership - it seems very 'recent' idk

sheerness worth a visit regardless - a few v interesting places on the high st

im starvin now ye fuckeds me insides are touchin

I am still very sad I never got to try Guinness Marmite.

I think our best meals on our summer vacation last year were in Newcastle. Considering that any family dining for us has to meet the preferences of A) the sensible pescatarian B) the sausage appetizer with a steak entree hardman C) the eight-year-old young lady who likes some fried things, some green things, and not much else

WRT Australian Food being well grounded in British food, Australia takes the meat pie to new heights. I will rep for the steak pie from the Caltex servo in Penong, SA, (next to the windmill museum) as being one of the best in existence.

My grandma was 100% australian, never been to England & still somehow cooked like a Brit expat every day of her life. Steamed puddings, trifles, kedgereee, every boiled vegetable known to man...

I am still very sad I never got to try Guinness Marmite.
― Yerac, Friday, 24 January 2020 01:09 (twenty hours ago)

It didn't taste different in any way!

I often wonder what the US/whatever tourists in London really think when they have their shite fish and chips in a pub in a bland pub in zone 1. Poor sods. It really is true 90% of fish and chip shops are very ordinary.

Yeah I think they did a champagne Marmite one time and that tasted just like regular Marmite, 😥

Literally the worst thing about Hull is chippies don't do potato scallops

Muswell Hill (of course) has a gourmet fish n' chippy, bit out of the way for the average tourist though

Marmite is still made in Burton-on-Trent, I think, having outlived the brewing industry it is a by-product of there.
Yes, Guinness flavour Marmite was nothing special, but Marmite flavour Guinness is still widely available in corner shops.

There's still a humongous brewery in Burton, one of the multinationals iirc, and yeah they make Marmite there too. We used to go shopping there once a fortnight or so when I was a kid, the whole town stank of yeast

Having just visited there at the weekend I can confirm that Edinburgh still smells of yeast too.

hmmmm... supposedly trying to make homemade marmite is "dangerous and hard to control".

Just found a "recipe" that takes 10 days

I really miss the cheap fishcakes I used to get from the fish and chips shops in Liverpool as a kid.

actually bought my first ever squeezy marmite yesterday, will report back on the consistency.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, January 23, 2020 9:08 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

My report is that it's just regular marmite. The pot is good though, it dispenses the very thin stream which you need.

Cheesy chips at Cheltenham Town (@CTFCofficial)

💷 £3 pic.twitter.com/B3ACM7OCbP

— Footy Scran (@FootyScran) December 26, 2021

This may be an appropriate thread for me to rediscover the enthusiasm expressed by ILX whenever DUMPLINGS! get mentioned.

Muswell Hill (of course) has a gourmet fish n' chippy, bit out of the way for the average tourist though

assuming it's the same one, somewhat impressed it's still going. there was a fancy fish & chips place there when I lived there 2003-6. I only went there a couple of times because the queues were ludicrous but it was pretty good (and didn't cost a fortune either, 17 years ago anyway)

I had some very bland chips at Whaddon Road in 2003 with no not very melty cheese slices. My most notable memory of the day was the house right next to the football ground with a boarded up window where presumably a league two standard defensive hoof had smashed through it at some point.

Pie, peas, gravy and a sausage roll at Barnoldswick Town (@barlickfc)

💷 £5.50 pic.twitter.com/21EWlCWcH6

— Footy Scran (@FootyScran) December 1, 2022