British Restaurants Outside of Britain

[Gavin Jones]

Chaps, when the revolution comes you bourgeoisie types are going to be the first against the wall.

What sort of revolution shoots me ahead of his Lordship?

If I'm going to be shot I'd prefer not to do it on my own. Wearing a napkin on my head.

Anyway, to you comrades Balic and Finch I offer my intestines to eat as you will.

[Tonyfinch]

I don't know whether to have them for starters or garters Gavin

[jeremysco]

Basically it goes like this. Steves right. Most British food is crap compared to refined French, Italian etc. Yeah, yeah, I like pie as well.

However this is basically because we were too busy subjugating indigenous peoples to spend much time in the kitchen. Give us some credit. We realised this and we decided to get someone in to do the cooking.

All those Italian and French restaurants around the world are just packed full of WASPs spending money on good food.

Alternativly, and bizarrely,  the food could be bad because the British actually cooked more for themselves. In the UK meals were eaten at home after buying or growing and cooking raw ingredients. The French have a tradition of buying cooked food. They do this both at restaurants and at delis. If you are in competiton with the guy next door then you make the food that you sell better than his.

Why the french "added value" to their food I don't know but I'm glad they did.

Could WASPs stand for Wiseacre American Steve P?

[Gavin Jones]

I don't know whether to have them for starters or garters Gavin

Bloody hell, I've ended up as edible underwear.

[Miss J]

Lesley C-I believe you. But is it expats or people who have a connection to the homeland? I also understand that in Paris M & S has a large British food section that is popular. Maybe this is the start of English food becoming popular. But I always believe in the strength of numbers. If the demand was so great, they wouldn't have closed it in the first place.

Well, I have a connection to 'the homeland', albeit a few generations old. But then, the Canada my (Canadian) grandmother grew up in was a much more 'British' place than it is now. So I'm sure there's many Canadians who are familiar with British cooking because at one time it was very easy to find. (I still miss my gran's eccles cakes, even though she was third-generation and probably didn't think about where the recipe had come from.)

As for M&S in Paris - yes, I've heard for a while that the sarnie selection is hugely popular. But then I was dead impressed by the sandwiches in the UK when I first arrived as well. Never before have I found such a sophisticated take on what can fit comfortably between two slices of bread.  

And finally, on the closure of M&S in Canada - we lost Boots, too. But that doesn't mean it's because people didn't love them. My fellow British Columbians also fondly remember Woodwards and Birkes, both of which were edged out of the market by (whisper it) American chains with bigger buying power...

Miss J

(Of course, I like pie so my opinion is of no consequence .   )

[Gavin Jones]

But this is a bit arse about face. Of course Brits liks Brit things - gruel, grey food, wooly jumpers, but if it was such a boon why did the proud brit colonizers not disseminate (I'm not sure I wanted to use that verb, but well, the verb used me), their 'distinctive' dining style. I would think that most of the traditional arguments for empah! where one developed other peoples economies so they could buy UK produced goods turned out arsey-versey. i.e. The UK ended up buying their food (& goods) - as they were better.

So you get Anglo-Indian - is this sort of like Anglo-Catholic? - but not fish & chip places in Calcutta (I'm not sure about this, most cultures are better deep-fryers than England, on the other hand maybe Calcutta wouldn't do Fish&chips in Beef dripping.

I seem to have lost the point. Please ignore me.

[Jinmyo]

I thought I'd point out that on the UK Wine forum there's a post (clicke moi) concerning dinner with Joel Robuchon. In said post, it says

Joel and Bruno's wife Marie prepared a simple supper for us on Friday evening, of salad with a truffle dressing, followed by a kind of cottage pie, made with shredded duck as the meat base

and

a dish of langoustine, wrapped in basil leaves and then a paper-thin pastry (almost like a thin Chinese won-ton case), the whole lot deep fried and served with a basil sauce.

Pies. Basically pies.

[jeremysco]

Just out of interest, since it all began with stevie P having a go, does anyone know what "American pie" actually is?

I'm fairly sure that it must be rich, thick, fatty and full of air.  

[Steve Plotnicki]

Jeremy - You are both a brave man, and an honest one and you should get an award. And your theory about subjugating is correct. Except it wasn't people to the kitchen, it was those fresh ingredients to boiling water. I recently ran across this in an old book.

Ye Olde British Recipe

Take one gallon of water and being to a boil in a pot that is twice the size of the water. When the water reaches a spirited boil, throw every ingredient in your kitchen into the pot, larger ingredients first. Add one pinch of pepper and one pinch of salt. Stir occassionaly. Cook until every ingredient loses its shape and color. When the contents of the pot reach the deepest color of grey and brown possible, cover the pot and cook until all of the moisture has been cooked out of the mixture and the contents of the pot turn to a paste that is sticking to the side of the pot.

Take a pie tin. With a large slotted spoon, fill the pie tin about half way up the side. Cover with a sheet of fresh pastry. Keep filling tins until you have used the delicious looking contents of the pot up. When you have used it all up, let the dog lick the spoon. Melt some butter and brush each pastry. Take a fork and run it along the pastry making crow's feet on top. Put the pies in the oven and bake until the pastry has browned Serve with a side salad and a pint of mead.

Yum.

Tony-I just want you to know that at 9:00am NYC time tomorrow morning I'm going to the Sporting Club on Hudson Street with my sons and 7 Brits to watch Arsenal whoop Chelsea in the FA Cup Final on the big screen.  Go Gunners!

[Jinmyo]

larger ingredients first.

Oh. I didn't know that mattered. Must be a French thing.

[Basildog]

the side salad is wilted and looking like a wreath right?

[Jinmyo]

We jist hang the salad on the door and scoop it from the floor when it's ready. Just like the pheasant. Oooh. Shouldna mentioned the pheasant-- though His Lordship can't count and won't be missing it anyway. Busy with his foxes, he is.