Entries tagged with 'Snapshots from the UK'
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[Photograph: Kerry Saretsky] When I was young, I spent Halloween night bobbing for apples with my hands behind my back. I remember thinking how silly it was, when I could get a perfectly delicious apple coated in caramel neatly perched on a stick. And now even that seems barbaric when I can drink my caramel apples from a beer bottle. Brothers Toffee Apple Cider tastes of sweet, alcoholic, bubbling apple cider with melted caramel stirred up inside, described quite correctly by the company as tasting something like "cream soda." It was originally developed for Halloween, but was so popular the company now bottles it year-round. For an American away from America during the all-American season from Halloween to Thanksgiving, the...
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"It's a place where you feel like you should sit up straight but you're too weighed down by the meal to actually do so." Scilly Isles Lobster served cold with asparagus. [Photographs: Kerry Saretsky] After living in England for a year, I can attest that the country is as steeped in history as its tea is steeped in water. It’s also a place where, admittedly, I had a hard time eating happily. I love stews, fish, cheese, peas, and anything fried, so I couldn’t understand why the food and I never got along. But I was always on a quest for really excellent old English food and at Rules, the oldest restaurant in London, I finally found it. Smoked Highland...
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"It tastes like you'd imagine Victorian drug store cola to taste." My idea of a natural soda usually involves an experiment in mixing seltzer water and fresh juice. You get to watch the mixture fizz and spit and change color, just like with an amateur chemistry set. So when I saw the "Natural Born Cola" Pepsi Raw (marketed in the U.S. as Pepsi Natural) in the cold drinks section at my local pharmacy here in England, I was intrigued by the slim-as-a-Red-Bull, dark-as-a-brown-M&M can. The ingredients listed are "sparkling water, cane sugar, apple extract, colourings: plain caramel, natural plant extracts including natural caffeine and kola nut extract, citric tartaric and lactic acids, (stabilizer) gum arabic, (thickener) xanthan gum."...
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Some things are supposed to have a hole in the center. Like a bagel. Or a donut. But what about a pizza? I am not one of those eaters who shun chain restaurants for the sake of being an indie foodie. I follow my gut, and my gut often takes me to Pizza Express, a ubiquitous British chain of pizza restaurants (with the usual menu supplements of salads and pastas) that serves thin-crusted, gourmet-topped personal pizzas. In fact, I eat pizza from Pizza Express so often while I'm in the UK at school that I began to feel a bit guilty about it. You've heard of the freshman fifteen; I was worried it might snowball into the grad school...
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I love nothing more than unusual vegetables. It’s as if you turned the nose on a talking doorknob and emerged into a secret garden. I get a secret thrill when I buy orange cauliflower or purple artichokes. As a matter of fact, it seems that almost every vegetable comes in some rare purple variety: artichokes, asparagus, carrots, peppers, and, now, indigenous to Britain, broccoli. The British take great pride in serving and selling what is often referred to as the “best of Britain”—produce and livestock that is native to Britain, raised by British farmers, and served to British (or, in my case, American) consumers. Purple sprouting broccoli is one such vegetable, one which seasonally graces both the fancy restaurant...
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"Is my ramen some third grader who's no good at dodgeball and gets picked last for the team?" The now defunct Chili Mushroom Ramen. Do you have that one thing, that favorite thing, on that one menu that you always order? You go back to that same restaurant for that same dish, year in and year out. But would you go back if that dish was brutally, surreptitiously stricken from the menu one dark night when no one is around to save it? This is the story of how I was separated, cruelly, from my Chili Mushroom Ramen: #28 at Wagamama. Wagamama is a ubiquitous British noodle house chain, at which customers seat themselves up and down clean communal tables...
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Easter is not long behind us, and I only have one comment on the matter: there is a reason why dying and dyeing sound exactly the same. All I ever get for my troubles are stained fingers and cracked shells. If the Easter Bunny is so magical, why can’t he just make a line of pastel-perfect eggs appear in the supermarket? As it turns out, in the UK, he does. Or rather, Clarence Court delivers a happy rainbow of colorful eggs to the Sainsbury’s down the road. Not only did Britain get Cadbury Creme Eggs first, but now British blue eggs. We are used to hens laying eggs in just two colors: white, and brown. Chic, perhaps, but also...
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The Brits are known for some wacky potato chips flavors—think Prawn Cocktail and Roast Chicken. When I first moved to England I committed myself to tasting them all, the only flavor I absolutely fell in love with being Sweet Chilli, as in Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. Now, powerhouse British "crisp" producers Walkers is asking the nation to vote for the next big flavor in its "Do Us a Flavour" competition that lasts until May 1. Being a Serious Eater has certain risks, and in the line of duty, I bit the dust—crazy-flavored dust that coated each and every chip. Eaters from around Britain sent in flavor ideas, and you'll never believe the finalists: exotic Crispy Duck & Hoisin, everyday...
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Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food Picnic Insulated Lunch Bag You know the first thing I order when I arrive in the UK, but what is the last thing I eat before I leave? Even though I love plane food, I think if it were British Airways's fish pie, I would be too depressed for words. Plane Food, the Restaurant in Terminal 5 at Heathrow Instead, since the culinarily inspired Terminal 5 opened at Heathrow this year, my last bite out of Britain is Gordan Ramsay's Plane Food. If you have time to kill, by all means, take a seat and order à la carte. The restaurant serves such refined fare as Foie Gras and Chicken Liver Parfait with Sauternes Jelly...
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There is a strict rule in the Oxford University library prohibiting visitors or guests, but I did manage to sneak in one friend to keep me company on those long, dark, and grueling dissertation nights: Percy. He was a little porky, with round pink cheeks, and an indelibly sunny personality to counteract the gray drizzle outside the library's windows and the absolute recurrent boredom of literary research. The fact that he was a gummy fruit-flavored candy did not in any way diminish my love for him. Percy Pigs are the Marks and Spencer cult answer to the Haribo gummy bear: adorable, yummy, and positively addictive. Just look at that face! It was love at first sight; until I bit...
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