British food week at Lidl (from Thursday 5.Jun.08)

..in Britian and presumably serving good food unlike Bitterfelder Ratskeller.

Opus - That must be some sort of world record, you must be a speed reader to go through all those links, then to the home pages of the restaurants and then find the menus, plus type this response in less then 5 minutes.


Sorry was not picking on you in particular, but this can be applied to people visiting the UK do not eat in the “normal� places found around the high streets.


Gordon “F� Ramsey is Scottish, Glasgow I think and was briefly a professional footballer for Rangers before injury, then chef, then tv celeb. However I did read somewhere that he trained as a chef in France.

Forgot Nobu was Japanese – is it not where Boris Becker had his fun a cleaning cupboard?

How often do you get carrots in a German reataurant, at least not ones out of a jar?

I know it's difficult when people say mean things about your little island but no ones saying that the food served in Britain isn't good, no ones even saying that your chefs are anything but good.

It's your traditional cuisine that's come under fire here.

Mariposa, if you were referring to my quote, the rest of it was irrelevant to determining whether or not it is a French restaurant.

Do keep up

To be honest the worst place I have eaten is Canada (British Columbia to be exact). Tried various restaurants both in the towns and in the sticks and the best was by far and away a chinese place, the only restaurant in that particular town. Two weeks of eating out and I did not find a single restaurant (other than the aforementioned) that I could describe as good, I am ashamed to say that I was actually looking forward to a McDonalds.

This was 10 years ago so maybe the restaurants have evolved or shut now (probably the latter)

Anyone for Maple smoked Salmon? "Eeeeew"

Canadian food is pretty crap, can't really blame us though we learned from our forefathers.

And how often have you been to the UK to try it.

You just know you'd love the deep fried Pizza.

The French?

No, it was in reply to the vicar's post (#146), I was just too slow typing it. When I saw it there was no other post there so I didn't see a need to quote it. Quoting only the part about the Scottish lobster and then say that Scottish lobster is not French (no shit?) but not quoting all of the French sounding parts of ER's post made me laugh.

Things are moving to fast for me to keep up, I can not browse, read, type, post that quick

That's a classic example of what's happening here, because I've had some fabulous meals in BC. One of them was in a Chinese as well, but there was plenty of great local fayre.*

^{*(By local I mean white mans food, not roast Caribou!} )

Aha, then you will fall to the wayside like mutton from a menu.


White man bring fire water. It all got fucked up from there.

As much as it pains me to admit this as a westerner, the best Canadian food (both in origin and in restaurants in general) is in the French bit. Our capital (Ottawa) is split into a French side and an English side and if you want good eats you cross the river to the french side.

Along with mint sauce.

Err the food served here is adapted to German tastes. It's quasi-thai. Or teuton-thai just as much as Chicken Tikka Massalla is Anglo-Indian.

What always makes me laugh is cuisine is international. There is no pure French Italian or Indian or British. It's a historical mix of import and export. Ideas being exchanged, tastes being adapted and changed. Where would Italian food be without Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus? Where would Indian food be without the Portugeuse and British?

Opus can talk all he wants about there being no British restaurant. Mmmm. Why should there be? British cooking is Northern European based. You also dont see many Austrian retaurants in Germany. Or Danish. Doesn't mean they have no cuisine. Just that the cuisine is too similar in content to what's already here to not give enough differntation to survive in the market place. What does do OK is the idea of a Pub or Tea House.

And as to no success, surely every where you can buy a sandwich is following a British eating style?

Actually Caribou is damn tasty as is Elk and Buffalo!

No traditional British food in crap chain restaurant or from bloody Lidl pre packaged is no good.

A lot of British food is meat and veg dependant. Go to a quality restaurant, and it doesn't have to have michelin stars, and eat fresh local produce which is very much the buzz word these days, you'll get a good meal.

I luuurrrvvvee scottish cheddar for example. It is nothing like the plastic tasting stuff you'll get in Lidl next week. And a steak pie, fresh from a decent local Butchers can be heaven.

God I'm gonna pig out this weekend!

The French learnt it all from the British. In 2007, declassified papers from 1956 stated that the then French Prime Minister Guy Mollet and British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden talked of France joining the United Kingdom with the Queen as head of state.

I paid €12.50 for 250g of Scottish cheddar at Dallmayer last week. It was damn tasty, not really worth €12.50 tasty but by far the best cheddar I've had in Munich.

"Err the food served here is adapted to German tastes. It's quasi-thai. Or teuton-thai just as much as Chicken Tikka Massalla is Anglo-Indian."

Maybe Lidl in the UK will have a German week...but will they include the whole range of Maggi Mix?

I suspect the stuff Lidl are selling will be a bit of a disappointment then!

Fortunately, my wife is in the UK in a couple of weeks and I am compiling a large list to bring back. (To put in a box and mail back) so I do not think I will be purchasing the Lidl offers though the cheese may be ok. Wish they had Digestives though (for the casing for banoffee pie) though they did have Digestives at Ikea a while back in their "Swedish food" section.

I reckon I shall get some of their roast spuds, a jar of pickle and one each of the cheeses, the rest doesn't really interest me. The crisps don't actually look any different from the ones I can buy in REWE.

Subway fast-food sells Walker's

Austrian cuisine is very rich and well known. It's not north European or any where close to British. You can find Winer Schnitzel and the cakes and coffees all around the world and this is progressively increasing.

Yes, Cuisine is international, but contributions still remain. Now, what is the British contributions to the international cuisine?

But does it matter, I don' think so, beyond us having some fun poking banter at the poms.

Stoppit, my sides are hurting.

Well for one I would say Roast Beef, christ the French even refer to us by it as a nickname, which would would I rather eat, roast Beef or frogs legs. Roast Beef, no question.

You can get great food in the UK. Great Indian, French, Italian, Japanese etc.

But can you get great British food anywhere?

My arse. Where is an austrian restaurant in London. In fact where is a German one?


The sandwich.

http://www.tirolerhut.co.uk/home.html

a bit like Pizza Hut in a Dirndl

Rules in London. And my secret... well I won't tell you. There is an awesome pie shop in the city, been there since god knows.

Savoy or Ritz for High Tea if you wear check trousers.

Harry Ransdoms.

@OG is Austria famous for it's fish & seafood, then?

no. and neither is it famous for Hungarian Goulasch, afik.

Opus - I think we've done the restaurant thing to death now. Could we get on to specifics? How about you give us one concrete example of a British dish which, to you, sums up how crap our food is. I mean, have you ever tried anything or are you just on an anti-Brit rant? Poms indeed...

The Victorian House in Munich (Lobster terrine with Whisky)

Salt & Vinegar Pianobar und Restaurant, Hamburg

Rincons wine/dine, Cologne

Although restaurants are central to eating and cuisine, we can move to specifics. But its the lack of any specific British dish I miss is the problem. The ones I tried, I would just avoid (except English breakfast).

There is a nice piece in The Economist that I find most agreeable, the subsequent discussion is very informative. Things have indeed changed but if achievement is that ""but no one any longer considers it (Fish & chips) the height of British culinary achievement"" that's still poor and far from the popular view of a revolution.

""However, the dark ages of British food still linger, despite Jamie Oliver’s one-man crusade. After pubs close many still get a hankering for fish and chips. And nothing has so far overcome the stubborn infatuation with marmite.""

Full article here.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchang...ritish_food.cfm

Pissed-up people don't eat gourmet food shocker...

Does France have one? Does Germany?

You say yourself you've only tried shepard's pie and haggis. Ok haggis can take some getting used to, but no more so than other dishes I've tried in other places, and I really cant see how you cant like shepard's pie. It's too simple a dish to be disagreeable to anyone but the prejudiced and veggies.
SO you're basing your whole experience on a real exotic and one standard? There are plenty of dishes out there. Get yourself a good cookbook and try them out. The only thing you wont need to cook them is your preconcieved wish for them to be bad.

Well I can think of plenty scottish ones...

Haggies Neeps and tatties being the main one - much maligned due to the ingredients, mostly by those who haven't tried it, lovely if you have it in a whiskey cream sauce.

Its complicated to make and you can't import to some places so I'm not suprised it's not a hit on the wolrdwide scene. Doesn't mean it's not delish...

British food week...Fish 'n chips and mars bars all round! Wooo.

I had sheep's stomach cut into fine shreds in a gravy with a semmelknödel in the Pschorr at the Schrannenhalle the other day. If Bavarians can eat that sort of stuff then, I don't see why they have a problem with haggis. German cuisine is full of examples of yucky innards.

Bubble & Squeak

*retch*

The writing is on the wall here. Lidl running a British food week!!!

I'm curious, does anyone really think that the British food that Lidl are going to dump in Germany is going to be any better than the crap that they generally sell over here or the dire, tasteless excuse for the food they sell in the UK?

Having just spent a couple of weeks back in the UK, there is no doubt at all that the quality of produce sold all but the really low end supermarkets (Aldi and Lidl) in the UK is an order of magnitude better than the stuff generally available here in Germany.

Go and stock up on your British food from Lidl and spend the next few weeks clogging up TT forums with complaints about how the quality isn't as good as you remember. I can hardly wait. There are plenty of on-line sites selling good quality produce, yes the brands you yearn for from back in Britain. Yes it costs a bit more but isn't that only to be expected having to ship it over here?

oo I love bubble and squeak!!
it's why we always cook too much sunday dinner so we can have bubble and squeak for tea on mondays!

re. haggis, I ordered vegetarian haggis in Edinburgh last year and Mr.Moonboot went for regular! had a quick taste of his and it was mega yummy! (am not going to think about what it's made of though!)
we also had delicious Aberdeen Angus steaks, and a Scottish cheese plate in another restaurant there.
oo and we went to the famous Mussel Inn for incredible oysters and mussels.

so, it's not all deep fried Mars Bars after all!

Agreed. But you cant find a decent pack of bacon in Germany.

Oh dear, you realise you've just undone everyone's argument here? People are saying that British food is good despite the lack of British restaurants abroad. Now you are using the lack of Austrian restaurants abroad as proof that Austrian food isn't good.

Moreover, I think you are guilty of being ignorant about Austrian food in the same way you argue others are guilty of ignorance about British food. Ever had a proper Wiener Schnitzel? Or a slice of Sachertorte with coffee? There's plenty of great food in Austria.

You could just save yourself the hassle and buy tinned baby food.

Opus you're selective quoating again. All the article says is what we have been saying. British cuisine lost its way in the process of becoming industrialised. We're getting back to where we were before, plus willingly taking things and keep our colonial legacy and heritage and culinary traditions. If anything this lack of culinary roots has opened us up to the worlds best ideas.

Oh my mum though does over boil the veg... bless.