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

Has anybody checked the Lidl in Unterföhring? I am just wondering if its worth the bus trip out to get some cheese (assuming the Kirchenstr shop has been cleaned out).

the lidl in freising still has a lot of stuff including the steak pies, roast patatoes, chedder with pickle, salt and vinegar chip shaped crisp things and the frozen dinners.

@ don riina - where do you buy your scampi from when you make it yourself. never seen it in Germany

I bought the last five packs of s&v chipsticks, the last s&v crisps, and the last bottle of imitation "Ribena" at the store in Tutzing this morning - the cheddar was already gone from their shelves, as is the case in Starnberg.
nothing beats s&v crisps!!!

Hi Carm

I popped into the Unterfohring Lidl on Thursday. Forgot to look for the cheese!!
I did get some apple pie, steak pies, caramel slices *drool-yum* & plenty of chips.

Someone bought all the baked beans in Mellendorf! I am so angry!!! I was going to stock up for when my parents come to visit!!

All that's left are a few apple pies, biscuity things and roast dinners.

You're on.

At ALDI.

because I have an open mind and a misplaced trust of Toytowners' opinions.
I have eaten decent food in London, even a pub brunch on a sunny summer morning that was memorable.
But my memories of a semester there are of overcooked vegetables, mushy peas being a clear example of what should never be served. The consistency and color is simply wrong. A cro-magnon's guacamole:

The fondness that the Brits have for greasy spoons is beyond my understanding.

Aldi here in NRW had "American food" week, I stocked up on pecans. The pre-packaged stuff was gross.

Loads down my way! Sadr City!

Bugger all left at Aldi near Frankfurter ring - I was very disappointed. I only managed a jar of pickle some cod and potato waffles. The pickle was good - I've just finished a cheese (unfortunately not cheddar) and pickle sandwich and it was lovely. My daughter is just about to stuff her face with cod and potato waffles!

Scampi at Aldi??? I mean REAL scampi NOT king prawns - yes there is a big difference.

If you are looking for REAL scampi then I suggest that you look for it at Real.

what make is the scampi at Real - i've looked there too but never found it. is it in breadcrumbs or on it's own?

Someone had bought ALL the scampi at Pocking Lidl - there was a big space in between the meat pies, roast beef etc. Did buy a steak pie but i think it's not too difficult to roast yr own beef/chicken or roast potatoes. Thought they were a bit odd to have as "British food."
I don't think that you will find too much to get excited about at a mushy pea outlet - chips with curry sauce etc etc? There IS good food in the UK, but I agree that there is also a lot of rubbish. But don't knock it all!

For all those that missed the caramel shortbread, try this. It is easy to make:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Caramel-Short...res/Detail.aspx

I'm sure it's excellent Norwegian lobster tails lovingly covered in breadcrumbs.

Ok, all well and good. But where can you buy OXO cubes in München??

Was told yesterday hat HIT have a full selection of Branston on so get down there people fast.

You usually find them in pears.

Had the Scampi last night, done in breadcrumbs and luvvverrlly

Damn, no cheddar cheese or steak pies when I went yesterday
The cod filets are ok, got some "ribena" but not tried it yet, and the cheddar with pickle is nice enough

that is sacrilige!
I might pop in tuesday before work and see if they have any left.

I'd like to point out that the last person to have anything major against "Pikeys" was the lovely Adolf Hitler.
Have fun at Lidl.

Can't you get scampi at Nordsee???

You can get it at Nordsee, meditteranian and the Pacific LOL!

The potato waffles are disappointing, they're nothing like Birds eye oh well
the cheese is lovely
and the ribena stuff tastes similar but a lot more sugary

if only i could afford to buy more cheese!!

Cheese was very good... Cheese with pickle has dried onion in it too I think - very strong taste but nice.

Pie was not bad but could have done with a bit more meat in it... lots of gravy though so you don't necessarily need to make any :-)

Pickle was okay but could have done with more chunks in it.

Caramel shortcake was far too sickly sweet and you bite on sugar crystals that haven't been melted properly.

Picallilli - didn't buy it cos in the UK it has more veggies in it... here it looked full of thickener.

Apple pies were okay but also mostly thickener in the apple sauce.

This thread has been great because it proves my theory that when expats claim that the food in German supermarkets is "shit", what they actually mean is it's "different". Based on several different threads and many, many pages of comments, I can summarise the opinions of most expats as follows:

Low-quality German food from a cheapo supermarket = utterly shit
Low-quality British food from a cheapo supermarket = totally fantastic.

The reality is that both are of a similar (low) quality and are made by the same company. The only difference is that we are used to eating the one set of foods but not the other.

Why low-quality? Knowing the production deals done by discounters, cheap may often mean mid range if not more. Cheap anyway is just a snobs spin on what others may call value.

Actualy as you are so prejudiced anyway your analysis is wrong. You have constantly proved yourself unknowledgable about the industry of retailing, customer choice and price and quality comparisons. It obviously flatters your own ego to think in this way, delusions of grandeur and superiority. It would do you well to be more anaylitical and less opinionated. The truth and a better analysis is.

German super markets remain restricted in the areas of fresh quality produce, product range and very limited choice. This is due to current low retail margins, lack of demand for non-national food stuffs and a low cultural prioritising of quality as a purchasing arguments. It is though to be praised that certain market drivers have been marketing time limited culinary choice offers as leaders to increase the perception of choice and excitment to offset their basic ranges. Obviously, expatriate residents whose home basic national foods have been offered, were quiet prominent in the list of happy customers, even though the goods offered were basic and often highly processed.

the salt and vinegar sticks are good liked the apple pies!!

Just had the steak pie for dinner. Hubby (German) remarked that if I'd really wanted a divorce I only needed to ask. He's now thinking of putting a rider on his life insurance that death by pie doesn't pay out

He does like the cheese, though

I fear STB correct. Which (The independent, no advertising UK consumer magazine) tested a lot of the UK "own brands" that pride themselves on being "cheap". Sainsburys came out best but it was the best of a bad bunch.

The quality of meat and main ingredients used was poor, salt, fat and sugar was higher than mainstream brands and to cap it all the supermarkets "premium" lines showed a distinct lack of using "premium" ingredients.

You get what you pay for. Buy cheap and get poor quality. Buy the "premium line", pay more and get marginally better quality. Pay top whack for a big name brand and get the quality that you pay for. If the price is too good to be true...

All this from an independent, no advertising, tried and trusted UK consumer magazine (no frills)

Bipa, if you want a divorce from your hubby, give him maple smoked salmon. He will be out of the door in a blink.

canary man we all now about quality but come on mate have you seen any steak pies and the likes of what was selling in Lidl anywhere else in Germany.I think not eh?

I tried British food or a variant in a up class restaurant last week on a business trip. Roasted Chicken with Indian gravy and French fries, once the waiter confirmed that this is British, in spirit of this discussion I ordered it. It was edible, I did finish the dinner but more due to the Indian gravy and the chips, however I would not try it again.
There are a lot of posts on Hungarian food and on myself, Sorry I can not reply, as these are either out side the limits of British decency or simply irrelevant to British food.

Opus, we've missed you. Sounds to me like you had a halbes Hendl mit Pommes there!

Or chicken, chips and a carton of curry sauce.

Did your meal come on a plate or was it wrapped up in paper?

It was a posh chippie

Read the post, but I am sure a lot of paper wrapped food will still beat British food.

What country were you in? So the waiter confirmed that it was British, indeed! well I have an uncle in Nigeria who is looking for someone to help him out with a money transfer, sounds like you're just the person.

Indian gravy...good one, never heard that term before.

Extend your horizons.

have to say i was fairly exited to try a meat pie yesterday. wasn't really fit to feed a dog really. I hope the cod is ok.

TBH any pie that comes in a box or tin no matter what brand or price range is going to be a let down. Home made straight out of the oven will always be best.

How far??

Before you eat any pre made food just read the ingredients. Most are shocking. Just dont eat this rubbish. no one loves pies more than me but after taking note of what is in most of them I no longer eat them. Bought a tin of minced steak from M&S in the UK and it has sugar in it . Took it back and complained. You must read these things dont eat anything you would not use if you were making it yourself.

I think we all know that this stuff is basically shite, but it is nice to sample a taste from home, no matter what it is made of. It's not like we are all going to live off the stuff permanently. It is all quite pleasant and fun in the end, but the cheese - well not bad actually. A dairy in Glasgow produced it judging by the label. The waxed cheddar is quite nice. It's made by mashing the cheddar, adding the ingredient (in this case, pickle, but you can get everything from whiskey to chocolate) and then pressing it into form again before covering in hot wax. I know this as I actually worked in cheese producers where they won awards for the stuff. What a miserable time that was!

I went to Lidl on Saturday to buy some of this stuff, most of it so far has been pretty good. The cheddar is definitely not the cheddar I'm used to, but that's probably because I'm used to your standard Tesco stuff. Tastes good though.

On a side note, that is the first time I have stepped into a Lidl for a long, long time - I normally shop at Real. When people would say on here that supermarkets are bad in Germany, I would agree, but not as strongly as most. Now I realise the true extent of what people are talking about. I truly hope I never have to shop at Lidl again. I don't think you could screw up the shopping experience any more if you tried.

Back to Real next week to appreciate what they've done.

Is this thread a hoax? English food at Lidl? reminds me of the 5 thinnest books in the world, one of them being "A gourmet's guide to English fine dining"

One of the others being the big book of German humour?

ceogero, you're late.