The British Empire was created as a by-product of generations of desperate Englishmen roaming the world in search of a decent meal. - Bill Marsanoyou know, the Brits get teased a lot for having "super bland food" and just..well, bad food in general. i had prepared myself for the absolute worst before arriving in London: i searched Google for "typical british foods" and got "carrots, peas, brussel sprouts, potatoes, roast meats, pork, and cream." i thought to myself, "great, i'm going to starve." and decided that i would bring some packs of ramen to prevent utter starvation. then i thought, "wait. how could London, such a huge and diverse city, have bad food?" turns out, it's not so bad after all (just rather expensive).
i'll describe a bit about London food in general in some later posts; today, i wanted to focus on something important: fish and chips. this is generally what you think of as soon as you hear the words "british food" and "pub". i've had it twice so far, and both were quite decent.
my first ever experience (yes, i've never even tried it in the US before) was at Castle, a nice pub near Notting Hill. the plate of fish and chips (haddock, i believe) arrived with a side of mushy peas (£7.90).
i had always imagined the fish to be cut up in chunks - something along the lines of fish fingers. well, in front of me was a huge, 10-inch chunk of fish, waiting to be chopped up and eaten. the fish itself was fried to a nice crisp; the skin was so crispy that it detached itself from the fish, so i was able to save a few arteries from being blocked by not eating some bits. the mushy peas were incredibly sour. i know British people have a habit of putting malt vinegar on everything, but i was hoping that i could control the amount in my food. needless to say, i didn't finish it. the tartar sauce was extremely light, and there was barely any taste to the fish even with the sauce and vinegar and lemon juice. i left the place happy but a little unimpressed; somehow, i felt like it didn't wow me like i had expected.
the second time was at White Horse, which was a huge pub right next to Carnaby St.
after a full afternoon of walking around, i was starved and ready to dig into my food. the pub was huge; my only complaint was that our table smelled of smoke the entire time, and we never found out where it was coming from. when the fish & chips (£7.50) arrived, i eagerly dug in, hoping that it would be a more pleasant experience.
the mushy peas this time weren't sour at all - surprisingly, this turned into a complaint of mine. it didn't have a taste, really. the fish was smaller than the one i had gotten at Castle, but it was much thicker. the sauce was perfect, and i finished off the entire plate without hesitation (not a good idea because the portion was rather large, and i was in slight pain afterwards). they don't give you as much chips though, but it was well made up for by the huge fish.
it's not exactly a healthy meal, but i'm not giving it up any time soon. if i can help it, i'm trying to eat it at least twice a month so i can say i truly know what they're supposed to taste like.
Castle
225 Portobello Road
Ladbroke Grove, W11 1LU
White Horse
16 Newburgh Street
Soho, W1F 7RY
