Best food in Britain

[teethgrinder]

The Bear, Todmorden.

Not entirely sure that was what I was after, but that has got to be worth a go. Veggie food reccommended by a veggie. Now I can see what a veggie likes to eat instead of the token gesture fob off cheese pasty you always get. And as you say, great cycling country.

I may have previously wandered out with loaded panniers to meet and feed a hungry audaxer... 

...asparagus soup, vegetable soup, homemade bread, cheese, chocolate cake, strawberries and cream.  Next time you're passing within 15-ish miles of York, let me know!

Carefull what you wish...
I'll be riding overnight to York in November. There will be plenty of hungry AUKs at the AGM who would be willing to remove your burden of cake. However, we've all booked and paid for our evening meals now...

But with an offer like that I may be passing York very frequently.

[teethgrinder]

I can nominate two at the moment in the not fancy line.

Blacksmiths Arms, Westow, North Yorkshire 2 miles off the A64 through Kirkam Abby.

This is my local pub and they do meals as well. Has had five years as a gastro pub but now is back to being a proper local. The meals are generally pretty good pub food all cooked on site using local ingredients wherever possible. The outstanding offering though is their steaks. The head cook is the wife of a local farmer and the pub uses the beef from their far,. I can honestly say they are the best steaks I have had in several years. Either the sirloin or the T-bone are great. Get there early or book ahead though as they often run out of them.

The Wolds Inn Huggate, East Yorkshire

Best Sunday lunch in a pub I have had. Huge portions done really well. Their Barnsley Chops are highly recommended. 

Both the above are in great cycling country too.

Those two along with Magpies should make for a very enjoyable time spent mountain biking in that area. I've been meaning to take my mountain bike to the North York Moors and Dalby Forest for some time. Now I have more reasons to go there.

[CrinklyLion]

Carefull what you wish...
I'll be riding overnight to York in November. There will be plenty of hungry AUKs at the AGM who would be willing to remove your burden of cake. However, we've all booked and paid for our evening meals now...

And when has that ever stopped you from finding space for another meal? 

[Jakob]

Fat Duck, Bray.
The best restaurant in the country? Seeing as it's consistently rated as the best restaurant in the country, no 2 in the world etc.

I really wanted to do that before I left the UK, but alas...

[Valiant]

Bingham Burgers. Somewhere near Nottingham. It was like an Oasis at 2am having been lost for a while. Quite possibly the best burger I've ever had.

[DrMekon]

Orchard, Granchester, Cambs. I haven't been for years, but afternoon cream teas in the summer in the Orchard are awesome. Sometimes you get bothered by wasps, but it's the location and weather that makes it so good.

We live just down the road from the Orchard but have never been in.  I may suggest a trip out this afternoon to Mr R.  

I've been a few times - we take visiting speakers there if we have time and the weather is nice. Possible end of proposed ride spot?

My favourite place is Terre a Terre in Brighton. It's a Heston-lite experience for veggies, but it's much better than that sounds.

Terre a Terre, Vegetarian Restaurant, Brighton

Most memorable for the service was a private do at St John's college in the Wilberforce Room. The staff were watching like hawks, and before you'd even micro-gestured, they were there with what you wanted as you knew you wanted it, The salted ice cream was pretty good too.

[redshift]

Fish and chips?  I'm suprised that Clarion didn't mention Grandma Pollard's in Walsden (just down the road from Todmorden).  You can sit in, they have a converted double decker bus round the back.  Mostly, you take out, and nip round to the layby between Tod and Hebden Bridge.  The pies are seriously homemade, looking like something from Professor Quatermass' lab, and Tony the current owner (grandson of the original Grandma) does impromptu customer taste tests on the queue when he's considering trying out a different recipe, or changing potato variety - we had a blind taste test, and everyone picked the potato variety he was already using!  If you're not early for lunch you will have to queue out of the door.

For other homely noms, try the Cottage Restaurant in Inverary - it's tucked away down a step near the RBS in the town.  I had a bowl of broth and some homemade bread there one wintry February afternoon, and it really hit the spot.  Mind you, that's over 10 years ago now, so I'm assuming it's still the same.

[dasmoth]

My favourite place is Terre a Terre in Brighton. It's a Heston-lite experience for veggies, but it's much better than that sounds.

Terre a Terre, Vegetarian Restaurant, Brighton

Interesting, will check that out next time I'm somewhere near Brighton.  But any idea what the second image from the left on the top row of the front page supposed to be...

[Regulator]

Best fish and chips?

Mr Chippy, London Road, West Thurrock.

I've eaten fish and chips in lots of other places, including in several places in Whitby, at Harry Ramsdens, etc. and none of them have reached the excellence of this local chippy.

[pcolbeck]

Harry Ramsdons is very over rated. It's been trading off it's name for years.

[clarion]

Fish & chips?  Well, I haven't eaten fish in a long time, and I try to avoid those which use animal fat for frying. 

Having said that, my favourite chippy ever was Eastwoods in Skipton.  It's suffered a bit from the proximity & flashiness of Bizzie Lizzie's, which was always inferior.  Last time I went to Eastwoods, it was not so good. 

If you're in Skipton, you can get great fish & chips (and other meals) at The Woolly Sheep on Sheep Street.

Further afield, there's Bryan's in Headingley.  Excellent.

Ramsden's did used to be good, but has been disappointing for a couple of decades.  And the licensed outlets at airports and service stations are diabolical.  For a decent big chippy, try Murgatroyds at Guiseley.

The Magpie at Whitby was always my second favourite.  Unlike the vast majority of seaside chippies, it takes pride in its consistently high quality.  Freshest fish yuo'll ever get.  Whitby has other great chippies, but they are a bit eclipsed by the Magpie.

Grandma Pollard's.

What can I say?

It's a fish & chip - and pie! - mecca for connoisseurs.  Simply wonderful.  Quirky, brilliant, fabulous.  Eating chips beside the Rochdale Canal after a hard ride is a wonderful experience.  The company on the bus is always cheerful, and the staff are excellent.

But it's not the best chippy in Todmorden! </heresy>

Those in the know go to Victoria Road to a half-timbered hut called the Tudor Chippy.  Ask Our Kid or TGL - they know what they're talking about on these things.  We lived round the corner one way or another for a long while.

For Calderdale, there is one more worthy of mention.  At Bridge Gate, in the middle of Hebden Bridge, there is AJ's.  A great place to visit.  And for vegetarians, there is tempura vegetables.  Top stuff.

Fish & chips south of Sheffield?   I've made that mistake too many times.

[jogler]

There is an excellent chippy south of Sheffield.
It's in Helston,Cornwall.It won an award for the best f&c in the country a couple of times.
Itis not even much off-route on an E2E

[Wowbagger]

Our local chip shop, which is very adjacent to Roots Hall, received the accolade from the fanzine "90 minutes" as the best serving any Football League ground. That was some years ago but it's still under the ownership of the same Greek family and the fish and chips are very good.

Having said that, I think the best fish & chips I had was at Steel's Fish Restaurant in Grimsby. That was in the early 1990s and I have to say that quantity was part of the reason I score it so highly. It was a Philippians 4:7 moment.*






*The piece of cod that passeth all understanding.

[clarion]

The worst I've ever had was in your neck of the woods, as it happens.

I was being interviewed for a job at the Cliffs Pavilion, Westcliff-on-Sea (Oh, the glamour!), and (having been to Whitby) made an association between seaside and great fish suppers.

I got myself to the first chippy I saw, and bought what was without doubt the slimiest, honking, most inedible piece of fried food ever served anywhere*.  Revolting.




* Except fried chicken shops

[LindaG]

Bingham Burgers. Somewhere near Nottingham. It was like an Oasis at 2am having been lost for a while. Quite possibly the best burger I've ever had.

Schwarz burger in Bath.  Wonderful, wonderful, sloppy big burgers.  Mmm.  I wonder if it's still there.

Petch's pork pies.  From Petch's butcher in Great Ayton.  Best eaten while still warm.  Most nommy.

Cullen Skink at the Black Watch Inn in Aberfeldy.  Oh, my.

[RainOrShine]

Schwarz burger in Bath.  Wonderful, wonderful, sloppy big burgers.  Mmm.  I wonder if it's still there.

Yes it is!  Great burgers.

Fish & chips south of Sheffield?   I've made that mistake too many times.

Jack's in Bagshot does excellent fish and chips. 

[Jaded]

Fish & Chips? The chippy in Coldstream serves majestic f&c.

[robbo6]

Just about the best f&c I have ever had was in Winchester, near the station.

[Tigerrr]

I was in Nantwich last year (up north in case you never heard of it).
It was a great experience and truly 'authentic'.  I asked for cod, saveloy and 2 chips, my daughter being partial to the pink minced eyelids and sphincters of a good saveloy.
'yawat?' said the luminous blonde lady. 'wassat? Awegatasaviloiluv?' Wassatasaviloi? naaaah, zitablackpuddinen?' etc etc for about five minutes as everyione ion the queue kept repeating 'saviloi?' and shaking their heads like it was the most wierd thing ever heard.
Anyway when she tipped a hundredweight of chips into the carton she said 'yawancoory?' so we ended up with green gelatinous slop all over the chips with a faint whiff of curry powder about it. Lovely if that's what you like but not actually food.
Have not been back up North since then so don't know if things are getting better for them.

[pcolbeck]

Saveloys are a re southern thing I am afraid you wont find them in the North, luckily for us Northerners, we have standards to maintain you know.

[Clandy]

Saveloys are a re southern thing I am afraid you wont find them in the North, luckily for us Northerners, we have standards to maintain you know.

Does York and its battered and deep fried pizza count as 'north'? 

[pcolbeck]

Yup. Which place does deep fried pizza, I want to try that

[teethgrinder]

Bingham Burgers. Somewhere near Nottingham. It was like an Oasis at 2am having been lost for a while. Quite possibly the best burger I've ever had.

Schwarz burger in Bath.  Wonderful, wonderful, sloppy big burgers.  Mmm.  I wonder if it's still there.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ecc0nbg9m-8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ecc0nbg9m-8&rel=1</a>

[bikenerd]

On our Honeymoon earlier this year, Mrs Nerd and I had two truly great meals.
This first was the tasting menu at The Manorhouse in Castle Combe.  8 courses and coffee, along with the matched wine.  Cost a fortune but was well worth it.

However, my favourite meal was at St. Vincents in Lynton.  It's a B&B and restaurant run by a Belgian chef and his British wife.  They have limited covers - only 8 per night - and you're welcomed at the door like a guest at a dinner party.  Drinks are served in the lounge while you peruse the menu.  Once you've made your choice you are taken through to the dining room - which is just like someone's large dining room (you get your own table, though).
It's a very nice dining experience - just like eating in someone's house.  The menu has pleasingly few choices.  I had fried courgettes and aubergines to start - which went very well with the Orval beer I was drinking at that point.  Followed by steak with chunky chips - but the chunky chips had been double fried, Belgian style.  I'd switched to red wine for this course.  I finished off with the biggest slice of Waterloo Tart I'd ever seen.  I mentioned this to the chef on the way out and he said "it was the last order of the night, so I gave you what was left of the tart!".  We had black Muscat desert wine with the pudding.
I was so obsessed by my own food that I can't remember what Claire had!  Price was a set £27 a head for 3 courses.  Our drink choices pushed it a bit higher, but I still thought it very good value and a really good dining experience - very different to the conveyor belt feel of some restaurants.

I'm also a fan of afternoon tea.  The Old Parsonage in Oxford does an excellent and good value for money one: £15 - but tonnes of food.  Buy another round of sandwiches and tea and there's enough for two people.