British (English) food in Los Angeles

[Kevin Farnell]

I found this YouTube video (Rockstar Eater), trying British food in Los Angeles, at the Cat and Fiddle pub and restaurant. Initially, I was chuffed to bits when he first entered the pub. On the wall were a list of English towns and city's. Top on the second board was 'Bloxwich', the small town in the West Midlands where I was born and grew up. Sadly, it all went rapidly downhill from there. The owner says that her chef has 'improved' the recipes of her English mother-in-law, by adding more garlic, onions and fresh herbs. A look at the menu shows that their Shepherds Pie contains lamb and beef . The guy is served a pot of tea, which had virtually no colour to it, puts in way too much milk and then a huge amount of honey (I've never known anyone put honey in their tea in England).
Onto the food, they serve Bangers and Mash, Fish and Chips, Shepherds Pie and Beef Wellington. The 'bangers', though home made were burnt. The beef in the Beef Wellington was way over cooked (succulent, tender and medium rare please!), any mashed potato served looked anaemic and if any chip shop ever served me fish in batter like that, they'd have it thrown in their face! At one point, He's shown pouring gravy onto his 'Shepherds Pie'. A huge lump of congealed gravy falls out. Disgusting! To finish off, they had Sticky Toffee Pudding. This should be an absolute delight, but it looked far too pale and was served with blueberries. Sticky Toffee Pudding is served with Custard !

If anyone wants to see how bad it was, here is the video -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ecoph9ENJo&t=2s



Kevin

[nigelb]

Well Kevin, life is tough in the Colonies, although California was never a British Colony. Can the Spanish be blamed for that? That tea looked like water bewitched, a term my mum would use to describe weak tea. I did find half decent fish and chips at a place in Fairfax, Virginia but the same fare at Long John Silvers, a chain, was abysmal.

Nigel²

[GHD]

And, to think that he got paid for that

[Airspeed]

Having read your description, I can't bear to watch, Kevin.

[Kevin Farnell]

Having read your description, I can't bear to watch, Kevin.

Go on, Mike! You know you want to see how bad it was.

Kevin

[Kevin Farnell]

Well Kevin, life is tough in the Colonies, although California was never a British Colony. Can the Spanish be blamed for that? That tea looked like water bewitched, a term my mum would use to describe weak tea. I did find half decent fish and chips at a place in Fairfax, Virginia but the same fare at Long John Silvers, a chain, was abysmal.

Nigel²

I'm not saying that all English dishes prepared in the US are bad, just that those in the video that I linked are an abomination.

Kevin

[Nigel H-J]

No way was that good!! pukey!!

When in haulage I stopped outside a drinks factory overnight where I was to deliver the next day, just down the road was a pub in which I was told they do excellent meals. Ordered a shepherds pie and chips, the pie had lovely thick crusted pastry on the top as well as the sides set in a large bowl with freshly fried chips that were better looking than a chippy shop. I struggled to eat it all but it was by far the best Shepherds pie I ever had.

Regards
Nigel.

[Paul K]

I can personally vouch for the excellent Brits Pub in Minneapolis. I told the proprietors that I was a restaurant critic from London, hoping to get a freeebie, but they were having none of it. Got the sweatshirt though.

[FlyTexas]

I can personally vouch for the excellent Brits Pub in Minneapolis. I told the proprietors that I was a restaurant critic from London, hoping to get a freeebie, but they were having none of it. Got the sweatshirt though.

Well, at least you tried. I can't imagine you'd personally vouch for the "pubs" here in Texas. They serve Tex-Mex food for Christ's sake! Years ago I spoke with a British expat friend about Texas "pubs". In a grumbling voice he responded "Those aren't pubs."

Brian

[nigelb]

Actually there are quite a few British pubs/restaurants in Northern Virginia and several Irish pubs also. Those I have tried have been quite good with a good selection of British beers and ales, although a few fall short because they mix menus with standard American fare and the p**s water that passes as beer here.
Not a pub but there is The Pure Pasty Co run by some expats, "We opened the doors to Pure Pasty on October 1st 2010 and started building quite a repertoire of flavors to fill our flaky crust. In 2017, we debuted at the World Pasty Championships. In 2018, we became the first American bakery to win the Company Open Savory Category. We won again in 2019, followed by taking Silver and Bronze in 2020." They are really great!

Nigel²