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Welcome to the Anglotopia Podcast. Hello, everyone. It's a sunny January day, not. No, it is so great. We have an ice storm here today. Yeah, it's warm, and then getting cold, and then it's when you turn it to ice. So, crazy weather. We haven't had much of winter. This week we're going to talk about British food. But first, a message from our sponsor. This episode is sponsored by Jackie. skill who runs Jackie's vacations, no relation to this Jackie.
No, different Jackie. Different Jackie. But still in the very cool Jackie club. Yeah. She's just out, she's outside of, she's in Illinois, and she's been advertising with us since last year, and she's running a Downton Abbey filming locations tour that's going to be in July 2020, from the 23rd to the 31st, and it's a tour of English castles and palaces with a focus on downtown abbey filling locations. You'll spend eight days visiting the homes and former homes of England's elite, as well as several filming locations used in Downton Abbey, the TV show, and the film.
And then you'll explore the rooms in Halls, Buckingham Palace, and the grounds of Highclere Castle, which is where they film, which is Downton Abbey, and Kensington Palace, and you'll visit the home of Winston Churchill and a lot more. So it's a great tour for downtown fans' history. There's a lot of history there. Yeah, Anglophiles. It's kind of tick all of your boxes. It's a seven-night tour. Pretty much everything is included except for some meals. We're going to post the link in our show notes to the tour page that gives you the exact dates, the full itinerary, everything that's included, and itinerary highlights, and then, you know, how you can book it.
She told us that the tour is almost full, and she needs a few more people to fill the tour. So we would, she needs to fill it, I think, like she said, by February 10th, so I would encourage you guys to research quickly. If you want to email her directly, we'll also include this in the show notes. Her email address is J. Wolfskill at DreamVacations.com. And then, yeah, so we'll link in the show notes. It's a really cool tour.
I wish we were able to go. Yeah, it's a really nice tour. And thinking, like, way ahead, this would make an awesome, like, mothers, Day gift, Father's Day gift, like, I know it's early, but, and this is a great way to see Britain if you've never done it, or maybe you're a little apprehensive to go by yourself. It sounds like this tour is going to tick a lot of really nice boxes. Everything is kind of handled for you, so you can just sit back and enjoy, you know, seeing the sites rather than having to, like, navigating that kind of thing.
Yeah, having to navigate and do everything. So everything's kind of done for you. So that's, that's who the sponsor is. Like I said, we'll put the link. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jackie. We will put the link in the show notes, and you guys can explore. Also, before we continue, it's time to talk about this week's tea, which is Miles West Country tea, which is made in Somerset. We came across this tea in Updown Cottage when we stayed there, because they normally put this tea in the gift basket.
In the welcome basket they leave. And we just love it there. And so this is another tea that you couldn't really find. here? Yeah, which is a shame because we like this tea so much that what we didn't finish, you know, because it's a full box of tea. Simon and Jane are very generous. We would literally bring the box of tea home and pray that, you know, it made it through customs because sometimes it could be a little ticky about.
Yeah. So we couldn't really find it here. So we did the enterprising thing and we imported a large quantity of it. This hasn't proven as popular as the smugglers tea that we talked about last time. I think people just haven't tried it. People just haven't tried it. So we highly recommend this tea. It's a really, I think if it is, like, as far as like boldness and taste, it's got a beautiful taste to it, but it's not, it's not as, like, strong or robust as, like an English breakfast or, like, an Earl Grey.
It's, it's kind of, it's, it makes a really nice afternoon tea. It's a little more mellow. Yeah, it's a good daily drinker for, like, your second or third cup of tea in the day. Yeah, it really is. It's a good, it's a good daily drinker for, like, a second or third cup of tea in day. Yeah, it really is. Or even in the evening. That's a nice one, like, you know, if you would like a nice cup of tea and you don't want too much of a jolt of caffeine.
I mean, there's caffeine in it, but if I'm drinking tea in the evening, it's usually this. And as for us, it, when we drink it, we feel like we're being taken back to Updown Cottage, so, because it's a nice memory. It's a nice memory. So what, we have a link in the show notes to the store, to our store where we're selling this. We have plenty. You will not regret it. You will not regret it. It's, um, it.
1899 for a box and there's 80 tea bags. So that's a lot of tea. It's a lot of tea. It will last you a while. So, yeah. There we go. All righty, so British food. I am so excited. This was your idea. I'm so excited for this podcast. Um, like British food and I, like, I'm going to make it very public. Um, I'm leaving you right now for British cuisine. British cuisine and I are now in a relationship.
We're fully committed to each other. Yeah. This has been real. Damn. Bye. No. Um, yeah, so British food. Yeah. Lots of people have lots of ideas about British food. And when you say British food, that's encompassing a lot of different things. Yeah. Absolutely. Um, because like British English, there's regional variations. There's Scottish. There's Scottish. food. There's Northern Irish food. There's Welsh food and English food. And there's a lot of difference there. And in the popular zeitgeist, there's British food.
It used to have a bad reputation. And that's was a result of post-war rationing and the just, but that's, that's, that's, it's a myth now. British food's really good. British food is incredible. And they have signature dishes, which are very good. Um, if I had to use a word to describe most of the British food we'd like, it would be hearty. Like, sticks to your guts kind of food. I don't, I don't know. I think it, I think that's kind of a difference in, in how you and I eat.
You're very much a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Yeah. And, and now, like, some of the most famous celebrity chefs are British. Yeah. You've got Nigella and Gordon Ramsay and Paul Hollywood. Paul Hollywood. Although, he's, well, yeah. Yeah, he's pastry chef for Baker. Yeah, and just the British cooking shows here are so incredibly popular. Yeah. I mean, it's called the Great British Baking Show here. In Britain, it's called the Great British Bake Off, but there was a copyright thing with Betty Crocker.
But they called The Great British Baking Show, and that was, that kind of hit, that was like the big hit after Downton Abbey. Like, that became the big British cultural hit here in the U.S., and now it's on Netflix, so it's not. It's also, because of, PBS. Well, not, your local PBS stations. The old ones, yeah, not the new ones. Yeah, this is true. All the new ones are on Netflix now, because they sell out. But, no, they didn't sell out.
They just wanted to reach a broader audience. Well, they moved to the commercial network in Britain and women. Anyway. So, yeah, so we think that we're kind of in a renaissance of British food. I think they've been in a renaissance really kind of since we started traveling. Yeah, it's definitely changed in the 20 years we travel. I first visited in 2001 with my mom, I would not have described the food as a highlight of my trip.
But also, then I was 17 years old and a very picky, fussy eater, as a British say. So I wasn't, I was just trying to survive, not try new foods. And as we started traveling, I tried out. Yeah, our first trip was, what, 2003, three or four? 2004? I'm a very adventurous eater. There's not a whole lot I don't, I don't, I don't. I won't at least try, but I struggled on our first trip. Because what I found really odd is that back in 2004, you would have all the components.
So like, let's take something, for example, like scrambled eggs. You know, you have your basic ingredients, for the most part. You have your egg, maybe some form of dairy, like milk or heavy cream or something, depending on what kind of eggs you're making. Maybe salt and pepper, butter, chives, if you want to get fancy, or. something like that. And, you know, you have this preconceived palette, I guess, of, or idea of what, what all of these components together should taste like.
And one of the really bizarre things when we first started traveling is, like, I would read the ingredients, like, on a menu, like, you know, like, um, like lamb shank, braised in, you know, tomato sauce, you know, kind of, you know, kind of like a osso buco kind of thing. You'd be like, oh, okay, I know what osso buco tastes like, yeah, I'll have that. And then, like, it would come, but it would taste completely different. And that was really bizarre to me.
I mean, I hadn't had an experience like that before. And, yeah, it just, it took a while. It definitely took a while to learn what I liked in Britain and what, and what, and even though the ingredients were the same, the taste could be vastly different.
Yeah, I would completely agree with that. It's because of the different dishes and also the different way things taste, it took me a while to find the things I really like. I mean, even something like McDonald's tastes completely different in the UK. It does.
Sorry, American McDonald's. The British beef has a different flavor to it, because it's not all corn fed, and it's, it just has more, has a richer taste to it.
Well, even grass-fed American beef here tastes different than British beef. I mean, it's just different.
It's just different because of the environment, it's raised in the moisture and the humidity and all that.
Eggs and butter. I don't know how to explain it. It just, if it has the taste of being, excuse me, a little richer.
Yeah. In fact, we actually buy Irish butter now at the grocery store, the Kerrygold Irish butter because it tastes closer to European or British-style butter. It's richer and creamier and creamier and we need it's better than the the normal American butter.
I would pay a large of money to actually import British bread because it's British bread is so good.
Well, and not only that, for those of you who are watching us on YouTube, like a slice of British bread is like this big.
And it's not sweet. It's not sweet. Yeah. So like we spent a couple years back, we spent, six weeks in Britain. And as a family of four with really young children, we used a lot of bread between toast and sandwiches and just bread, you know, can I have a, you know, can I have a snack? Yeah, here, here's a piece of bread. You know, which sounds kind of weird, but we have weird kids. But anyway, like, so then when we came home, you know, we bought bread and it's, it almost tastes like cake.
Yeah. It's so sweet.
It's like you eat a piece of candy. It's like, Why is it so sweet? It should be sweet.
Yeah, my favorite, probably my favorite British meal is breakfast where I make British eggs with British butter and full fat cream milk. Yeah. With British breaded toast with butter and marmalade on it. It's like, I'm like salivating, just thinking about it. Yeah. And it's a meal I cannot replicate here.
I mean, we've brought marmalade home. But once you've slathered onto American bread,
It doesn't work. So, it's funny is you could add one of the, there's a website called British Corner Shop. Yeah. And you can buy British groceries from them. And I follow an expat group in Chicago. And they often have boxes come of British food. And like, one of the number one things they order is they order like half a dozen lobes of British bread. Because they cannot stand the bread here. It's like eating cake.
Yeah. Well, and like you said, it's, it's fluffy and like. American bread. And, you know, I've even tried to bake my own British bread. And I just, and I'm, I'm pretty skilled. I mean, I wouldn't get a Paul Hollywood handshake by any stretch. But I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm capable. I'm very capable. But it just, it's not as good. I don't know. It's, it's, it's something that's uniquely British.
Like, you have to classify because do you mean, like, breakfast lunch or dinner, snack or meal. All right.
At breakfast. Well, it's going to be a tie for me. It's either going to be oatmeal, which I know sounds like the lamest answer ever. Some ghoul. Oh, hey, don't, like, the oatmeal game in Britain, they have got it going on to the point where I'm not quite sure if it's Northern Irish or Irish. But I won't buy American oatmeal anymore. With the exception of Bob's Red Mill, they do a really nice whole oatmeal, which is completely an American company.
But I will buy, I think it's McCann's Irish oats, and it's the whole oat. But British oatmeal is just, like, do yourself a favor. If you see it somewhere, get yourself a bowl of it. It is so good. And I cannot recommend it enough, especially if you're sightseeing and you've got a really packed itinerary, a bowl of oatmeal will keep you full and move. Like, give you the energy to move through the day. Now, my second, my second choice is probably eggs and soldiers.
So what eggs and soldiers is, it's typically a dish served to small children in Britain, but what it is is it's a soft-boiled egg. And you seem a lot like in movies where, like, with aristocrats, like the eggs sits in an egg and, um, and you have, and you, so you, soft-boiling egg, um, four minutes I've learned seems to be the perfect amount of time. The egg is just set, but the yolk is still good and gooey.
You lob the top off and then you take toast and you cut it into really thin strips and you, um, you dip it in, in the, in the soft yolk. It is so good. I literally spent a whole morning, one morning, like, I don't know, maybe two and a half hours, like, and went through, I don't know how many dozen eggs in the cottage one morning. We were like, the weather was really rotten, and I had a couple dozen eggs that we had to use, and I just practiced making four minutes, four minutes, like, what was the perfect amount of time for the perfect set egg.
Yeah, we love our kids' favorite dinner. Oh, my gosh, our kids, we would make them eat and soldiers for dinner, they'd love it.
Our kids still eat eggs and soldiers for dinner on occasion. It's a good comfort food. How about you?
Well, my favorite breakfast is scrambled eggs with British toast and marmalade and butter and marmalade. Sorry, I'm salivating again. And usually for me, that's a good fuel to get me to lunch when we're out exploring. Right. You've got to have a compliment it with a cup of tea. Yep. Got to have a cup of tea with breakfast. Sometimes I usually eat a bowl cereal or a banana, but that's not British, so.
Well, and you know what's interesting is I'm a diet. hard coffee drinker when I'm here, but when I'm there, coffee just feels weird with breakfast because the tea there is so good that, and honestly, it will fuel you up like a good cup of coffee will, so if you're drinking the right tea, you will not notice caffeine dip.
My favorite lunch meal. Okay. So I'm going to, I'm going to share memory because the memory helps make it my favorite lunch meal. My favorite lunch meal is a cheese and onion sandwich. So a cheese and onion sandwich is not exactly what it sounds like. It's, what it is, is it's caramelized red onion jam. Okay. And it sounds very tart, but now I'm salivating. Um, it's, it's deliciously sweet and it's like perfection in a jar. I could eat it out of a jar with a spoon.
I wouldn't, but, um, and so they slather it on a piece of bread and then they grate good English cheddar on it. So it's not like a slice of cheese. It's grated cheese. It has to be grated. And I found this combination because the British, the British love sandwiches. You will find the most unique combination of sandwiches. Like we don't, and I wonder if it's like every country has their own unique combinations, I think probably, but particularly the British, like beautiful, sandwich combinations.
Things you would never think would go together, but they go together beautifully. Anyway, so we're out. We were one of our first trips, like post kids, we were, we were visiting a stately home, and it was, like, in January, the kids were back home in Chicago. We'd been running all day, seeing the sites, and we were having a great time. And then, like, it was like two o'clock, and we were, like, starving for lunch. And so, like, most stately homes, they had a cafeteria in the stables.
Kingston Lacey? I think it is Kingston Lacey. Yes, it is Kingston Lacey. You're correct. And, like, we, um, I picked up a cheese and onion sandwich. It comes like pre-boxed in, like a little triangle box, like you get here, but a packet of salt and vinegar crisps or chips. Um, oh, yum. And a cup of tea. And so, and then you got your lunch. And, you know, we're standing here with our trays. And, you know, the spaces in Britain are really, unique as far as, like, layout.
And so, like, you know, it's literally set in an L-shaped horse barn, like, a reclaimed horse barn. In the old stable. In the old stable, right? Yeah, it's really unique. And, but there was nowhere to sit. Like, nowhere to sit. And so the British were very hardy. Like, even when the weather's inclement. So, like, they had picnic tables with, like, big umbrellas. And so we took our lunch outside, and it was chilly. I mean, All right.
It wasn't chilly. It was cold. And so here we are sitting, you know, you could see the steam from our cup of tea and it's a little misty and not wet, but damp. And here I am eating this cheese and onion sandwich having a hot cup of tea. And it was just the best memory of like being, it felt very British. Like, we're being very hearty and we're eating outside in the rain.
The funny thing is, is we've replicated that experience because we've knew it so much. We've been back to Kingston Lacey several times. and just to visit the cafe. I know.
And you can get a cheese and onion sandwich just about anywhere, but they do it one particularly well. So it's cheese and onion sandwich, salt and vinegar crisps, and a cup of tea. How about you?
I'd say my favorite lunch is a segue from that because we visit a lot of National Trust properties.
Which, can I say real quick? I just want to jump in. You cannot go wrong eating lunch at a National Trust Cafe.
It is. But the first. food is really good. Sorry for the interruption there, folks. So yeah, you can't go wrong eating at a National Trust property. It's usually pretty healthy. I mean, there's pretty healthy choices.
Some of it's locally sourced. Yeah, on the estate. But yeah, but usually like the type of food that you get at a National Trust Cafe is generally the same at the bigger ones. And so one time I tried, I never had one before. I tried, I tried to, I tried to It was a steak pie.
I'm a finicky eater. So like, this was an adventurous try for me because, like, there's gravy. I don't like gravy. There's vegetables. I hate vegetables. But there was meat in it.
It came in a bowl with the pie crust on top. And I was like, okay, I don't know how to eat this, but okay. So I broke into the crust, took a bit of crust tentatively. Yeah. I was like, that was really good. And I went to, dipped some crust into the gravy, and I was like, my God, this is the best thing I've ever put in my mouth. And I got a piece of meat. And I was like, oh, my God, where have meat pies been all my life?
And I was like, this is so good. And so now whenever we go, we actually try to, when we're out exploring, at least in the countryside, we try to like see if there's a local national trust property because we'll go to the cafe and I'll have a meat pie and you'll have a cheese sandwich and then we'll have tea and cake after the, after we see the house.
Or soup. Like, the British soup game is mad respect. I mean, again, things that you wouldn't necessarily put together for soup as an American, but so good. Like, turnip soup. I've never seen turnip soup ever in America. I've never even seen turnips in America. I've never even seen turnips in. soup in America. Now, granted, that might just be because we're in the Midwest. Other parts of the country might do turnips. But, oh, my gosh, turnip and carrot soup is absolutely delicious.
And I would say, my honorable mention. Yeah. I think you'll probably agree with this is because it's a special meal you only have once a week.
Would be Sunday roast, Sunday lunch. Oh. If you're in the country, if you're anywhere in Britain and on the, and on the, the weekend on Sunday, you have to find the best local pub or restaurant, and you have to book a place for Sunday rooms.
Do not be American about it. Speaking as an American, it was like, I don't have to book in. No, yes, you do.
One day, it took us four pubs to find, with hungry kids to find a pub that could fit us in. So, always book ahead.
And there was a reason they could fit us in, let's just be honest. It wasn't that good.
Oh, that was parsnips. Parsnips. Parsnips. I thought they were fries. They were not fries. They were not fries. They were parsnips.
Oh, if we, no, they're delicious. If we could have had a camera for that, he's like, there's something very wrong with these fries. And I'm like, um...
Chips, those are British ones there. They weren't chips. They weren't chips. Those are parsnips. Roasted parsnips.
But can I say, though, that it has literally taken me a couple of years to learn how to do a proper British-style Sunday roast?
So what are the elements of a good Sunday roast? Yes, which is usually, like, beef? Beef roast. Lamb? Lamb. Or chicken.
And then there's... And often, there's a vegetarian option, too. Yes. Most pubs will have a vegetarian option. Yes. So, and then it... That's just the... That's just the... That's just the icing on the cake. What really is the best part of Sunday roast is everything that comes with it, which is the gravy, which now I like gravy on Sunday roast.
But it's different from American gravy. It's more, like, it's more like an aujou for American pallets. It's not a thick gravy. It's more... I mean, you could get it. Don't get me wrong. You can get a thick gravy. But it's more... I don't know. It's more like a juice. Like a pan juice.
Potatoes roasted in duck fat. This is a skill to learn. But, like, so you boil your potatoes, and it's got to be the right kind of potato. Like a Yukon gold here. It's not as good as a Guernsey potato, which you would get there. But it's still delicious. So you've got. you boil the potato just for a couple of minutes you don't cook it all the way and then you rough them up real good like with a with a metal spoon put a little flour in them and then you have a pan of duck hot duck fat waiting oh my god turn it all over in the pan throw it back in and just let them like they get this gold the most beautiful golden brown crust on them and they are crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside oh my god I might need a minute and a cigarette.
Yes. Usually the vegetables are either steamed or roasted, but like they sit in, in most cases, at least how I've had Sunday roasts, they sit in like the juice that the meat has cooked in and it's just like once it's all plated, it's delicious. You're going to have to do something about that because because he's just going to walk around and around. and round.
Hold on to finish talking about something else. So then there's the coup de grace of Sunday roast. Yes. Which is a Yorkshire pudding. Oh. Which is not a pudding. It's not a pudding.
Because the popovers, like you've got the, the, the pastry. street and then it's usually hollow inside.
Yeah, it's hollow inside. And it's like that when you slather it with the gravy and meat. You got to pour gravy in the well. That's heaven.
Can I say that I have finally... Would you agree? I have finally come pretty close to perfecting Yorkshire pud.
Well, they're... I mean, it sounds... It sounds simple enough to me. Like, it's, it's only a couple of ingredients. How can you go wrong? I'm pretty skilled in the kitchen. Let me tell you, my journey to make perfect Yorkshire Puds has been a journey. It has probably taken me two years to get them as close to perfect. Like, but I think it depends on the recipe.
You have to do it from scratch. BBC food, that's, that's my preferred recipe. Do not use an American recipe. recipe they will not they and do not like I have seen American recipes where they make it like all in one pan like you know like in a casserole dish no they should be it should be done in a muffin tin and um okay so the perfect Yorkshire hood takes a long time to make like it took me a long time to learn how to make them um I highly recommend the BBC food recipe you can find it online we'll link to it in the show notes I found this to be a be the superior recipe.
Also, a couple of tips. If you're going to try this at home, number one, make sure the oil that you put, you put a little bit of oil in each muffin cup or in the muffin tin, make sure it is screaming hot. Otherwise, you just end up with soggy, oily muffins or Yorkshire puts. But, and make your Yorkshire put better and let it rest, which like the American in me is like, oh, eggs and milk, sitting.
out and batter on the counter, not a great idea. But you know what? Let it sit for like 45 minutes and it just, it makes the fluffiest Yorkshire puts. So.
I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Yeah, you are. So my favorite is, they're Cuts of meat are different, or beef are different there than they are here. This is true. The most common steak that you'll get in a pub or a restaurant is a surloin. And it's slightly different than the sort of... Yeah, it's completely different than an American surloin. Yeah, it's different. A sirloin here is, like, thin and, like, it's not really much to write home about.
But there, it's more, it's closer to, I would say, a thinner strip, New York strip. style strip steak. You don't really find those there. No. Unless you're going to an imitation American steakhouse. Yeah. So like...
But like the most common cut is a is a sirloin. And they're not huge. They usually like 10 or 12 ounces. Some pubs are like eight ounces, which is good because then you're not overeating.
The portion sizes in England are great. I feel like, you know, it's enough to finish. It's possible to finish the meal. I feel like here in America, really, and, like, I don't mean, like, we're not hating on American cuisine, okay? American cuisine.
It's different. It's what we were brought up on. There are great American dishes that are uniquely American. But in my experience, when we go out to eat, and maybe it's because we're in the Midwest, I don't know. But, like, a portion size is really, like, two or three meals, at least for me. Like, I have a really hard time finishing. a meal. But in Britain, like, the portion size is a lot, to me, I think it's a lot smaller.
And it's more like a healthy portion size. There are still a lot of times where I struggle to finish a meal in Britain. But, yeah.
So I would say, a nice British sirloin steak, and this is the most important part.
Is the chips that it comes with. Not just any chips. Not just any chips. Well, there's varying degrees of chips. Fries. Fries. But there's a standard British Chunky Chip, which is heaven.
I, if I could write a whole book about chips, I would. Like, I love chips. You could. I love chips. You could write a book about chips. Chunky chips. The only, the closest analog we have here is steak fries, but even, like a potato wedge. But even then, they're not, they're not, they're not, they're not thick. They're like square or rectangular. They're like square or rectangular. They're thick. It's more.
And depending on the kind of restaurant, like, if you're having a surloin at a pub, you'll get pub chips, like you would get with fish and chips, which I don't like fish and chips. So we can talk about that later.
Yeah, I don't know how you don't like fish and chips. It's absolutely delicious.
And then, uh, so then there's like standard pub style chips, okay? But then if you go to a nicer restaurant, okay, that we're going to pay a little more for your meal, you'll get, you'll get gourmet chips. Which, which it's the weirdest thing that, like, become perfectly square and, like, stacked in a pile of chip architecture. And they're usually, like, the fancier the restaurant is, the more they've been fried. So, like, the best kind are the triple-cooked and duck-fat chips.
Yeah.
Like, how much? is airfare to England tonight? Let's go. Oh, I'm game. Let's go to, let's go for dinner, right? Yeah. Oh, man, that's nice piece of, and I apologize to the vegetarians and vegans who are listening, but, you know, a nice steak and some chips. Like, it's great. That's probably my favorite. All right, stop hitting the table, though. That's my favorite brutish-ish meal. That's not really my favorite meal when we're in Britain, though.
I don't think I have a particular favorite dinner. I like to try things. things when I'm there. I mean, I've tried meat pies. I've tried fish. I eat a lot of fish when they're there, when we're there, because it's an island, and a lot of it's fresh and beautiful. Yeah. How about, do you have a favorite, not bad British food story, but like, Gaff? Like, British food Gaff? Or, like, we were like, oh, that was a learning experience that you would want to share?
Yes. Yes. Okay. What is it?
And we went to a very nice restaurant with some very good friends. Yeah. And it was a very, it was a gourmet menu.
And there was steak, and I was like, okay, I recognize that. I'll order that. Yeah. And the waiter, who was not British, had a foreign... accent, so I think there was some miscommunication in the ordering process. He's like, that steak comes blue. I'm like, I don't know what that means. He's like, so that's what the chef wants to cook it as blue. I'm like, okay. Okay. So fast forward, the food comes, the steak comes. The steak is not cooked.
I mean, it's technically cooked, but it's, but it's, blue, which is, which is on the rare to well-done scale, it's before rare.
And, like, I wanted to be a good sport, and I ate it, and the whole time I'm eating it, and I'm like, I don't, I don't want to put this in my mouth. It's not cooked. It's cold.
I, like, if it's not like, if I can't put a piece of shoe leather there in place of the steak, like, you're like, this isn't cooked. So, yeah. I, you like what you like, and I respect that, but you're also ruining that meat.
And I'm saying. I felt awful because our friends were paying for the meal. And, and I was just like, I did my best. there were plenty of fries, so.
It was, yeah, I didn't, you know, yeah. And now I know what blue means that's never happening again.
But the restaurant was great. The restaurant was beautiful. It was Skylon, the National Theater, I think. I don't think, I don't know if it's there anymore.
But we've had some really great dining experience, particularly with those set of friends. I think I, I, I, I know.
They do. I think I have two, and it's tied. The first one, we went to our favorite British pub down in Dorset for Sunday Roast. And it was just John and I.
Yes, because you keep your favorite pub secret. So they, so you can get in. But beautiful pub, a great Sunday lunch or Sunday roast. And I really like in Britain when you order a glass of wine, like there's a notch on the glass for, like, the ounces per pore. So you know, you're getting, you know, you're getting a full 10 ounces or 12 ounces or, you know, they'll sell, would you like the small wine or the large wine?
And Sunday lunch in a pub, particularly in a country pub, like, it's a couple of hours. You take your time, you have a glass of wine, you have an order. view or a starter, as they call it. You have dinner, you, or, you know, your main, also, as they call it. And then you have pudding, which is dessert, which is not literally pudding. It's what they call it dessert, of course. Yeah. So, you know, it's, it's, and it's Sunday, like, it's fine to have more than one glass of wine.
Like, and so we're, so we're at this pub and I'm looking at, like, I'm looking at the menu, and I'm like, okay, well, I know I'm going to want more than one glass of wine through, through, our entire dining experience. And John doesn't drink. So I'm like, all right, well, I'm going to order, and everything is metric. So as an American, like, metric is like, bleh. Foreign language. Yeah, like, no point.
Yeah, well, we're getting better at that. But, so I'm like, okay, I think that's roughly, like, a half bottle. So I order this really nice bottle, or what I thought was a half bottle of red wine. And they bring out this craft. And granted, it's what I ordered. And, like, it is like, boom, like, the, like, like, the table's strained under the weight of this crap of wine. Holy cow, this is a lot of wine. And so John's like, you know, and now it's already poured.
Like, they've opened the bottle. And I'm like, okay. So we, yeah, that was a very boozy lunch, I think.
No, no, nice, real nice. No, that's like one where, you know, normally, traditionally, you'll go for, like, Sunday lunch and then you'll go for a nice walk. I think, like, we went for Sunday lunch and I went and napped it off. But I think the second biggest food gaffe I've ever had in Britain is, again, another dining experience with our really dear friends. And a famous American TV chef made sole meunière, and it's, um, this lemony butter fish dish.
And I, again, probably because we're in the Midwest, I wanted to cook it. I wanted to try it. It looks amazing. It's very traditionally French dish. I cannot find soul anywhere. Like, no one had it. And so I, we went to this very, very fancy. To Rules. Yes.
And I'm like, if anybody's going to do it right, it's going to be them. I'm so excited. So I had bought a new dress. Great chips. To go to dinner. And this is relevant to the story. So they bring out this, I order sole meunière, and they bring out the whole fish. And it's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful. And it's sitting in melted butter. And I'm like in a very expensive new dress. And I'm like, oh, this was probably not the right thing to order.
Like, because there's like butter. and as an adventurous eater, I've learned how to eat a lot of different things. But the British are very particular about table manners, and that's something I hold very dear to me. I am too. Nothing is worse than sitting down with somebody and like zero table manners. Like that, just like, like, it puts me off my meal. And I know that's a very, like, super snobby thing to say. But it just, it's courtesy for your food diner, yada, yada, yada.
Anyway. So I'm looking down at this fish dish, perfect white, that is sitting in beautiful, clarified butter, and on top of a white tablecloth. And I turned to one of our friends who's sitting next to me, just basically said, how do I eat this? Like, it had bones in it and everything. And I took a bite of it, and never having had soul before, did not realize that soul has little it. teeny tiny bones in it.
Well, yeah, fish has bones in it, right? But like, these were, like, tiny. And I'm like, do I, are they so tiny that I eat the bone? Do I not eat? Like, this was the most difficult meal to eat. And I think it's important to mention, like, since I've kind of touched on etiquette, like, if you go to dinner with British people, they tend to clear their plate. So as Americans, or at least, Americans of our generation, we don't clear our plate.
Like, so when you don't, people assume that you don't like the meal. Now, in this case, it wasn't that I didn't like the meal. It was just that I couldn't figure out how to eat it politely without, like, butter everywhere in the super fancy restaurant. And it was delicious, but it was a chore to eat, like to try and eat around. I think that, like, I don't know. Maybe it was very funny to watch the American, like, try and do that.
I don't know. I don't know. But, so I think that's probably my biggest British food GAF.
Oh, it's beautiful. Very gaming menu. Like, I mean that respectfully, like, there's rabbit and pheasant and, you know, very traditional, like, hunter, hunter gatherer kind of food.
Um, I think, uh, what is the most adventurous British thing? you've ever eaten. Oh, you go first. How about the meal that we had up in Ackergill Castle in Scotland for you?
That would, that would be it. Yeah, that was, now, Ackergill Castle, or an Ackergill Tower. Um, yeah, sorry. Uh, sorry, I didn't mean to be botanic. That's okay. Um, up near John of Groats to be top of Scotland. Yeah, it's like, it's a stately home hotel. Well, it was. It's not a hotel anymore. The restaurant is closed. Um, um, an American heiress bought the castle when it was for sale and closed the hotel and the restaurant everything.
So the, but when we were there, it was like three or four months before closed. There was no sign that that was going to happen. No. And so you, like dinner is a, is a process.
It was like down to nabby. You start with drinks in one of the sitting rooms. And then once you had drinks and your table was ready, you go into the great hall, which was where dinner. was.
Like, you expect, like, I know Beauty and the Beast is French, but, like, it's like a castle out of Beauty and the Beast. Like, it's like a castle.
Just medieval great hall. So beautiful. And we sat in the, in the, in the hearth. Like, the old giant fireplace had been, like, converted into a place you could sit.
There was a fireplace in the back, but, like, it was like a cove in front of the fireplace. It was so beautiful.
There were, like, two options for each course, but, like, that was it. Like, you couldn't order, I couldn't order a burger and chips or steak and chips. No, you cannot. It was set by the chef. Like, it was a pro, like, there wasn't a cook in the kitchen. There was a chef in the kitchen. Yes. And so, like, I don't know, like, everything I ate was something I'd never had before and probably never will. again.
I think I had the pigeon. Oh my God, so delicious. Yes, so delicious. I was like pigeon, okay. Rats with wings, okay?
No, it's a different kind of pigeon. It's a gay pigeon, but, but, and they are so delicious.
And I think the main course, I chose the lamb, which I'm not a huge fan of lamb.
there is different than lamb here, because lamb's not a huge thing here in the U.S.
Lamb is actually a delicacy. Like, you have to pay extra for lamb. For lamb here, yes. But. There, lamb is very common.
Yeah. So lamb was the main, which I didn't like that either, because I don't, I don't like lamb.
Was it, like, a liver of some animal, too? I can't remember. Like, it was a very unique. menu. And it was one where things that I've never had either.
We were over. All I wanted was a bag of chips. It's like I need some chips. So we actually drove around Wick. Yeah, guys. Looking for so this really happened. But we didn't find it where to have chips. So we just went and listened to the sea instead.
Yeah. Down in the south? Yeah. Like, ice cream is ice cream everywhere, but Purbeck ice cream is Dorset, and it's very good. It is very good. It is very rich and creamy. They use local cows.
Oh, I just thought of another food. Like food no-no. It was so bad. So when we travel a lot, we were there for business. So we have business meetings and, you know, we're meeting business contacts and that kind of thing. And we had a contact over there who was so generous and decided that she was going to take us around down by Swanage. Remember this? And she took us to this adorable little oceanside cafe. So cute.
Yeah? So she's like, everything is really good. She's like, the potted, what was it, the potted prawns?
I think it was potted prons. Like, the British do potted meats. And it's kind of like, it comes in like what we would, like a cup of soup bowl, not like a ramen cup of soup of soup, but like if you order a cup of soup out. So it's not super big. And it's like, I don't even know what is in potted meat. Like, it's almost like a. a cross between like a cold set loaf of like almost like a not quite moose not anyway it's like this cold set pot of meat I'm I'm sure there are people who are love it who absolutely love it and we're going to get letters about it but it just wasn't my thing so I ordered this what is prawns which are essentially shrimp this like potted prawns and like you turn it out and it was like, I really wanted to like it because this place was very like special to our host and, you know, so like I struggled through this, like, you know, just trying to be polite.
It made you ill. It made me violently ill. So.
Oh my gosh. It was so we're dry. So she, she decided to drive us around Swanage, right? and around the hills of swanage and it's real like loopy and hilly and nothing straight and it was very foggy so like they say you're they say like if you get car sick easily and I was in the backseat I do get car sick yeah um they say like pick a spot on the horizon and just kind of look through the front window and that can help mitigate it but it was so foggy I couldn't and then like so we're driving around and she's trying to show us the sights prongs are like we want to go back to the sea yeah ew and so finally finally we get back to her house and by the time we got back to her house I was like green I was just like I was and we like it was the end of our meeting like and and we were kind of socially expected to go on our way and I had like I knew I couldn't make it to like services or something like I like I needed the ladies room like right then and there and so I did so incredibly rude I was like embarrassing oh it was horrible and like I'm like I'm so sorry may I please use your bathroom before we go and you know even by American standards I would still never ask because we weren't invited in and so we yeah so she was very kind and let me use the ladies room and I realized once I made it into the ladies room that I was actually seriously ill and she was very sweet and she came to check on me and again I had to like major social gash gaff gaff gaff I I I was like um I'm so sorry to be a bother I'm just really unwell do you have any do you have any uh do you have any toast and she's like well I'll put on a pot of tea and toast and I'm like oh my gosh thank you so much I'm so embarrassed so incredibly embarrassed and by the time in the time that it took her to make tea and toast which she was very speedy I realized that this was the beginning of something more and that I would was seriously ill and if we didn't leave right away that this was going to escalate very quickly and like you know this is a business contact we didn't know her very well and so I come out of the ladies room and I'm like I'm so sorry thank you so much for the lovely tea and toast but we need to leave right now and John's looking at me like are you for real and I'm like looking at him you know as a spouse or a partner gives the other partner this look like we need to
go right now um right back to disaster man that was that was that was rough and I did
end up reaching back out and and apologizing profusely for my rudeness and she was very kind but
then there was the time we that was horrible we went um we met one of our advertisers who still advertises with us so no damage was done um uh we were in the cotswolds oh no uh we went we had our son with us did we had yeah mabel was with us she was still the baby though yeah she
she was like six months old that was the christmas trip yeah but will he was like two
and he and we didn't we were still learning our kid so like you you do that as parents yeah we were still like figuring them out and he was like he had been a good in good spirits the whole trip but he was just like he was just mad and upset and inconsolable that morning and like i had to meet advertiser this is an important meeting we like the advertiser encouraged us like bring the whole thing along we'll go for a walk we're gonna go for a walk because he does Cotswold walks they do walks in the Cotswolds i'll put a link in the show notes he'll appreciate the yeah absolutely Andrew who runs he's a very nice chat um and so we went for a short walk to to to lower slaughter yeah was it lower slaughter was it upper slaughter i don't remember one of the slaughters yeah which is weird name but it's so beautiful there's a reason for that but so we we walked it was like a mile yeah but william just just carried on screaming his head off the whole way and we couldn't figure out what was wrong he had never done that before like he wasn't hungry like he like he like he was outside he likes being outside there were sheep and yeah that like
like we went like right up to the gate of course we didn't touch because you don't you don't touch somebody
else's animals we're like this freaking problem hey watch your mouth man it was really starting to piss us off because we're like we're like we couldn't figure it out and so we get to a nice pub and hotel and one of the slatters
there's a there's a nice big wooden table where we all have sit and have lunch there's a fire in the hearth and this was in January so like it's chilly it was great and we ordered lunch it's a hearty pub lunch it was great and William was still like inconsolable and then and I'm like here having to try to have a business meeting and we ordered him ice cream
next to the fire and we're like okay that's how this is going to go okay and so he just slept he slept he slept through the meal and slept it was bizarre and then
I leave the scene because me and me and Andrew went and we'll go back to get the car
right and you took Mabel all bundled up and so we wanted to let William nap for a little bit because it was just such an odd thing for him and we you know I knew John was going to be around with the car shortly and I woke him and he sat up and if you're squeamish like tune out for a couple for a couple of seconds here he woke up and proceeded to projectile vomit everywhere
in this very smart pub now granted it's probably not the first time somebody's vomited in a pub and like as a mom I had not been through this situation before so it's again if you're squeamish tune out for a couple seconds here my instinct was like to just catch which is so gross so gross because I mean we're in a very smart very beautiful pub they know they know this is Andrew yeah they know Andrew I'm like oh my god and the wait staff was incredible like they came over they were so helpful that's one of the great things about the British is they're so child friendly like they recognize like oh my god this lady is in distress her kid is ill like and so you know and I don't do like of all the parenting things like when one of my kids is like like vomiting ill like I completely lose I completely lose it like I'm not I don't cope very well but by a miracle I was like able to keep my stuff together and get him like all like ready like cleaned up and ready to go and the staff was great but we joke around with him now like that is the only time you are allowed to pass out wake up and vomit in a pub ever like you you did it you don't get to do it in your 20s well after he
did that we put in two together when he's cranky little jerk he doesn't feel well and we just didn't know he didn't know it was the first he had ever had something like he still wasn't talking much so he couldn't communicate to us what was wrong yeah and so we felt terrible that oh i know just told jerks like as awful parents but we didn't know we didn't know and so then we got to spend the next 24 hours as a bug passed through him thankfully mabel didn't
get in neither that we but yeah it's probably something he ate well no remember we were we won't name names we're not going to name names we were staying in this um holiday cottage and the so when we got back to the holiday cottage um the cottage owner and this this is not the cottage endorse it i want to make that very clear somewhere and and this cottage they're not even in business anymore go figure uh when we got back she the cottage owner came to see us and i said hey you know um our son's very ill do you have any sort of um because there were some cleaning supplies in the in the cottage i'm like you know we're going to probably have soiled linens here you know do you have any sort of um disinfectant you know bleach or something like that you know so that i can sanitize as we're washing linens and stuff because we wanted to be good um good guess and she was just like no you don't need bleach and i know that like for some bleach is controversial but i'm thinking i've got a six-month-old and my husband and i were traveling and the last thing we need is a bug to go through the like yeah it was but it all
that being fine yeah um all right so let's we need to wrap this up okay because we need to get to the art institute so yes we have a day outing plan we have a day out plan we don't have kids with us today
so we're going to have an adventure yes hence we're recording a podcast yeah so we're working first
and the the adventure is the reward uh um so let's finish off okay pick your number one favorite restaurant when we're in britain and it doesn't it doesn't have to be british it can be any restaurant where you've had the probably the best meal or a place we go back regularly and you can have an honorable mention
you're going to have to go first because i don't know if i have an absolute favorite so i would
say my favorite restaurant yeah and we're probably going to eat it later because they're here now oh no way oh you're going to get letters is uh nando's um is my favorite restaurant when we're traveling there and cheeky nandoes now for those who don't know what nandoes is um it's a south african portuguese slash Portuguese chicken chain a smarter chain it's not fast food no it's not and it's not cheap um it's good food like it's like real yeah it's really good food and they specialize in a in a type of jerk chicken like peri peri Perry Perry chicken that's like marinated for like 24 hours and like it's and then they have a they have a hot spiciness scale and it's spicy chicken and it's amazing the chicken's amazing but what you really go to Nando's for
is the chips is the Nando's chips and I'm not like I could take it or leave it but Nando's chips yeah
now I can't say because I don't drink but supposedly Nando's chips are the ultimate cure for a hangover this is true i can confirm because they soak up the
alcohol you know it's it's it's not so much that they're the cure for the hangover it's what you eat before you go home because all that delicious spicy potato soaks up all the alcohol it's also
really good with a glass of white wine just saying yeah and so we just love having nandoes and now they're here actually there's several in chicago so we're so we're going to probably have nandos for lunch actually it's not it's it's it's 90% as good as the ones in Britain but it's slightly
different it is slightly different well actually no it's not because remember the like the first time we did nando's here we were like chips are different yes well because potato is different it's a different but um we were really surprised at how much how close it was like because things
usually don't translate well yeah um I'd say my honorable mention and this i might be stealing your thunder here is it's a london chain they've got a few outlets outside of london it's called burger and lobster oh burger and lobster i love burger and lobster it's exactly what it says on the tin they have two things on the menu they have hamburgers or lobster now this like this is like if jackie and john opened a restaurant because i don't like seafood but i love hamburgers
so I love me some lobster or crab legs and champagne and so that's literally all they
have and you can have a hamburger any way you want or you have the lobster any way you want or you have a
lobster burger or you can have both or you can have crab legs they have crab legs they have crab legs yes they do because I don't yes because I don't it's not a lobster tail it's usually crab legs and like they're sold by like the size of the like you can get like a B or C and like it is the most bizarre and wonderful thing yeah and it comes with chips it comes with well you can get it with chips you can get it with a potato you can get it you can get it a couple of different ways but what I love is like they have really nice champagne so you can literally like he'll sit there with a burger chips and a sprite and be absolutely thrilled and that's amazing and great and I'll be sitting across the table having you know lobster and you know a very expensive glass of champagne that is not very expensive like and like it's like two different
world it's great though and it's not that expensive either no it's really I mean for London prices at least yeah it's you're they definitely have have arbitrage the lobster market
in Britain so the the lobster's not that expensive no it I love it though it's it I think we all pretty much always go and do burger and lobster at least once yeah at least once
because we stay in Soho now and there's one right down the street So yeah, I would say, and if, should I pick a favorite fast food since we're...
So if I had to pick a fast food restaurant in Britain, um, I'm going to get letters for this, but...
Oftentimes, if there's been a little bit of... a big break between meals and you're really hungry and you need to get something that you know is going to be good and quick you like to go with what's familiar and I would say because they're so common now throughout Britain I would opt for a five guys because they taste
exactly the same as five guys back home okay I I I could I could see where you're going with that what I find amazing is amazing is like if you eat like an American chain fast food chain in Britain. It tastes different. Not different bad. It tastes a little different because the potatoes are sourced differently.
When you bite into it, it's not what your taste. It's not what your taste was expect.
Or even the potatoes? Like, or it's like it's an American, like maybe it's like an American russet potato. I don't know. I don't know.
It's like some kind of witchcraft. Like, it's amazing. I am with you there. Like, I was ready to like block it like, oh. But you know what? You thought I was going to say McDonald's. No, I thought you were going to say KFC.
I haven't spent so long as I had KFC there. I don't, I know. Yeah, I don't need KFC. KFC is different there too. Like you can get chicken tenders and fries, but you cannot get a KFC here. But, um, like we were in York and there was a five guys and we're like,
let's just have this one like, it was like a, nuts afternoon. Like we were super packed itinerary. We needed to go. Starving.
Yeah, because, well, and it's, sometimes when you're eating out in Britain, like.
You don't have time to research the restaurant and find a good one because some restaurants are hit or miss.
Yeah, and you really do want to do, like, I've had a couple of cases of food poisoning in all the years we've been traveling. But I. Right. And so it's made, like, that's not common. That is, I want to stress, that is not common. But, um, you definitely want to do your homework if it's, if you're, you know, if it's going to be somewhere that's a little nicer, um, do your homework first because dining out in England tends to be a little more expensive than it is here in the U.S.
And that's okay, but you want to know, you want to make sure you're eating somewhere that's going to be delicious.
Well, when I was in Dublin last month. month, I had to kill a couple hours before a comedy show. And there was a five guys right down the street. And I was like, you know what, I'm going to go together and get me some five guys for dinner, sit there with my Sunday paper. It was fine.
Well, kind of in the same vein. So we went, I think it was two years ago, we went to, we had dinner and we went to a show in the West End. And we got out of the show. And, like, we got out of the show. And, like, we ate our dinner.
We were, like, really hungry. It was the weirdest thing. So in the West End, there is a Shake Shack.
Yeah, and now they've come to Chicago, but then they hadn't come to Chicago yet.
Let's go. Want to go get a milkshake before we go back to the hotel? And they were staying in the line. We're like, why don't we just get a burgers and fries while I ran it too? Like, we were standing there.
We're watching these beautiful burgers come out and we're like, we're actually kind of hungry. That looks really good. First Shake Shack I ever had was in London's West End. That sounds free. Right? Oh, M. Like, delicious. So, like, you could have rolled me out of the Cheap. It was so good.
We did. We did. It was so indulgent, and that's not something that's normal for us. But I think it's become a tradition. Like, go to a show, and then you go to Shake Shack after.
I don't think we had been back to a Shake Shack until we went last week, did we?
Yeah, and it was like, oh, I cleared, I cleared my plate again. Like, I don't, a burger and fries, like, I'm like, whatever, it's a burger and fries, but
I literally cleared my, like, I ate the whole burger, all the fries, and the milkshake.
All right, so what's your favorite, fancy, nice restaurant that we've been to?
I think it's really hard to pick a favorite. This is what I'll say as far as, I don't think that, like, with the exception of burger and lobster, which is nice dining, but it's not fine dining. Okay? It sounds like it's fine dining. It's not fine dining. I don't think I have a favorite. I do have a favorite somewhat kind of dining tradition when we go. So there are a couple big hotels in London that historically have been there forever.
You've got the Ritz. You've got the dinning tradition. Dorchester. You've got the Savoy. There's a bunch of them and they've been around forever and each of these hotels have a bar. And the bars in these hotels have been through, in some cases, two world wars and have an incredible history. So I started this tradition that each time we go to London, I pick a hotel bar and we go have one cocktail in the bar. So, so far, we've done the Ritz, we've done the Dorchester, we've done the Savoy.
Do you remember where, we've, well, we did the shard, but that's not a hotel. They have a beautiful cocktail bar as well, but.
But, so we have, it's this tradition of, of, like I said, it's only one cocktail because, well, one for moderation. and they're very expensive. It's, you're going for the experience. He does usually have tea. So he's had tea service at all these fancy, fancy hotel bars. But, yeah, I think that's kind of my choice is, if you're looking, and it's nice, you could do it as pre-dinner drinks or after-dinner drinks or something like that. It's really fun, and it's a really neat experience.
I will say one more thing, and then we'll wrap it up here. because I know you're giving me to look. Do your research on fine dining in Britain. You know, ask locals, ask locals what's good.
Well, even if you don't have British friends, you know, ask, ask if you're seeing in a hotel, ask the concierge, ask a hotel staff what they like, you know, where's a good local place? We have found just by chance, by doing that, places. that look like I would never eat there, that look like a total dive, and we've had amazing meals. And then we've eaten at some of the finest restaurants in Britain. And I can't say definitively, like, oh, it's always been a great meal when we went very high-end.
Nope, we have had some train wreck meals very high-end. And vice versa. So do your homework. Fine dining in Britain is a great experience. Just do your homework.
Now, we've talked about all of the places that we've... You've had good food, and you didn't mention a Wagamama once.
Oh, that is my tradition. That is, okay, thank you. You got to explain Wagamama. Okay, so Wagamama is a Japanese, it's like a Japanese chain, and they do beautiful, clean-eating Japanese food. So you can get, like, noodles and terriaki, and I'm selling this very short. They do not do sushi, but all other Japanese cuisine. My favorite thing from Wagamama is they do ramen, and they do this. My mouth is watering, thinking about it. I'm so sorry.
They do this chili beef ramen, and it's like spicy. Oh, my gosh. It is the, oh, so good. I have this tradition that every time we fly out of Heathrow, my pre-flight meal is a big bowl of ramen.
I go get ramen. And really funny, a couple of years back. We rang in the New Year in London, and we really ring in the New Year in London. I think it's, I don't know when we arrived at Heathrow, if I was still jolly from the night before, or I, like, it was the beginning of the hangover. It just, it was not good. And I'm like, oh, my God, I've got to get on a plane. What did I do?
She's on a lunch, trust me. No, I'm not. As you stare, like, help me.
Anyway, anyway, so if you are insanely hungover, I highly recommend the chicken ramen. It's, like, nice and mild. It will set you right. Go to Wagamama. So, so, so good. You will not regret it.
All right. So, that's our roundabout. Oh, my God. This is all about drinking. ...cattershot talk about British food. I'm sure we'll talk about the subject again.
So, please let us know in the comments what your favorite British dishes are. Yes. Your favorite restaurants you like to go to? Yes. They don't have to be British. I mean, if they're there.
I mean, Britain has been great at taking food from all over the world. Literally. And fusioning it with British cuisine. Oh, my God.
Yeah. So, like, you know, British cuisine is a very nebulous concept. So please leave us some comments of what your favorite dishes, your favorite foods, and your favorite experiences or faux pas. We'd love to read them.
Yeah. Or if you know of a great British spot here in the U.S. Yeah. That does something authentic. Yeah. Let us know. We are game.
Yeah. Especially in Chicago. There's a place we've got to try one of these days. Yeah. So this episode was sponsored by Jackie Wolfskill with Jackie's Vacations. And she is running a downtown Abbey filming locations tour in July. And they still have spaces available. And you'll get to spend a week exploring Britain's aristocracy. It's television filming locations. This will fill up quickly, guys. This will fill up quickly. So I would recommend getting in touch with her right away.
We'll put a link in the show notes. And you can email her at J. Wolfskill at DreamVacations.com. So thank you for listening. And we'll hopefully be back. Soon.
