What to Eat in London: Guide to British Food

Today, we're going to talk about British food. What do people from London actually eat and what is actually happening with all the tea drinking in England?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsXg9QWjMbw

I've been exploring the food scene in London and I'm going to share everything I've learned to help you eat better while you're here, so let's start with the most famous London food of all: fish and chips.

Fish and Chips

Being a person who loves seafood and, having never met a French fry I didn't want to eat, I was totally excited to try fish and chips in London. So, I went to a historic pub in an adorable English village and was extremely excited to have the fish and chips.

So…here's what you need go know about it. I am from the southern U.S., where you can literally find a fish fry every single weekend in the summer. We know a little something about battering and frying our food here, y'all. So I was surprised, and you may be, too, to discover that they leave the skin on the fish in London. 

Be ready for that.

The breading on the fish also was not giving. It just wasn't as thick or crispy as you might expect if you're a southerner like me. 

Also, my fish and chips came with an apparently very classic side dish called mushy peas. Whatever you imagine mushy peas taste like, you're right. The name here pretty much tells you what you need to know.

Y'all, they straight up served me some baby food, okay? This was an overly pureed, unseasoned blob of green that was not attractive and did not taste good.

The chips, which I would call fries, were fine. 

But my advice is, don't get too excited about fish and chips in London. And don't get them with mushy peas...unless you do not have teeth and cannot chew. 

Tea Time

Another big thing in London is tea time. What the heck is this all about and what time actually is tea time? Do you have to drink tea? Where do you go? 

I've tried to learn as much about it as I can, because I had all of these questions. So, in London and in the rest of England, tea time is typically around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Essentially, it's a midafternoon snack and it includes little sweet treats.

And y'all know I'm down for any excuse to eat sweets in the middle of the day. Like I need a special reason to do that. So, tea time is one British custom I have come to love and even when I was in Greece, I was doing tea time there. This is just my life now. I'm not mad at it.

A proper British tea time does include tea and yes, they drink it hot even in the summer. The concept of iced tea is not a huge thing in England, which is weird for anyone from my neck of the woods because you can literally get sweet iced tea here everywhere. Everywhere. Don't look for it in London. 

Traditional English tea time is served with a small pot of hot tea and a three-tiered tray. You're supposed to start at the bottom of the tray and work your way up. The savory items, which are little finger sandwiches, are on the bottom. Then, you've got your scones and your sweet little treats at the top.

I'm going to help y'all out right now. Scones are biscuits. Okay, they're just biscuits and they are…not great biscuits. Do not expect the soft and fluffy buttermilk biscuits you eat with breakfast and fried chicken. These are harder and they're not served warm.

Scones are served with what I would call butter and jelly. In England, they do not use either of these words. They give you cream and jam. So if you are drinking tea and you ask for cream, don't expect them to hook you up with Coffee Mate. They're coming back with butter.

Also, there is a whole thing, from my understanding of it, about whether you put your cream or your jam on the scone first. This can turn into a hot debate with British people. 

I am not a barbarian, so I put butter on my biscuit first. However, the popular opinion in England seems to be that you put your jam on first.

A full English tea is always served with both sweet and savory items. However, it has become popular in modern London to have what is called cream tea. This is when you 86 the sandwiches and just have tea with your sweet treats. 

So, where can you go for tea time in London? Just about anywhere. 

Basically every hotel with a restaurant serves an English tea. You can also go to any major department store. Tea is even served at some museums. 

I had tea at Westminster Abbey. That was actually very expensive, which would seem to go against the whole idea of budget travel but the point of budgeting while you travel is that sometimes, you can spend a little more to do something just a little more amazing. 

But it was expensive, so if you want to be more budget friendly than that, go to a pub. Lots of London pubs serve a casual British tea that's more low key and more affordable.

And remember that if you want an even more budget friendly option, go for the cream tea instead of the full English tea.

Sunday Roast

Another interesting tradition in London is the Sunday roast. This is a very large meal you eat during the early afternoon, typically between 11 am and 4 pm. 

Londoners like to sit down to have a big meal at this time and this is when you'll eat things like beef Wellington, which takes a long time to cook. Beef Wellington is a very classic and famous British dish named after one of the Dukes of Wellington so yes, it's fancy. That means expensive.

In restaurants, beef Wellington is typically made to be served to two people. It's a big hunk of roasted meat surrounded by a flaky pastry shell and served with vegetables and gravy.

Sunday roast is a great big meal and it's more expensive, so plan your budget out accordingly if you want to enjoy this British tradition. 

Some restaurants and pubs in England offer a special Sunday roast menu. I sat down for a Sunday roast in London on a day where I was incredibly sick and did not enjoy it at all. Some of that was the food and some of it was me being sick.

Extra travel tip: pack medicine with you when you travel in case you get sick. I don't know what I caught my first week in London, but it was very rough, so bring medicine. 

Indian Food

London is a huge city with a ton of food options. However, many of them are not British. London actually has a huge ethnic food scene and the most predominant you will find is Indian food.

Some of the best Indian food in the world is in London. You will find more Indian restaurants here than anywhere in the world outside of India. This is due to England's history of colonization, which is a whole thing and many blog posts have been made about that, so we won't get into it here. 

But if you want to try some super authentic Indian food without going to India, London more than has you covered. 

What Londoners Eat

Anywhere you travel in the world, you will discover a food culture that is unfamiliar. This is certainly the case in London. I noticed some particular food quirks during my time here.

Prawns are on the menu everywhere. You can get prawn sandwiches at delis and you'll find lots of dishes made with prawns on menus in pubs. 

In my entire life, I heard the word prawn maybe five times before I decided to go to London. And while I was there, you would think this is the only thing they have to eat because it comes up so often. 

For the record, a prawn is like a big shrimp. So if you like shrimp, welcome home. London is your town.

And also for the record, I love seafood and I love shrimp. I once massively embarrassed myself at a party where a platter of shrimp was present. And I do not and will never recommend the prawn sandwich I ate in London. 

Another very common menu item in London are the meat pies. Steak and kidney pie is popular but they have many different versions of meat pies and even vegan and vegetarian options. I ate some savory pies at Hampton Court Palace and they were delicious. 

Imagine a pot pie but without the pot. It's just a pastry shell baked around meat and gravy or vegetables and gravy.

London has a ton of vegetarian and vegan options pretty much everywhere you go, so you won't be hurting for options if you have dietary restrictions. 

London also has a strong game meat scene. So, if you are not a vegetarian or a vegan, you can try things like rabbit, different types of game birds, venison, anything that can be hunted. Lots of pubs offer seasonal menus based on the game available. These places tend to be more expensive because of the farm to table experience, but if you want to try food like this, you'll find plenty of options.

You will also find a preponderance of goat milk ice cream in London. This is a big fad right now. I had some in Southwark and the goat milk ice cream I do recommend. Particularly because I was very unimpressed with British desserts in general…which leads me into another particular food quirk of London and really all of England.

Y’all, these people don't know what pudding is.

Pudding

When I hear the word pudding, I think of a creamy, sweet dessert with a soft texture that is served cold or at room temperature.

This is not what you will get if you ask for pudding in London. What people from the U.S. consider pudding is called custard in London and pudding is…made with animal blood.

Seriously, it is. Black pudding is a staple of British cuisine that has become more and more controversial over the years, so it is more difficult to find. But black pudding is considered to be THE thing to have with your traditional English breakfast, which also includes sausages and baked beans.

Yes, baked beans, as in the ones that come out of a can that you eat when you're camping. Why is this part of breakfast, I don't know, but if you get a traditional English breakfast, they're going to bring you a goo they call pudding made from animal blood and a big ole pile of baked beans, so there you go.

There are lots of different types of pudding in London and for the most part, they are savory. They are not a sweet dessert. The exception to this is sticky toffee pudding, which IS a traditional British dessert and which is also not pudding. It is a baked sweet dish with a hardened caramelized shell on top, sort of like a creme brulee, that is served warm.

I spent most of my time in London not being too sure about what exactly I was eating. And if it seems like possibly I did not enjoy British food based on this blog…you're not wrong. I really did not like it. And I really tried. I really wanted to dive in and explore the food scene and I did. I tried to eat traditional food and I went to pubs and mostly hated it. I tried pizza in London because I try pizza everywhere I go and even this was a massive disappointment. 

The only thing I really liked was the burger I had at the Ten Bells Pub in Whitechapel, and I was only there because of its connection to Jack the Ripper. You can learn more about that in the video I did which gives you a full walking tour of Whitechapel and the places Jack went, so check that out to learn more.

If you want to know more about where to eat in London and get some budget hacks to save money while you eat all over the city, check out my guide on cheap eats in London and take a look at my entire London playlist to find free and cool things to do in the city while you're here.

Thank you for watching and thank you for taking the journey with me. 

Now, Voyager, sail forth to seek and find.