When visiting any country around the world, a huge part of the appeal is the chance to sample a different cuisine to your own. A trip to the UK is no different, presenting travellers with the opportunity to enjoy the many delights of British cooking. Despite being one of the world’s most multicultural and culinarily diverse cities in the world, London is still an excellent place in which to find these British icons. They don’t all come from the capital – and some even have their centuries-old roots in cuisines from around the globe – yet each one is today considered a pillar of British gastronomy, and they can all be found in the buzzing metropolis that is London.
Full English Breakfast at The Wolseley
It seems appropriate to start our run-down of British classics at the beginning of the day. A ‘Full English’ has been the fuel of many a Brit for centuries. Where other countries may opt for pastry or a piece of fruit, our breakfasts are a decidedly heavier affair. The Wolseley, a perennially popular morning spot, does things properly, with the obligatory sausage, bacon, eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes joined – as they should be – by baked beans and black pudding. For a fishier alternative, go for the kedgeree, an anglicised version of a dish from colonial India.Omelette Arnold Bennett at Mount St.
It’s rare that a restaurant is better known for what’s on its walls than on its plates, but Mount St. is a rare place. Boasting surely the finest (and most expensive) art collection of any restaurant in London, the dining room is decorated with works ranging from Lucian Freud to Andy Warhol. Yet you would be a fool to overlook its culinary offering, which is encapsulated by their delightful version of the smoked haddock and cheese omelette that was created at The Savoy and is named after British author Arnold Bennett.
Eggs Drumkilbo at The Dining Room at The Goring
If you’re looking to try this decadent seafood cocktail during your time in London, then The Goring is undoubtedly the place to go. This specific version of the dish was a favourite of the late Queen Mother, and the hotel as a whole has had many a Royal walk its hallways over the years. While recipes vary slightly from place to place, the main part of The Goring's take is delicious white crab meat bound up in a rich mayonnaise, joined by a well-balanced combination of cucumber, roasted tomato, caviar and a nugget of top-notch native lobster. To finish, a quality quail’s egg with a runny golden yolk.
Scotch Egg at The Pig and Butcher
The last in our trio of egg-based dishes is the one that could best be described as a guilty pleasure. With the recipe's origins tracing back centuries, the egg itself is wrapped in sausage meat, before being coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried until golden. It’s a potentially delicious concoction, which in recent years has sadly been reduced to the realms of service station snacks. Thankfully, you can find a proper restaurant version at the appropriately named Pig and Butcher, a terrific London pub serving in-house butchered meats.
Cheese Toastie at The Wigmore
We might be doing it a disservice just to call this a ‘cheese toastie’. According to the menu, it is in fact an ‘XXL stovetop three cheese and mustard toastie’ and is quite frankly one of the best examples of this classic pick-me-up dish that you’ll find. It has a crisp crust and a soft, yielding centre, with cornichons and red onion added to the mix to bring some acidity and sweetness respectively. It’s easily enough to share, but is so ridiculously moreish that you and your dining partner may end up coming to blows.
Mince on Toast at The Pelican
British food at its best often has an unerring simplicity to it and dishes don’t come much simpler than the does-what-it-says-on-the-tin mince on toast. At The Pelican, a smartly refurbished Notting Hill pub, it’s found on the ‘Bar Snacks’ menu and is an unfussy, well-seasoned and downright tasty treat. It is a dish that’s typical of the place, which very much adopts the St. JOHN approach to British cuisine, with a lack of frippery and a focus on less glamorous cuts of meat.
Fish & Chips at The Bull & Last
So, here we have it, the most famous creation in British culinary history: battered fish, usually haddock or cod, with thick, fluffy chips, preferably doused in salt and vinegar. Finding good fish & chips in London is a tricky topic; some people believe eating it anywhere that’s not on the coast is blasphemy in itself, while simply getting a paper-wrapped takeaway from a proper chippy is always hard to beat. But, if you want a sit-down meal version of a ‘chippy tea’, then The Bull & Last has you covered. It comes with the traditional accompaniments of mushy peas and tartare sauce, plus you can add a ‘wally’ (pickled gherkin) if you’re in the mood.
Sunday Roast at The Harwood Arms
Possibly the UK’s most cherished culinary tradition, the Sunday roast is far more than a meal. It’s a time for people to come together; for friends to share stories and nurse sore heads from the night before; for teenagers to put down their phones in the hope mum might give them an extra roast potato. You’ll find a proper Sunday roast at virtually all of London’s many great dining pubs, but the version at the MICHELIN Starred The Harwood Arms takes some beating, with the kitchen specialising in robustly flavoured dishes based around quality meats.
Beef Wellington at The Ritz Restaurant
It is ironic that a restaurant with so many French influences, from the Louis XVI décor to the classical Francophone cooking, should serve a beef Wellington as one of its signature dishes. It was, after all, created for the Duke of Wellington after his victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Consisting of beef fillet wrapped in puff pastry with a layer of mushroom duxelles sandwiched in between, it has always been a luxurious dish, and the Ritz team take that to the next level with their sharing sized portion served tableside for a theatrical touch.
Steak and Kidney Pudding at Rules
If you’re looking for traditional British dishes, then you’ll find most of them on the menu at Rules, officially London’s oldest restaurant. Among them is steak and kidney pudding, the epitome of the hearty main course. Not to be confused with a steak and kidney pie, the pudding version is a dome-shaped delight encased in suet pastry that’s been slowly steamed. Be sure to stick around for dessert too, where you can sample British icons like sticky toffee pudding and apple crumble.
Tipsy Cake at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Tipsy cake may not be one of the most famous dishes on this list, but it deserves its place for its history alone. On the one hand, Heston Blumenthal – the true maverick of British chefs – is the last person you’d associate with anything traditional, yet on the other, he has based the entire menu at Dinner on British recipes of old. With origins dating back to 1858, Heston’s modern version of the tipsy cake is one of his signatures, a booze-laden brioche pudding accompanied by spit-roasted pineapple.
Eton Mess at St. JOHN
This list would not be complete without a mention of St. JOHN, the restaurant that has exerted one of the greatest influences over the country’s cooking in the last three decades. Fergus Henderson and co.’s nose-to-tail ethos, pared-back dining room and focus on straightforward flavour have made St. JOHN a cornerstone of the capital’s cuisine. All of this makes it the perfect place to get an archetypal seasonal British dessert, whether it’s the creamy meringue and berry concoction that is the Eton Mess, a blackberry trifle or even a gooseberry fool.
Hero Image: Sunday Roast at The Harwood Arms (© Lateef)
