Recently I have had to eat out a bit...
Tuttons Covent Garden: Awful. Over £100 for two steaks, some veggie sides and 2 alcoholic drinks. Steaks (rib-eye) were chewy and gristly. Should have companied but my guest was enjoying themselves so let it go.
Local Beefeater after a walk in the local country park - beer garden. 2 starters, 2 rumps steaks, 2 puddings, 2 drinks £38 (before 5pm). Also brought out a bowl of water for the pooch and a cooked steak that had been "dropped" and washed for the dog FOC! The starter was average. The steaks were cooked to perfection. The deserts were good. Did I mention the lot came to £38 - a bargain!
Flat Iron just off Covent Garden. Took the Mrs to see a matinee (Tina Turner). £67 including tip. 5 or 6 oz flat iron steak cooked to perfection. Steak is £13 but chips are extra. Chips were ace (I pinched some from Mrs Z. I had the mash, very garlicy, very nice. A trio of veggie sides added £16 to the above bill, which included a cocktail and a beer at west - end prices. Pudding is free (limited to a tasty ice-cream) and service was excellent (bottle of water on the table without asking) etc.
Just goes to show price does not guarantee quality.
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Egg & chips £19 in the Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor :(
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....mistook you for an emmet....
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I don't suppose anybody on here has ever heard of, or tried, Wetherspoons, have they?
I have heard they have good quality food and well kept beer all at very reasonable prices.
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Not me guv - I have dos huevos every morgen for brekkie.
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In the UK , Gaucho in Piccadilly and Marco Pierre White both good but expensive, around £40 / 50 a head.
Most expensive steak I have eaten was Waygu £100 a head in Doha and that was 10 years ago (on expenses).
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Very occasionally I will have steak but I kind of think its one of the most overrated meals. Not much skill in cooking a steak and its a bit boring, especially when thrown on a plate with a few mushrooms, tomatoes and chips and the only sauce is out of a bottle
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Great pub in the city...(5 minute walk from home) - they do 25% discount on any steak on a Tuesday. We indulge occasionally. Not a big steak person, but for £20.00 a head (Main dessert & Drinks) it's a right bargain and really nicely cooked steaks. Not part of a chain, just a large (but very old) pub.
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I'm with you there CGN. I also (mostly) avoid sauces or other coverings on the basis of not wanting to spoil the taste of a good steak. But often they aren't great, when i do have them.
Must admit if I were dining out three times in a week, partly on expenses, I certainly wouldn't have had steak every time!!
I did a fair bit of expense account eating in between about 2000 and 2014 (working away from home for months on end in some UK cities (Aberdeen, Peterborough, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Glasgow spring to mind) on a £25 a night allowance) and, probably as a result, I still (generally) prefer a bit of home cooking.
I also eat in Wetherspoons sometimes. Not as good as it used to be but perfectly adequate. I was in the Chester ones a few weeks back. I used my CAMRA 50p off vouchers so the real ales (usually Abbot) came out at something like £2.30 a pint.
Last edited by: smokie on Sun 16 Jul 23 at 16:52
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'I also (mostly) avoid sauces or other coverings'
I'm the opposite. I love sauce and spices. I don't enjoy meat so much unless it's flavoured with hot spices. Served with peppers and chilli. Totally yum yum.
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>> 'I also (mostly) avoid sauces or other coverings'
>>
>> I'm the opposite. I love sauce and spices. I don't enjoy meat so much unless
>> it's flavoured with hot spices. Served with peppers and chilli. Totally yum yum.
>>
I agree, A slab of meat without some sort of sauce is pretty unappetising.. A decent pepper sauce is good but my favourite is a Bearnaise. Takes skill to make though.
British as a whole seem strangely averse to sauces, a bit like their aversion to dressing on salads. Very odd.
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'a bit like their aversion to dressing on salads'
Indeed. I hated salad. Salad (certainly in Manchester) was a tomato cut in half and bit of lettuce. I couldn't bear it.
Then I discovered Europe and I realised salad was actually really nice. Forward a few years to when I tasted salad the Polish way, good god it's truly delicious. It's the best part of any meal. I've no idea how they make it or what they put in it but it's probably why we haven't divorced yet.
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Son brought home an Aldi Wagyu steak last week and cooked it off for us to try.
Absolutely fabulous. Lots of marbelling that just added to the taste. Delicious!
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I do like a fillet on the BBQ, rare. 'spoons used to do excellent fillets at a bargain price, nowadays you have to spend a fortune at somewhere like Miller & Carter (what is it with that half a lettuce?).
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Last Monday was our anniversary - weather was really poor so instead of our usual anniversary day out, we popped 5 miles along the road.
Cafe/restaurant called Bridge 49, on the Banks of the Union Canal (near Linlithgow) 2 main courses 2 sweets and 2 soft drinks £33 (wife does not drink & I was driving - 22 is Scottish Drink limit Vs 35 in England) - fantastic - gave them £40 and thanked them for a really good meal.
Last year we paid £80+ IIRC and the food was mediocre at best
Run by owner and family it is only open during the day, closes 4pm - locals, walkers, cyclists and the occasional canal enthusiasts.
52 years married and it seems like it was yesterday
and you know what an awful day yesterday was!
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We went out for a meal a few weeks ago. We chatted about what we were going to have. One of the group, who is approaching sixty, was undecided, so I suggested a nice steak.
She said (and I can believe it) she had never had a steak in her life, as she was “scared of all that meat.” She had something small and indifferent instead which she ate half of with no evident enjoyment.
I think she misses out on a lot of things, but I was surprised that a meat eater has never even dared to try a steak.
Each to their own I guess.
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>>She said (and I can believe it) she had never had a steak in her life
When I first started dating my wife I took her to a Beefeater (in the'60s) and she cried when she saw the steak. Said she had never seen as much meat on her plate.
Like FB we celebrated our 52nd earlier this year. It pee'd down on the day.
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When staying in Moraira we would always visit just the once a restaurant called La Bonita where they served a fantastic ‘Portobello ‘ steak. Served with very few veg, a small side of fries and a fantastic salad. It was a cut I’d never heard of, probably lost in translation. The only time I ever ate steak when dining out. Which I don’t very often.
Sadly now changed hands and that steak is no more.
I eat far less meat than I used to...on warmer days I’m happy with a home made blue cheese salad, with sliced apples and strawberries in it. Peppers, walnuts, pine nuts.
I’d go so far as to say I prefer a good home made bacon sandwich to a steak
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>>a good home made bacon sandwich to a steak
ohhh yes!
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>> 52 years married and it seems like it was yesterday
>> and you know what an awful day yesterday was!
54 years next Wednesday plus 5 years stepping out. Day before they walked on the Moon. I always say that I wished I'd been with them !
Ted
>>
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60 years on August 3rd. Telegram from Chas.
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>> 60 years on August 3rd. Telegram from Chas.
'king Charles.
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>> 54 years next Wednesday plus 5 years stepping out.
Congrats Ted.
25 years next Wednesday for me. Since I divorced the first Mrs LL.
I remember the day very well...sat on my rucsac in Lima airport waiting apprehensively for the next stage of my life to begin :-)
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>>Egg & chips £19 in the Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor :(
Don't believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see ...
www.jamaicainn.co.uk/uploads/editor/Jamaica%20Inn%20Evening%20Menu.pdf
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Our local fish and chippy is now £9.20 for takeaway cod & chips. It probably isn't even cod but it is very good and the portions are huge.
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Ashamed to say I only had my first ever Anstruther chippie fish supper this week.
Probably means nothing to most of the Anglos on here mind you!
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I'll put that on my list Bobby
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Can be horribly queued out - these guys are pretty much as good:
theweechippyanstruther.co.uk/menu/
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>> Ashamed to say I only had my first ever Anstruther chippie fish supper this week.
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>>
>> Probably means nothing to most of the Anglos on here mind you!
>>
What does that mean, Bobby?
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It's a multi-award winning Chippie probably known to the majority of Jocks but not known dan sarf.
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>> It's a multi-award winning Chippie probably known to the majority of Jocks but not known
>> dan sarf.
>>
Not quite - I know it, but, as you suggested above, the queue was massive so we went to the other place.
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Cod!!!??
You'll struggle to to get Cod round these parts unless you ask for it. Not forgetting the Humber is (was) the fishing capital of the UK. Supposed to be a bottom feeder and therefore contains worms.
Haddock is the fish of choice but I have to say of the 2 I prefer the taste and texture of Cod.
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Definitely Haddock up here!!
I love mackerel, obviously not from a chippie, but have always been told fishermen don’t eat mackerel as they eat all the crap in the sea?
Favourite fish, by far, Arbroath Smokie!!
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We were in Fife last year. Went to the local chippy. Blackboard said “fish supper”.
Asked for “cod and large chips twice please”
Very short shrift from the bloke. Apparently we should have known a fish supper comes with chips, and you can’t change the portion size.
I felt very foreign, or maybe he doesn’t like the English.
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Herring is my fave, but not battered, obviously.
Rollmop or sliced with pickled onions.
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>>cod and large chips twice please”
What does that mean? Is it that you want two portions of cod and chips?
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>> What does that mean? Is it that you want two portions of cod and chips?
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There aren't many other ways of saying it.
Two portions of cod and two large portions of chips.
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Two large portions of cod and chips please?
I’m glad we have “supper” up here to signify that it is coming with chips but I suppose it does get confusing.
Fish supper- fish n chips
Single fish - fish on its own (but will be 2 fish)
Single sausage - sausage on its own (but will be 2 sausages)
Single chicken - one chicken
Single smoked sausage - one smoked sausage
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>> but I suppose it does get confusing.
You don't say, how do get just one fish, ask for a half?
>> Single fish - fish on its own (but will be 2 fish)
>> Single sausage - sausage on its own (but will be 2 sausages)
>>
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One chippie near me actually advertises “small fish supper (one piece fish)” On their menu to clear things up.
Asking for one piece of fish is something I have never had to do !!!
Occasionally I take a fish supper up to my elderly dad who doesn’t eat a lot so I will but a standard fish supper and then divide it up between the two of us so that we’re both get one fish and chips each.
Oh I forgot, you get fish and you also get special fish…..
Fish is standard battered fish but special fish is done in breadcrumbs.
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>> Oh I forgot, you get fish and you also get special fish…..
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>> Fish is standard battered fish but special fish is done in breadcrumbs.
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What about the Mars bars?
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Never had the Mars bar but pretty sure that will be in batter!
Was in the chippie recently that claimed to be the first to do it and I can’t for the life of me think where it was. I am guessing up Stonehaven way but could be wrong.
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Was always haddock in the West Riding, my bit anyway. Down here cod is the default and haddock if available is cooked to order, which I always do. That way I always get fresh cooked. I live for fish and chips, the best fast food.
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>> Was always haddock in the West Riding, my bit anyway. Down here cod is the
>> default and haddock if available is cooked to order, which I always do. That way
>> I always get fresh cooked. I live for fish and chips, the best fast food.
that. exactly.
Going to the original Harry's (Harry Ramsden's) in Guiseley fish and chips was Haddock. Except for Dad who had a Large Plaice.
To me that's the fish with chips. Cod just about OK if, as at our mobile chippy it's the default, but much prefer the firmer texture of Haddock.
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>> Going to the original Harry's
Did you ever try Bryan's at Headingley? Or Brett's ? ISTR you were a Leedser.
Bryan's went a while back, not sure about Brett's. Bryan's was fantastic for a sit down meal, three baby haddock, chips and guacamole mushy peas and a big pot of tea...
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Bryan's I remember well. Also a place close to the City Centre with red and green ships navigation type lamps as part of the decor.
Chap I worked with - Ministerial appointee to the Quango (but not the trans one) - was at Uni in Leeds sixties/seventies and used to talk of a place he called Sweaty Betty's.
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Yes. Haddock in Bradford. Growing up in Manningham we were spoilt for good chippies. And pie n peas.
I definitely prefer fish to meat. Not so long ago a friend living on Tenerife took me to two restaurants on the coast, well off the tourist trail. Freshly caught Octopus, lightly fried, served on new potatoes. No chips or veg. Each mouthful accompanied by a sip of top quality tequila.
Not the firewater shot stuff, but the tequila equivalent of a darned good malt.
Amazingly good tastes, if you like octopus. I’m back in that part of the world quite soon, which brought back the memory.
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Whatever happened to rock (salmon). It was the fish of my childhood, but seems to have gradually disappeared. I can't recall when I last saw it advertised at a chippy. The cat used to love that rubbery bone.
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Rock Salmon aka Spiny Dogfish is now an endangered species.
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I used to like small (baby) octopus. Seasoned and fried.
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>> I used to like small (baby) octopus.
They can cost a few squid though.
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>> They can cost a few squid though.
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...several arms and a leg...
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A tale of 3 steaks - Dog
