Agreed. I can find all these dishes (some with slight variances) in Singapore, except for #7 (no one has tried to copy Blumenthal’s meat fruit), #28 (pressed duck went out of fashion in Singapore, and haven’t seen any since Le Restaurant de France @ Le Meridien Singapore closed in the late-90s) and #32 (Beef dripping from a candle? Seriously?!).
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What’s missing ? - cont.
Bubble & Squeak !
Toad in the Hole !
Black Pudding !
Sticky Toffee Pudding !
Pease Pudding !
Any Pudding !
Rum Trifle !
Jam Rolly Polly with Custard !
Cucumber Sandwiches with no crusts !
Beans on Toast !
Eel Pie & Mash !
Ploughmans Lunch with Stilton & Pickled Onions !
Bangers & Mash !
Cornish Game Hens !
Roast Mutton with Mint Jelly !
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So there was a point to my posts, which is almost all of the dishes on the list are not from England.
And this raises the question whether the dishes would still be “amazing” in their country of origin, or merely average.
One thing I will say is the list demonstrates that London certainly has a great variety of ethnic restaurants now.
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The beef dripping candle was actually quite fun. It tasted good and it was an entertaining surprise. My friend’s face on finding out she could eat the candle that had been burning for ten minutes was hilarious.
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Any idea why they picked the number 55 ?
A minor correction. The household authorities remind me that I’ve also eaten Brindisa’s chorizo butty. As with my other two, nice but not “amazing”
Might I be correct in suggesting that, as often the case with these sort of lists, the author may have first picked the restaurants and then decided on the dish? I note that a number of the listings include a link to Standard articles on “the best xxxx in london” - I despair at the “best vegan junk food” one
I need to try that when I’m down in London this July. Let’s catch up, in any case 
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You must come to the frozen northwest one trip. Beef dripping is not at all uncommon in restaurants here - none of that poncy, imported olive oil and balsamic nonsense. Although we don’t do candles with it.
Last time I was at Sam’s Chop House in Manchester, there was bread and dripping to dunk it in. That preceeded the proper starter - thick slice of black pudding, breadcrumbed, fried and served with fried apple, apple puree and a cider/butter sauce. Steak, chips and fried duck egg, as a main.
Don’t worry about fat levels - our local hospital is the regional cardiac centre, just in case!
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Good point - I count 12 or 13 you could call British - although not all traditional I think the chip butty must qualify.
And whilst it’s a good point a bit undermined by your first list including prawn vindaloo and chicken tikka masala. And you you have custard with your Pease Pudding…?
My goodness, sounded like reverse-liposuction.
I’m going to say, yes. Fried chicken, polenta, al pastor tacos, Neapolitan pizza? I’m not going to go through the list, but I would say 80% of the food on the list is available, even in risky-dink backwoods places like Texas and Michigan.
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So to run the top ten on the London list locally:
San Danielle Pizza, don’t get me started. Too damn many in this area, Neapolitan, Sicilian, grandmother or otherwise. People seriously fight about whose is best. Btw putting prosciut or Parma ham on a pizza is a sin, since that cooks it and prosciut is meant to be eaten raw as an antipasto. Cooking it destroys the flavor.
Sardines & Lardo is available in the Iron Bound in Newark and elsewhere in NJ, but is vastly outsold as a starter by shrimp & chorizo. Lots of good croquetas there too.
I would say 3-4 restos in Red Bank are offering some form of polenta on any given night, which is unusual since we tend toward Calabria/Sicily/Naples around here, and polenta is a dish from the Veneto. Usually not with truffles though (which are Emila Romagna).
We have super authentic and delicious Tacos Al Pastor at IMG, not to mention Tacos Al Arabe and Goat Barbacoa. I will find a picture for you.
Chorizo cemitas are pretty much everywhere, Jaunitos Mercado on Shrewsbury makes totally delicious homemade chorizo oaxqueno. I’m sure @goodparmesan can come up with a half dozen that will knock your socks off.
“Beigles” again are everywhere but usually with Lox and never with corned beef and a kosher dill. We have at least three chains in our area that do nothing but bagles. People fight over this too. Really good ones at Russ and Daughters in the city, but there I like the smoked sturgeon.
Corned beef and pastrami are a separate topic (Katz’s) and should be served in copious warm mounds on kosher rye with mustard and a bowl of half hours on the side. Nothing else, ever. And certainly not on a beagle.
I think there’s a whole thread on NJ Fried Chicken, and if there isn’t @corvette_johnny will be starting one soon.
Indian tandoor lamb chops are also close and delicious at Haldi Chowk.
Which leaves:
The bone marrow salad. I’ve had something like this at the Breslin in the city, run by April Bloomfield who is a Brit. Bone marrow on Toast is one of the most delicious things on the planet.
Which finally leaves:
The Meat Fruit.
As a Scandogermanian you had me with goose liver. I’ve never seen that elsewhere, and it looks good.
And we aren’t even touching Italy, Portugal or Spain for renditions here.
Again, I have wonder, are these dishes truly “amazing” or is it just amazing that you can now find them in London?
Absolutely. Don’t forget that this is the part of the world that “invented” fish & chips (small town of Mossley on the edge of the metro area).
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Michigan just happens to have some of the best Middle Eastern food on the planet, which yet again was missing from the list.
Grrr!
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There’s a lot of context in this list. Take the al pastor at Al Pastor, they’re named themselves after the dish because they are probably one of the only places selling it in the UK, or they were when they opened. These shores have been a culinary void for Mexican food until very recently.
So if you’re from the UK you might really enjoy it, and it’s an energetic place to get things like aguachile that you might not be familiar with.
But equally, if you’re traveling and you have access to this food back home, you might think it’s expensive and nothing special. I went to Al Pastor a few weeks after a holiday in Mexico, trying to recapture the moment, and it was a real disappointment. But I went to their new tacquiera the other day and had a really enjoyable meal.
Similar probably applies to the other appropriated items on the list like beigel bake, the pressed duck at Otto’s, the croquettes at Barrafina etc etc
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I’ve generally only seen these dishes in the UK where they are nearly ubiquitous, and understand that CTM is actually English in origin.
A feeble attempt at mucking about with the word “pudding” which I still find confusing.
Finally, I note you didn’t jump me on the Cornish Game Hens, which were a further red herring.
Glad to see someone is calling me out on this.
Houston is incredibly diverse named the most one in the US.
See if you get a hold of Bourdain’s No Reservations Houston and check for yourself.
//www.eater.com/2016/10/30/13456452/anthony-bourdain-parts-unknown-houston-recap
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The don’t mess with Texas thing is an ad campaign aimed at keeping the highways and landscape litter free.
