Food in the UK has a bad reputation, but there are 10 delicious dishes in London that you are sure to love! Read on for the best traditional foods in London, where to try them, and how to make them at home.
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Fish & Chips
Even people who don’t like fish are sure to love the battered and deep fried white fish served in most restaurants throughout the UK. The chips are thick-cut French fries (ask for only ends if you like crispy fries). This dish often comes with minty mushed peas and tarter sauce. Ask for malt vingar to add some extra zing to the meal.
Best place to try it: Brockley’s Rock but is available on just about every menu in the city!
Make your own: The Spruce Eats Classic British Fish & Chips Recipe
Sunday Roast
On Sundays, the British love to have a large traditional meal between noon and 5 p.m. Traditionally this is roast beef with roasted potatoes and other vegetables, gravy, and rounded out with a helping of Yorkshire pudding for dessert. Today you can get other meats such as turkey, pork, chicken, or lamb, or even all vegetarian versions.
Best place to try it: The Harwood Arms but most pubs offer delicious Sunday roasts as well.
Make your own: Culinary Ginger Roast Beef Dinner Recipe
Afternoon Tea
No visit to London is complete with indulging in the afternoon tea tradition. Feast on finger sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream, and pastries while you sip your choice of tea or perhaps some bubbly. And don’t think of this as an afternoon snack – it’s incredibly filling and is worthy of a meal slot!
Best place to try it: There are so many traditional afternoon teas as well as interesting iterations available in London. This Trip Advisor post lists 8 options and my post 12 Awesome Things to Do in London with Teens has a lot of options that will appeal to kids (and kids at heart).
Make your own: BBC Goodfood Afternoon Tea Recipes
Chicken Tikka Masala
Not all food in London is bland. Chicken Tikka Masala is spiced chicken topped with a sweet creamy tomato sauce. This dish was created by South Asians living in the UK in the 1970s and was declared to be a national dish in 2001.
Best place to try it: Punjab Restaurant and other Indian restaurants in the city.
Make your own: Krumpli Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe
Beef Wellington
Beef Wellington is a filet steak with a mushroom duxelles and wrapped with puff pastry. It’s simple but sophisticated!
Best place to try it: Holborn Dining Room
Make your own: Nellie Bellie Poor Man’s Beef Wellington Recipe – I like this because it subs ground beef or turkey for the steak. Puff pastry and mushroom duxelles really jazz up a simple hamburger patty!
Full English Breakfast
A full English breakfast will look familiar to Americans. We enjoy breakfast with sausage, bacon, fried eggs, toast, and hash browns! But the Brits take it to another level with the addition of baked beans, tomato, and black pudding.
What is black pudding you ask? You will be sorry you did. Black pudding is made from pork or beef blood combined with pork fat or beef suet and held together with some type of cereal grain. You should definitely try a bit of it. But it’s OK if you decide you don’t like it. The rest of the food will definitely fuel a day of touring in London!
Best place to try it: Just about anywhere but The Wolseley has a great reputation for the finest ingredients.
Make your own: Culinary Ginger Full English Breakfast Recipe
Bangers & Mash
Bangers are sausages. They get this name because the sausage explodes out of its skin during the frying process. Mash is mashed potatoes. Smother the bangers with gravy and lay them on a bed of mashed potatoes and you have a simple but filling meal and a iconic London food!
Best place to try it: Mother Mash is THE place for bangers and mash. You choose your mash (classic, cheesy, sweet potato, and so on), then your type of sausage, and finally your gravy (traditional, onion, parsley, and so on).
Make your own: Recipe Tin Eats Bangs & Mash Recipe
Pie & Mash
Continuing on our mash theme, pie and mash is a quintessential London food. Traditionally the pies were made from eels and served with a gravy made from eel stock called liquor. Doesn’t sound too yummy, does it? Today, however, the pies are stuffed with beef, chicken, lamb, or veggies and served with mashed potatoes and regular or parsley gravy.
Best place to try it: The Windmill
Make your own: Flawless Food Pie Mash & Liquor Recipe
Cornish Pasty
For some of the cheapest food in London, look no further than the simple Cornish Pasty. These D-shaped pastries are include various mixes of meat, potato, veggies and cheese. And they are truly delicious!
Best place to try it: Regency Cafe
Make your own: The Daring Gourmet Authentic Cornish Pasty Recipe
Sticky Toffee Pudding
We will end our list as we end a vacation meal, with a scrumptious dessert! Sticky toffee pudding is a sponge cake filled with raisins or dates, covered in toffee sauce, and served with custard or ice cream. Yum!
Best place to try it: It’s hard to mess this up, so you can probably just order off the menu of wherever you are eating! But it’s a bestseller at Hawksmoor where they continually tweak the recipe.
Make your own: Celebrating Sweets Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe
Which of these dishes look best to you?
Tell us below! While none of us would book a trip to London based on their traditional foods, I hope this list convinces you that food in London isn’t all that bad and can even be a highlight of your trip! Also don’t miss our other posts about London:
