The British are traditionally self-deprecating - and this applies to their country and culture as well. Add to this a tendency for many other nationalities to knock the British (possibly due to the legacy of Empire) and all you get to hear are negatives.
It’s changing now as the British are becoming much more jingoistic. I always think nationalism is linked to insecurity, so it’s understandable as the UK becomes increasingly marginalized internationally. The less you have to shout about, the louder you have to shout.
The food doesn’t all suck in the UK. Birtish food to me sucks. There are very good restaurants but you need to pay. Indian food was good, as are other ethnic foods. Skip the fish and chips, it sucks.
People can seem dirty on the tube, and the tube itself is nasty compared to the mrt. But that’s every where basically.
Besides the obvious nice architecture in nice places and historical buildings. The average building build to me are more depressing than the architecture in Taiwan, add that with bad weather it all looks depressing.
As a rule of thumb the further north you travel in Europe the duller and/or more unpleasant the cuisine. Go far enough north and you end up with a choice of rotting shark or meatballs.
However, fish and chips is a relatively new dish. If you are ever in the UK while I am also there I could take you to restaurants that serve classic British cuisine involving bone marrow and offal that I’m pretty confident you will love. You’re paying, though.
Or just people that know how to cook them well. My nana (who died last year in her 90s) was in the Navy during the War and made a great Roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, as well as Shepherd`s pie. Just as good as any regional cuisine in the South of France.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been back to the UK, or London. Unless you count going through awful heathtrow lol.
I’ve been meaning to go back but I’ve heard things haven’t been good recently for the average folk. The rich aren’t affected as much as they go around posh places and eat at nice restaurants and own properties already.
But I’ve heard it’s become increasingly dangerous, especially in certain areas and more and more homeless in some area. Prostitution plagues some places and have even dipped to low as 10 pounds for one…
But I suppose these are things you can say for any major city but I’ve just heard it’s become more and more of an issue.
If I were forced into a corner and had to say which nation had the best cuisine I would go Italian number one and Vietnamese number two. British cuisine certainly isn’t too far down the list. French? Considerably lower than might be expected.
Having said that the best dish I have ever had was warm fois gras over a wild mushroom salad in a tiny restaurant in the Dordogne. Husband cooked and wife served. Mind-blowing!
Yeah, there are one or two favs in Perigueux or Cahors that top anything I ever had in Canada or the US (including some great fois gras and goat cheese salads). And meat dishes (see pic). Even the comfort food (e.g., deep fried camembert) is pretty good. The hinterlands or places such as Lyon are way better than Paris. That being said, the region is very deficient in good Vietnamese, Thai, and even Chinese (going back to UK last month, I was in Asian-food heaven). Toulouse is an exception (some great Chinese soup places–this Chinese beef and intestine spicy soup was great, and very large portions too, but pricey)! I don`t mind paying double or triple digits for good French but Asian soups at 18 euro? UK is a lot cheaper for quality Asian!
I give credit where credit’s due. That’s what I mean by “objective”. And the reason I would never live in London is the cost of living and the fact that it’s just stressful.
Credit where credit’s due is not the same as objective, but I don’t think it’s of much importance.
Cost of living and stress also deter me from living in London and I’m missing out on so much London has to offer. Like so much in life, everywhere good is becoming a playground for the very rich.
