… with real British Indian food, fish and chips cooked with proper batter, bitter marmalade, and pubs that know what a spritze is!
… with real British Indian food, fish and chips cooked with proper batter, bitter marmalade, and pubs that know what a spritze is!
Boadicea's Chariot 
I knew it! Some old habits die hard, innit? Whenever I return, I just love to soak up the atmosphere of the ‘local’. Nobody does it better……. tumtetum.
We’ve tried ‘Indian’ food in just about every city in Oz – forget it, bland and one dish quite indistinguishable from another. There’s a place in Brisbane that claims to sell ‘British Indian Dishes’, we have still to try that out. Oddly enough, it’s right next door to a Fish ‘n’ Chip shop that has imported a ‘real’ fish fryer and sells plaice and chips a la British Mode – it’s pretty good.
As for Marmalade, it’s a bit poor when Tesco’s marmalade is on the gourmet shelves – if one can find it!
I’m pretty sure that all curry houses in the UK use Patak’s curry sauces on an industrial scale as a base for all their curries. It’s probably why you get a uniform curry taste throughout the land. I’m surprised that the curry shops in Australia aren’t using it, or perhaps they are?
It’s quite hard to imagine living without some things we take for granted, but what a treat to indulge when you come back.
I now prefer Sainsburys Three Fruit Marmalade to their Seville offering. Put me to the test and buy it! And dont forget the Lahore Karahi in Tooting. About 12 waiters. Cracking food. A Pakistani restaurant (not Bangladesh).
I always travel with a few sachets of HP sauce just incase the dagos don’t have any with the breakfast condiments. On the few times it has happened, it is always fun to see other Brits searching for the same. 🙂
I refuse to buy extortionately priced imports. I generally manage to get hold of a few Seville oranges in January and make my own, an Oxford marmalade and a jelly marmalade for cooking.
ditto mint jelly, redcurrant jelly and other tracklements, can’t stand the shop crap of any continent!
I buy all my Indian spices in the ‘native’ shops of Brum and cart them back across the Atlantic!
Cumin, coriander and fenugreek you can buy separately here, roast and grind myself.
I have to go to Canada to buy loose tea of the requisite brand. I utterly refuse to go without customary foods and have converted spousal unit to my ways.
I’ve always made my own tea breads etc and cakes, life without Bara Brith, no way!
I never liked fried food, but I would sell my soul for a fresh grilled Milford plaice!
When all else fails, my sister does huge care packages from Devon.
Bo, buy up a load of stuff and ship it back with you. I have never had processed foods like condiments or spices queried by customs here. but fish and chips may be a wee bit awkward!
Evenin’, Boadicea – I hope you and Bearsy are enjoying your extended sojourn in Blighty. I have to admit that on the rare occsasions that I am obliged to visit I go directly from the airport for proper fish ‘n’ chips, washed down by a good pint of hand-drawn bitter beer, neither of which tasties are available in Portugal – but then again you can’t get a rib roast of wild boar in yer average high-street takeaway.
On the way home I stock up with packets of cardomons, fenugreek seeds and other esoteric bits and bobs and make my own curries, most if not all of which are better than commercial offerings, he said, modestly. 🙂
OZ
Bloody ‘ell OZ,
I had a dyslexic moment there and read condoms for “cardomons.”
As the famous graffito once read,
“Dyslexia lures, KO”.
And why is dyslexia such a difficult word to spell? B’stards!
OZ
I’ve just added proper pate to the list!
Unfortunately, Australia imposes fairly hefty fines for the importation of food-stuffs. I can get the spices there – it’s just that I can’t get the pleasure of someone cooking the stuff for me!
I make my own paté (and brawn) too from the juicier bits of the pig I buy from Paulo. Do I need to get a life?
Sob!
OZ
Just guessing OZ, you are a Canis Lupus and there ain’t no help for you. 🙂