Food in Britain

We describe dishes from Wikipedia and visitor-information sources, and we only list a place when its own website was reachable and said what we claim. We do not state prices or opening times: they change, so check the venue. Our guides cover London, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Anglesey, Bath, Birmingham, Blackpool and the Lancashire coast, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury & Kent, Cardiff, Cornwall, Coventry, Devon, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gloucester, Hereford, Ironbridge Gorge, Islay and Jura, Isle of Arran, Isle of Bute, Isles of Scilly, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Lindisfarne (Holy Island), Liverpool, Llangollen and Pontcysyllte, Lundy, Manchester, Mull and Iona, Newcastle and Gateshead, Norfolk and the Broads, North Coast 500, Northern Ireland, Nottingham, Orkney, Oxford, Portsmouth and Southampton, Salisbury & Stonehenge, Sheffield, Shetland, Shrewsbury, St Andrews and Fife, Stirling and the Trossachs, Stratford & Warwickshire, The Cotswolds, The Jurassic Coast, The Lake District, The New Forest, The Outer Hebrides, The Peak District, The Scottish Highlands, The South Downs, Wales, Windsor, Worcester, York and Yorkshire.

Food guides

Afternoon tea

What the meal is and how a cream tea differs. We list 26 tea rooms, cafés and hotels in 8 destinations whose own websites mention afternoon tea.

Read the guide: Afternoon tea

Sunday roast

The traditional Sunday meal and what comes with it, plus 27 pubs and restaurants in 8 destinations whose websites mention a roast or Sunday lunch.

Read the guide: Sunday roast

Pub food

How ordering at the bar works, what a gastropub is, the dishes you are likely to see and food pubs we checked.

Read the guide: Pub food

Regional specialities

10 dishes, from the Cornish pasty to Cullen skink and Welsh rarebit, with where each comes from and places in our guides that mention it.

Read the guide: Regional specialities

Dietary needs

23 vegetarian-friendly and 3 vegan places from our data, what we can and cannot say about halal and kosher, and allergy advice.

Read the guide: Dietary needs

Markets

12 food and street markets and market halls in our guides, each linked to its own website for current days and hours.

Read the guide: Markets

Meals and customs worth knowing

Afternoon tea and cream tea

Afternoon tea is a meal built around tea with baked goods such as cakes, scones and bread and jam, and perhaps sandwiches: the traditional form offered by London hotels.¹ A cream tea is simpler: tea, scones, clotted cream and jam, sold in tea rooms across England and especially in Devon and Cornwall.² Many places need booking, so ask about dietary needs when you book. See afternoon tea.

The Sunday roast

Also called Sunday lunch or a roast dinner, it is roast meat with roast or mashed potatoes and accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding, gravy and stuffing, with vegetables.³ Yorkshire pudding is a baked batter of eggs, flour and milk or water.⁴ Pubs fill up on Sundays, so booking is sensible. See Sunday roast.

Eating in a pub

Do not wait at a table for a waiter: in most pubs you order and pay for drinks and food at the bar, and food-led pubs often give you a table number so the meal can be brought over.⁵ Food ranges from crisps and basic pub meals to restaurant-standard cooking, and kitchens often stop serving well before the pub closes.⁵ Classic pub dishes include the ploughman's lunch, a cold plate of bread, cheese and pickled onions,⁶ and fish and chips, often considered the national dish.⁷ See pub food and the pub guide.

Vegetarian, vegan and allergies

It is rare to find a pub or restaurant with no vegetarian option, and most chains and some independents have at least one vegan dish; it is worth asking whether chips are cooked in animal fat.⁵ The Food Standards Agency publishes advice for people with a food allergy or intolerance.⁸ Tell staff about an allergy each time you order. See dietary needs.

10 dishes to know

Each links to the full entry in regional specialities, where we list places in our guides that mention it.

• Fish and chips (England): Battered, fried fish served with chips. Wikipedia says it is often considered the national dish of the United Kingdom and that it originated in England in the 19th century.⁷
• Full breakfast (fry-up) (Great Britain and Ireland): A substantial cooked breakfast. Depending on the region it may be called a full English, full Scottish or full Welsh.⁹
• Ploughman's lunch (England): A cold meal built around bread, cheese and pickled onions, often with extras such as ham or apple. Wikipedia notes it is particularly associated with pubs.⁶
• Yorkshire pudding (Yorkshire, England): A baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour and milk or water, served with a Sunday roast and gravy, or filled as a meal in its own right.⁴
• Bakewell tart and Bakewell pudding (Bakewell, Derbyshire): The Bakewell tart is a shortcrust shell with jam and frangipane, topped with flaked almonds. The Bakewell pudding is a separate dessert, with a flaky pastry base, jam and an egg and almond filling.^10,11
• Eccles cake (Eccles, near Manchester): A small round turnover of flaky pastry filled with currants, sometimes topped with brown sugar. It originated in Eccles.¹²
• Cornish pasty (Cornwall and Devon): A baked turnover of crimped shortcrust pastry with a filling, typically meat and vegetables. It is particularly associated with Cornwall and Devon but is sold across the UK.¹³
• Cullen skink (Scotland, especially the north-east): A thick Scottish soup typically made with smoked haddock, potatoes and onions, often served as a starter.¹⁴
• Haggis (Scotland): A savoury pudding of sheep's pluck, onion, oatmeal, suet and seasoning, traditionally cooked in an animal's stomach and now often an artificial casing.¹⁵
• Welsh rarebit (Wales (name of uncertain origin)): A hot cheese sauce, often with ale, mustard or Worcestershire sauce, served on toasted bread. The name is a joke: the dish contains no rabbit.¹⁶

Eat by destination

Every neighbourhood and area guide has an eat and drink page with filters by type of place. The counts are the places our data holds for each destination; start with the first area listed and use the guide's own navigation to move between areas.

• London: 646 places to eat and drink across 22 areas
• Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire: 51 places to eat and drink across 3 areas
• Anglesey: 16 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Bath: 107 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• Birmingham: 83 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• Blackpool and the Lancashire coast: 35 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Brighton & Hove: 114 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• Bristol: 135 places to eat and drink across 8 areas
• Cambridge: 107 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• Canterbury & Kent: 119 places to eat and drink across 5 areas
• Cardiff: 84 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• Cornwall: 82 places to eat and drink across 6 areas
• Coventry: 11 places to eat and drink across 1 area
• Devon: 109 places to eat and drink across 6 areas
• Edinburgh: 214 places to eat and drink across 9 areas
• Glasgow: 167 places to eat and drink across 9 areas
• Gloucester: 14 places to eat and drink across 1 area
• Hereford: 11 places to eat and drink across 1 area
• Islay and Jura: 10 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Isle of Arran: 11 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Isle of Bute: 11 places to eat and drink across 1 area
• Isles of Scilly: 12 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Leeds: 73 places to eat and drink across 3 areas
• Leicester: 12 places to eat and drink across 1 area
• Lincoln: 11 places to eat and drink across 1 area
• Lindisfarne (Holy Island): 12 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Liverpool: 105 places to eat and drink across 9 areas
• Lundy: 10 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Manchester: 166 places to eat and drink across 9 areas
• Mull and Iona: 15 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Newcastle and Gateshead: 106 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• Norfolk and the Broads: 98 places to eat and drink across 5 areas
• North Coast 500: 14 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Northern Ireland: 110 places to eat and drink across 6 areas
• Nottingham: 62 places to eat and drink across 3 areas
• Orkney: 46 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• Oxford: 89 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• Portsmouth and Southampton: 76 places to eat and drink across 3 areas
• Salisbury & Stonehenge: 51 places to eat and drink across 3 areas
• Sheffield: 64 places to eat and drink across 3 areas
• Shetland: 23 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• Shrewsbury: 20 places to eat and drink across 1 area
• St Andrews and Fife: 66 places to eat and drink across 3 areas
• Stirling and the Trossachs: 30 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Stratford & Warwickshire: 105 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• The Cotswolds: 50 places to eat and drink across 6 areas
• The Jurassic Coast: 64 places to eat and drink across 6 areas
• The Lake District: 79 places to eat and drink across 6 areas
• The New Forest: 19 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• The Outer Hebrides: 36 places to eat and drink across 4 areas
• The Peak District: 66 places to eat and drink across 6 areas
• The Scottish Highlands: 62 places to eat and drink across 6 areas
• The South Downs: 22 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Wales: 107 places to eat and drink across 6 areas
• Windsor: 26 places to eat and drink across 2 areas
• Worcester: 10 places to eat and drink across 1 area
• York: 88 places to eat and drink across 5 areas
• Yorkshire: 95 places to eat and drink across 5 areas

Looking for a drink rather than a meal? See the pub guide. On a budget, see free things to do.