Philippines / Metro Manila / Dining / British Cuisine

There is no cuisine in the world about which there are as many jokes as there are about British cooking. Particularly the French are great in making jokes about British cuisine. For example, according to one French comic, hell is a place where the cooks are British.

Or did you know why the British serve mint sauce with lamb ? According to French food critics, mint must be the only plant not eaten by sheep.

Of course, these all are exaggerations. The British bear them with their superior sense of humor. And probably it's their preference for understatements why they haven't cracked similar jokes about French cuisine.

It's granted that British cuisine cannot present as wide an array of internationally renowned dishes as does French cuisine. But British cuisine has contributed a lot to the world's steak culture, and there are a number of inventions in British cuisine which are even adopted by the French - as for example the creation of sandwiches.

As for steaks, that has in the past been so British that British elite troops were referred to as beefeaters. And the term Porterhouse for a special large kind of steak cuts has nothing to do with porters or luggage carriers but originates from British pubs where a special brand of dark beer, Porter beer, was served, and where a snack consisted of a steak some 2 lbs (about 900 grams) by weight - a single por-tion for a single man.

Talking about snacks: the first association is a sandwich, and the origin is as British as it could be. The name refers to the Earl of Sandwich who lived 1718 to 1792.

The British have always been betting and gambling buffs. It's in accordance with their idea of sports and sportsmanship - basically a British philosophy.

But the Earl of Sandwich overdid it even by British standards. During his gambling days, taking meals was considered by him as highly unwelcome interruptions. He there-fore invented a kind of meal not requiring him to exchange the gambling table for the dinning table: sandwiches.

In Manila a large selection of sandwiches is found not only in the very few British places but also in most bistros (see under "Bistros"). But while there is a clear ter-minology for steaks (see under "Grill Restaurants") there is no such thing for sandwiches. Clubhouse sandwiches, for ex-ample, are found at various places, but the garnish does rather seem to depend on the creativity of the cook than on a clear recipe.

It's a character trait of the British not to be overly proud of their cuisine. This is a state of mind that makes one open to learn. In the case of their foods and drinks, the British did learn quite a bit from the colonies conquered by the beefeaters all around the world. From East Asia (China) they adopted tea (and re-exported the habit to India), and from In-dia they adopted curry style spicing.

However, they didn't just copy these food and drink habits but combined them with their own foodstuffs: tea with milk, and curry with pastry (to make curried pies).

Where to eat:

British Restaurants

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