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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What’s the one food you wish for but can’t get in your area (but really want)?

419 replies

TheExecutionOfAllThings · 12/10/2020 16:00

Inspired slightly by the saveloy thread and those no longer able to attain one.

I went to Key West 6 years ago and I’m still dreaming about the fish tacos. I’ve tried making myself and I can’t get it right. Not a single place in my Midlands city sells fish tacos. I so want them to become popular - can you Deliveroo them in London?

Also Vietnamese. Went to a fab restaurant in China Town and again have had various attempts but not been very successful.

What are you craving that’s hard to get hold of?

OP posts:
Brunt0n · 14/10/2020 11:46

A white pudding supper from the chippy. With chippy sauce. Grew up in Scotland, now live in England. It’s the one thing I can’t easily get / replicate

FairFriday · 14/10/2020 11:54

Oh, I really want a chip butty now. Cheap white bread and butter and tomato ketchup.
Mmmmm.

Or a big plate of chips with salt and vinegar, grated cheese and ketchup... (my old work canteen used to make sure I got this every ‘fish Friday’ when I was pregnant because I liked it).

caperplips · 14/10/2020 12:31

This is a lovely thread!
I would love to have another cheese burger and fries and milkshake from The Burger Joint in Le Parker Meridian in NY, we spent 4 days there a good few years ago and had several while we were there. Then I read that they were voted in the top 10 burgers in NY in the NY Times a few years later.

Also in that hotel, the breakfast restaurant was called Norma's and was incredible (expensive) we had breakfast there every morning including Christmas Day. We were guaranteed a table because we were staying in the hotel but it was incredible to see New Yorkers queueing around the block to get in for a Christmas Day brunch, it seemed to be a tradition. I would love to go back and have bacon and eggs and homefries...

On another trip I had tiny Swedish pancakes in Sears in San Francisco and I'd have them again in a heartbeat!

In Venice we go every year to a restaurant and I have fillet steak sliced very thin, served with rocket and parmesan slices and it is so utterly delicious. It seems easy to replicate but it never, ever tastes the same at home. I think it's the atmosphere of that Osteria and just being there.

I had an amazing chicken salad that had dried cranberries in it in Jack Astors in Toronto and I ate it about 5 times as takeout during that trip (dd was little and in bed in the evenings )

Similarly, incredible Thai takeout from a place in Darling Harbour in Sydney.

I had fabulous fish and chips in Norwich!

Chicchicchicchiclana · 14/10/2020 14:06

I also love this thread and I want everything on it!

PunishmentSnart · 14/10/2020 14:06

What’s a Scottish munchie box? Sounds amazing !

PunishmentSnart · 14/10/2020 14:07

We do in Bold Street!

PunishmentSnart · 14/10/2020 14:11

Sorry that was to @nancybotwinbloom!

Can anyone remember the old style of M&S crisps- so much nicer!

I think a lot of food tastes different on holiday - the atmosphere can never be replicated!

nancybotwinbloom · 14/10/2020 14:17

@PunishmentSnart is there! I never knew that! Is it nice?

JorisBonson · 14/10/2020 14:24

A particular Chinese chicken baguette I used to get for lunch when I worked at Woolworths

Proper ramen made from pigs bones with extra garlic

Wheaten bread

Some shrimp I ate once with New Orleans, with some guys just cooking up Creole sauce on the street.

I'm hungry now.

JorisBonson · 14/10/2020 14:25

Oh and this massive turkey and pea shoot sandwich I had in a mountain place in California....

GOD I'M HUNGRY

PunishmentSnart · 14/10/2020 14:27

@nancybotwinbloom yes! I was sure I’d seen one and just googled, there is!

I’ve not been myself Grin

Grapesoda7 · 14/10/2020 14:29

Brown sugar cinnamon bread from America, lovely toasted.

There also seems to be a lack of Thai takeaways where I am.

Persipan · 14/10/2020 14:31

London Cheesecake. It's not anything you'd recognise as a cheesecake; it's like a puff pastry square with frangipane and jam filling, and white icing on top with these really long shreds of sweetened coconut. (Yes, it is incredibly sweet.) You can't get them outside the South East, and you can't even get the coconut shreds to make your own. And I WANT ONE.

Sunbird24 · 14/10/2020 14:40

@Persipan I said those too!

Graphista · 14/10/2020 14:55

@DefinitelyMaybeBaby yes I don't really understand why we get pakora up here but it's not really a thing in England

Loving the Scots and northern Irish families who are loading up on visits and taking food back away with them, thought that was just my lot. I also remember being able to play "spot the Scot" on the train on the way home. The non Scots would have "normal" sandwiches and snacks or maybe would be buying from the extortionately expensive buffet car. The Scots were eating sandwiches made from pan loaf and/or well fired rolls (cue comments from the non Scots "isn't that burnt?"), flasks of home made soup, cans of irn bru, strawberry tarts, snowballs (barely intact) bars of tablet and macaroon, tunnocks snacks,

Not been able to get a pea fritter for AGES, they don't appear popular now

@Iheardarumour I'm veggie but used to get just sticky rice and satay sauce when living in Netherlands among other delights

Cadbury chocolate. American chocolate is a joke. how long since you had any? Cos it's been bought and ruined by an American company!

@Kote Does it still taste better than other American chocolate? Cos if so American chocolate must be rank!

Various school dinners

Yes! I was very lucky that one school I went to was a small village school and the food was all cooked from scratch still and the food was AMAZING and fairly "exotic" for the time (70's) we had a lot of "traditional" dinners like shepherds pie, steak and kidney pudding, mince pie, all of an excellent standard, but we also had spaghetti bolognese (made far closer to the Italian style than many places served at that time), curries (served with popadoms or naan bread), chilli, quiche with salad (and the radishes were all fancy cut and there were hand made crisps lightly salted, just a few on each plate)

And the puddings! Chocolate tart, the usual sponge and custard but again excellent quality, custard made totally from scratch no powdered birds nonsense, lemon curd tart - again both pastry and curd made completely from scratch, Bakewell tart...

Those cooks would have done very well on something like masterchef or gbbo, they'd occasionally do birthday cakes for the teachers for milestone birthdays and they were STUNNING and tasted fabulous.

They did a 3 tier anniversary cake for 2 of the teachers on their pearl anniversary for the party that was held in school for them.

@PunishmentSnart it's a chippy thing usually, a pizza box filled with various chippy snacks, chips, pakora, fritters, battered sausage, kebab meat, pizza crunch slice, bhajis, garlic bread...

All sorts

You choose a pizza size - 10" 12"

And that determines how much you get and sometimes what items depending where you're buying from

You can get "breakfast" ones too so they're filled with square sausage, black pudding, white pudding, bacon, tattie scones, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread, well fired rolls

Generally the 1st usually comes with a bottle of irn bru the 2nd with either that or a good strong cup of scottish tea, most prefer made builders style - good dash of milk and 2 sugars

Ceara · 14/10/2020 15:14

Potato farls and sodas. If I want a proper cooked breakfast I have to find the time to make them.

PunishmentSnart · 14/10/2020 15:16

Oh we have them in Liverpool as well, called the same thing actually mostly filled with all things salt & pepper!

We get one with chips, ribs, siu mais, chicken balls all with peppers, onions and s&p seasoning!

Toddlerteaplease · 14/10/2020 15:22

Gelato. We used to have a shop but it closed last years

Crispyturtle · 14/10/2020 15:22

Staffordshire oatcakes. Never seen any in Devon.

recededpronunciation · 14/10/2020 15:22

Biberli. Pretty much impossible to get it in the U.K.

Toddlerteaplease · 14/10/2020 15:22

Oh and artisan bread. Major city that doesn't have a single artisan bakery anywhere.

UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme · 14/10/2020 15:28

Proper chip shop fish and chips, shepherds pue in the pub not made by me, food that isn't pizza delivered - only one place delivers to our village and its very good pizza, but any other take away is a 30 minute drive each way to pick up.

I'd like to be able to buy real tea bags in the shops instead of 9337 varieties of herbal infusion and dishwater weak "black tea" which doesn't get to drinkable strength even if you leave it until its disgustingly tepid...

Clotted cream.

Toasted tea cakes

Crumpets.

Shop-bought mince pies. I'm perfectly capable of making them myself, but I want shop bought ones probably specifically because I can't get them, and when you want a specific thing a home made version isn't what you want even when its supposed to be "better".

When I moved to where I live you couldn't buy proper bitter marmalade (just crappy bland orange jam) not salt and vinegar chips, but you can now if you know which supermarket to go to (annoyingly different ones for each of those).

The kind of £1 easter eggs you can buy in the UK before easter - smarties etc. They're probably not still £1 are they though?

Supermarket decorated birthday cakes - here you do it yourself or pay a Konditorei 75€ ....

LilyLongJohn · 14/10/2020 16:07

Chips cooked in beef dripping

nancybotwinbloom · 14/10/2020 16:11

If anyone comes to Liverpool you need to try a salt and pepper box Grin

FairFriday · 14/10/2020 16:14

Whats in the box?

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