To think it's impossible to get a decent bagel or American muffin in this country?

[rollonretirementfgs]

Supermarket bagels are crap, the ones in the polythene bags. M&S did nice fresh ones but stopped selling them. American muffins... massive light fluffy muffins, as big as your head. Had one in France recently from Columbus coffee.... rubbish over here! Please enlighten me on any hidden gems.

Many thanks,

Desperate for carbs

To whoever asked, Carmelli’s in Golders Green is still going. Bloom’s shut down ages ago.

I remember my parents taking me to Blooms when it was in the east end....must have been mid 1980s. Iconic!

I have happy childhood memories of parking outside Bloom’s in GG, getting salt beef sandwiches and latkes and scoffing them immediately in a giant, greasy in-car picnic.

I was all about the Viennas....you can get them in Waitrose... sometimes I treat myself to a pack for the nostalgia

With the blokes from the Beth Din sitting in the back keeping an eye

And the very, very ancient waiters.

Don't have time to read the thread but def not! Brick Lane is one of my favourite places on earth and so are their bagels...

I think this is the same recipe? Honestly they are just like cakes (see the butter, sugar, egg, baking powder proportion) but with milk which is the differing feature. Also, what makes them "american" is sprinkling the sugar on top. If you have a favorite recipe you can sprinkle sugar or make a crumble with butter, flour, cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle that right on before baking for that same effect.

Featured in: De Gustibus; The Battle Over Blueberry Muffins.
Ingredients

½ cup softened butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup milk
2 cups blueberries, washed, drained and picked over
3 teaspoons sugar

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375.
Cream the butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar until light.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.
Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk.
Crush 1/2 cup blueberries with a fork, and mix into the batter. Fold in the remaining whole berries.
Line a 12 cup standard muffin tin with cupcake liners, and fill with batter. Sprinkle the 3 teaspoons sugar over the tops of the muffins, and bake at 375 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.
Remove muffins from tin and cool at least 30 minutes. Store, uncovered, or the muffins will be too moist the second day, if they last that long.

Tell me you've never been to America without telling me you've never been to....

If you've been there, it's possible you tried to buy food at a Walgreens or a gas station.

Just what I was thinking. I’ve never bought food from Whole Foods as normally on a budget but found nice cheddar and other decent cheeses all over the place.

I find there are a lot more independent coffee shops , delis and restaurants too selling more interesting, nicer and better quality food in the US. The UK now just seems overrun with bland chain coffee shops pubs and restaurants selling the same stuff often pre frozen and not that great.

Having had them in America I'm very glad you can't. Cardboard comes to mind.

Jewish shops for the best bagels

Not been my experience, even the supermarket ones are better than what we sell here which is what I don’t understand. Supermarkets seem to copy so many other things well. How hard can it be.

Apologies was replying to the poster below not your post.

The USA makes some great artisan cheese but doesn't really export a lot of it, so you have to find it. To say it's all rubber burger slices and that disgusting Monterey Jack is totally wrong.

It's irrelevant what country you buy a beigal in, decent quality ones are usually from kosher bakeries. We were brought up on the brick lane ones, Dad used to pick up salmon and cream cheese ones or salt beef once a week for all the family. Nan used the same bakery as a child.
North London has lots of kosher bakeries, no doubt the same in other Jewish areas in the UK.

Roni’s in NW London is excellent if you can get there.

Except not everybody has access to a Jewish bakery so have to make do with alternatives. In the UK we don’t seem to have mastered a half decent alternative.

The reviews are not encouraging.

American muffins are vile. Oily crap filled with so much sugar it makes your teeth hurt. There’s some great foods that have come out of the us but muffins isn’t one of them

No idea about reviews, I’ve been going to the bakery for 17 years and I have a stash of bagels from there in my freezer now I don’t live round the corner.

Do you freeze them with or without the fillings?

The bagels from London brick Lane are the best!

The spelling is irrelevant. I used to live in Stamford Hill, north London and I now live in Prestwich, north Manchester, which are known for having a huge Jewish population. There are two kosher delis and a kosher bakery on my street! Beigel/bagel is interchangeable. You might be more likely to see the beigel spelling in older businesses but it doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of the product.

There is fab bagel bakery opposite Chelsea and Westminster hospital.

Just like the ones I used to buy in NYC