Where might Trifle be served?

[MotiSen]

Hello Brits, Scots, Welsh, Irish, etc! My 11 yo son and I are on our way to UK 8/29. I have done extensive research, gotten our britrail passes, hop on hop off passes, tickets for the London Eye, hotels in London, York and Leeds so we can see more of UK, etc.

Just one question. Where can I get trifle? I tried it once about 15 years ago, and thought it amazing. Is it common on dessert menus?

Any other advice about UK-specific foods you could recommend us to try would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I can't believe people are recommending M&S Welshcakes. It would be like telling OP to buy battered cod and chips in M&S (to heat at home). Granted, M&S Welshcakes are probably the best of the bought ones, but freshly baked are far superior. If you are underwhelmed by shop bought Welshcakes, please don't write them off as a concept.

Also, try for homemade crumble with custard for dessert during your travels. Rhubarb is best (and is more abundant oop north, as Yorkshire the is prime rhubarb growing region in the UK) but not everyone likes rhubarb - apple or apple & blackberry are also traditional and less 'challenging' for the rhubarb haterz among us.

Hmmm. 10 days isn't long. Whitby & Scarborough are both a fairly long trips. TBH, you'll get decent fish & chips across Yorkshire.
Other fab places to visit easily from the train include Oxford, Edinburgh, (there's a lovely Betty's in Northallerton, which is sort of on the way from York to Scotland & has a railway station). There's also bath, which is very nice... Have a wonderful time!

(I love the Yorkshire seaside towns, btw. Just not sure whether it's worth trekking across if you've only got 10 days).

I'm so excited for you, Moti. Maybe DP and I will do a culinary tour of the U.K. next hols. I'll tell him it's a history tour.

AcademicOwl

10 days isn't enough to see a bit of Yorkshire coastline but you want to send her to Edinburgh?

OP

I suggest you send us your itinerary and we can all meet you at various stops and take you to local eateries.

I'm originally from Yorkshire but currently in the Black Country - where the best hot pork rolls are to be found. Oh and samosas - I have to send them to various family members.

If you're in York, then Scarborough can't be that far? Not done it by train, mind you.

DH (who is from Lancashire, but whose Mother is from Yorkshire), would always say to have haddock if you are in Yorkshire. Is his opinion it is a "cleaner" fish, as cod is a dirty bottom dweller!

Swansea Market, South Wales, the Welsh cakes are freshly cooked. Also try laverbread and cockles in a cooked breakfast and a Joes ice cream.

Quite right sunny ex northerner here who much prefers Haddock.

Joes do a Welshcake icecream, but only in the parlours (as far as I can tell), not in take-home tubs.

YY to Tunnocks tea cakes!
Also look out for Eccles cakes and Chorley cakes (you might find them in Marks & Spencers too).

If you like cheese, look out for Lancashire, Stilton and Cheshire cheeses. Local market halls, and farmers markets are good places for finding such delights.

You'd better make sure all the clothes you pack are baggy and roomy as you will eat your way around Britain!

Apparently the best cockles in the world are to be found in Leigh on sea in Essex. You can buy them direct from the fishermen in little sheds on the sea wall, washed down with ale

Crafter kippers...

Craster, not crafter...

YY to Craster kippers. OH is from Northumberland and we have often had them. I have never seen them for sale outside of Craster though.

When you are in Leeds go to Ainsley's and buy Yorkshire curd tarts and parkin (a type of ginger cake).

Away from food, you must see the Victoria arcade, Leeds Market and the Corn Exchange. Kirkstall Abbey is worth a visit as well.

Our waitrose has craster kippers...

The herrings themselves come from Norway, but the smokehouse remains in craster.

Jed, Wales wasn't on the oP's plans. But she has to have Welsh cakes. I raise Swansea market to Cardiff market, hot off the griddle ( thinks, perhaps the same man?) but if niot having home made hot ones, M&S is the next best...

And, OP, if you're going to Leeds, Harrogate is only a 20 min train ride away. It too has a Betty's, the original. It also has a Georgian spa, with interesting architecture, and very sulphurous water, the sort that people drank at Bath, Tunbridge wells etc. if you are Georgette Heyer reader, Arabella went to Harrogate, it's really the northern Bath.

The best trifles are home-made and add in/leave out the ingredients you do/don't like.
So I recommend visiting a supermarket and buying a pack of custard powder, one of jelly (the squishy rectangle variety), some sponge fingers, and then once home assemble one - soak the sponge in the alcohol of your choice (sherry is traditional), add some fruit if you want, then custard and then can add whipped cream and/or fruit on top.

MIL always does two at Christmas - one with Tia Maria or sherry and lots of chocolate involved, and another with tinned mandarins, then grapes on top.

The Good Food Guide is now available online and is far from exhaustive but gives a good range of places around the country - check with locals to ensure the good chef hasn't quit! And to find the best local roast dinners.

Betty's in York, or better yet, Google little betty's and you'll find a smaller one down one of the side streets. I'd recommend booking for actual Betty's cos the queues are horrendous.

I second everyone else's suggestions, but also, get up to Edinburgh and have a Scottish breakfast. We have square sausages and potato scones!

Because, if you truly want to sample the UK, you'll need to visit more than just English cities......

All this talk of Trifle made me want some so I had to go out to Morrison's for 🍧

Yes, looks like I might need the double-wide seat for the airplane back. Or, I'll put the arm rest up and squish my son into the corner. : ) I will be sure NOT to have "joust one leetle theen mint" before I go! Thanks for the Little Betty's tip - yes, with 10 days, can't stand in queues too long. But, maybe I should jog in place.

Cornish pasties sound good. I'm not even going to Google it, I'll just order it when I get there and see what turns up. And, treacle, too. And ... craster kippers? And, homemade crumbs. Are you sure you all aren't making this up?! Ha, that would be a good one on me with my extensive research. Well, Trevelayan didn't cover the cuisine. : )
Thanks!

See you soon! I'll be wearing a pink carnation!

That Rules menu is a good source of food inspiration.

Do you have Bakewell tarts in the states? Or steak and kidney pie/pudding?

Just5minswithDacre - no - except for regional specialties our national cuisine is maybe ... hamburgers, steaks, meatloaf, baked whole chicken, and lately - many eat grilled chicken breast for health reasons. Many foods from other countries (pizza, kielbasa, enchiladas, etc.), but not from UK judging from the suggestions I've seen here. Odd, considering so many states and counties in northeast U.S. are named after places or people from UK. For example, I live in Fairfax County, Virginia. I have eaten at Mount Vernon (George Washington's historical home) restaurant, which serves dishes from his estate's historical recipes, and it is more like hoe cakes, sliced ham, fried chicken, pumpkin pie ... more like our Southern cuisine, in fact. Not sure what happened. Yes, I'd say our Southern cuisine is the most indigenous and distinctive. Typically, it might feature fried okra, fried green tomatoes, fried chicken ... they call green peas English peas, because they also have black-eyed peas. We all eat stuffed turkeys on Thanksgiving Day, in November, but in the South, the stuffing would be corn bread and in the North, white bread.

I digressed a bit. Kind of an interesting topic now that I sit down to think about it. I am up to try steak and kidney pie! Thank you for the suggestion - also the tart.

If you are into food borough markets is fantastic.

Brick lane for curries and also corn beef bagels.

The Wallace collection is a wonderful museum and the tea room is pretty.

Bakewell tart is lovely. Betty's would have decent ones. A lot of commercially available Bakewell tarts are poorly executed and made with cheap ingredients - avoid!

I loved the food in the US.

If you only have 10 days I'd be careful not to do toooo much travel. Train food/drink is awful and expensive, so take picnics! Food/prices in shops/outlets in stations still pricey and not great but better than on board. The pasties at the pasty places in stations are not proper ones!

And research your eateries carefully -lots of poor food here.

Don't have fish and chips in most of London, or indeed lots of places: vast difference between good and bad ones! I far prefer curry anyway though.

To the PP who mentioned Ainsleys in yorkshire - it is no more! Tragedy. Did amazing mini ginger cakes.