Foods I missed from UK

We just got back from a trip to the UK. Neither my husband nor I were born in the UK; however, we lived there for a long time and have both become British citizens. I lived there for a little over 10 years, and Emils lived there for much longer. Living in a country for that long, of course, means there are foods we've missed since moving to Japan a year ago. So, as we went on this trip to the UK, we used it as an opportunity to indulge in the foods we’d been craving.

The day we arrived, we landed at 3:15 PM. By the time we got our bags and arrived at Emils' parents' house, it was probably around 4:30-ish. So, it was nearing dinner time. Of course, we had to have a kebab. It was something easy and one of the things we REALLY wanted. Emils likes a doner kebab, and I love their quarter pounder with cheese, burger sauce, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. That is the perfect burger for me. It was as delicious as I remembered.

The following day, we went to Tesco. It was a Saturday close to Christmas, so we went early to avoid the crowds. When we got there, we grabbed a trolley, knowing there would be plenty we wanted to get.

We picked up a 12-pack of Kopparberg strawberry and lime cider. This is a Swedish drink, but I know it from the UK. I love fruity ciders, but they’re far from common in Tokyo. Of course, it doesn’t mean you can’t find them at all, but since they’re not readily available, I don’t get them very often. These Kopparberg ciders are my favourite, and I could drink them every day!

Another drink I was excited about was those little easy cocktail cans from Tesco. We’ve been to multiple bars around where we live in Tokyo, but when I ask if they can make certain cocktails, they often say they can’t. So, these cocktail cans were another thing I’d missed.

After Tesco, we went shopping for clothes at some of our favourite shops and stopped for an early lunch at Blue’s Smokehouse, an American-style restaurant in town. Unfortunately, we arrived too early, and they were still serving breakfast. Due to jet lag, we had woken up extremely early and ended up getting hungry for lunch earlier than usual.

I had a large pancake, which came with an English breakfast-style meal with potatoes and syrup on top. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about syrup on top of everything, but it was surprisingly good.

The next day, we drove to Coventry to check on our house and talk to the tenants. We stopped for lunch at a Hungry Horse pub, which is a chain of pubs in the UK. We chose this pub because they had a charging point for electric cars.

We used to eat at a Hungry Horse pub in Bracknell, where we lived before, so we already knew what we wanted. Normally, at a pub, we’d have a meal each, but at Hungry Horse pubs, we like to pick smaller dishes and share them.

Their mac and cheese is so simple but really good. I had that as a side dish.

We also had some chicken strips, halloumi strips, and garlic bread with mushrooms. Both the chicken and halloumi strips were great, but the bread was soaked in oil and not something I’d order again.

For drinks, I enjoyed another Kopparberg cider—this time, the tropical mixed fruit flavour. Emils had a Guinness.

Over the next few weeks, we travelled to both Denmark and Egypt and then returned to the UK.

This blog post is about the food we missed from the UK, but I want to mention one thing from Denmark that we have every year without fail during the holidays.

It might seem odd and maybe even sound disgusting to some, but I promise you, it’s one of the best things and definitely something you should try if you visit Denmark.

It’s a kebab and salad pizza. It has the usual tomato sauce and cheese, and then as toppings, it comes with kebab meat, iceberg lettuce, and salad dressing. They bake the pizza with the kebab first and then add the lettuce and dressing once baked. Honestly, it’s one of my favourite foods and something you need to try to understand. Emils loves it too.

Back in the UK, there were a few more drinks we needed to have. My absolute favourite wine is from a brand called McGuigan. They make a range called Black Label, which includes reds, whites, and even a rosé—all of which I love. The wines are so smooth and have a really fresh flavour. They’re quite inexpensive, as I usually pay around £7 for a bottle. I’ve never believed that wine needs to be expensive to be good, and this wine proves it. Of course, it’s a young wine, so it doesn’t have the rich aftertaste of an aged wine. However, that comes down to personal preference, and I prefer younger wines with a fresher flavour.

Another wine we had was mulled wine. For years, we’ve been buying bottles of mulled wine during the holiday season, and we really enjoy it. It’s affordable at £3 per bottle and easy to prepare. When making it for a group, we heat it on the stove, but if it’s just for one cup, we sometimes use the microwave.

It’s not like we can’t find mulled wine in Tokyo. We bought a bottle from a shop called Kaldi once, and we’ve had some at the Tokyo Christmas Market. However, as I mentioned, we buy this every year for the holiday season, and since we were back in the UK during that time, we had to have it again this year.

We went to another pub, Peacock Farm in Bracknell, and had some more delicious pub food.

I had a steak with garlic butter, fries, baked tomato, and mushroom. I like the steak at this pub and really enjoyed this meal. Emils had a steak and ale pie, which is one of his go-to options in UK pubs.

Last but not least—Caesar salads. This might seem like such a boring thing to some, but for some reason, I love them. I buy these bags from Tesco, which come with cut iceberg lettuce, croutons, parmesan, and a Caesar salad dressing packet. They’re so easy to make, and I really enjoy them.

These are the foods we had this time around. As I’m writing this, we’re back in Japan, and I’m already looking forward to having some of these again—especially kebab! But I also enjoy trying new foods here in Japan and will share more about that on this blog in the future.