It’s more that Fish and Chip shops were so ubiquitous when there weren’t really other options. You still get chippies - google says there are 15 in my local town - but these days there are as many kebab shops (called gyros in the US, maybe?). Then there are the US outlets like MacDonalds, KFC, Burger King, Subway etc. And then there are other niche places where you could get more interesting street food. The market has grown, but the share of the market for chippies is smaller now. Still, a growing market overall means they do well enough.
I think it’s a reasonable generalization that the US outlets tend to be chain; and the UK/local outlets tend to be independents. But yeah, a generalization.
My perfect retirement would be near an English (or Welsh) village, where some sort of “local” fast good (Welsh pasties, fish & chips, etc), and a local grocery store were withing short walking distance.
Escape to the Country is prole-taunting. It’s purpose is to cruelly mock the unemployed watching it on daytime TV by showing someone who’s got a spare million quid to get a second mansion out in a lovely wee English village. Obviously a chippie will not feature. Y’know, yas. Perhaps somewhere with a 32 course of individual chips covered with artichoke foam, or formed into a variety of french landmarks.
McDonalds and Wimpys (there’s not many of those out the south east now) aren’t in those small towns either. A relatively posh town I worked in, Leatherhead, refused to have a McDonalds, but fine with a Subway and a Greggs.
On the other hand, the British chippie is dying out a bit. A lot less of them around here. Perhaps the kebab shops, the Piri-piri shops (a lot of these in more recent years) has stolen their lunch (ironically, Alanis). It’s a shame, because those places all do “fries” so its hard to get a real bag of chips. They burn a LOT of energy frying those chips, covid didn’t often suit them.
Germany doesn’t do well for ethnic food from other countries. The worst curry I’ve ever had by a long shot was in an indian restaurant in a small town in Germany. Basically empty 20 teaspoons of salt into a curry. Currywurst, as you probably know is popular in Germany, doesn’t taste of curry. Pretty much tastes of salt. Ah, I see that now…
I’m reasonably sure the staff knew how to cook curry, but they did it to local tastes.
The sad thing about mexican food in the UK, is that I’ve been to restaurants local to me, which wanted to be good. You don’t start from the point of view of bland food. Just it was if they’ve never tasted mexican food.
The country does have a taco mix for sale in the supermarket, which barely tastes of anything, which also comes in mild and extra mild (which I suspect involves showing a picture of some spices to some meat) flavours.
When I went looking for that on amazon, I saw that they sell Taco Bell Seasoning mix. THERE WAS SEASONING IN THAT??? .
Of course for the most unique overseas fast food experience you should visit McDonald’s where the beef-based Big Mac has been replaced by the Maharaja Mac which uses chicken.
I have to say though the Mcdonald’s I had in the US didn’t seem any different from the ones I’ve had in the UK.
If I may nitpick, Tim Horton’s is actually Canadian, although they have made inroads in the US. Although I guess you could say they’re “American” in the sense that they’re from the North American continent.
I lived on Guam for two years and McDonald’s was very different there. Which is funny, because it’s still the US. But I think the fact that they had to import everything from so far away before preparing it really harmed quality.
This is a pretty good description. I remember that I would order a McChicken sandwich and the chicken would be soggy, even the breading on the outside. And the mayonnaise would be more like a curdled paste. Almost as if they took a cold sandwich, put the mayonnaise on it, and then microwaved the whole thing, so that the chicken absorbed all the moisture out of the mayo. Maybe that’s exactly what they did. When I returned to the mainland US, McDonald’s was suddenly this high quality wonderland compared to what I had lived through on Guam.
Here in the US, Popeye’s has also disappointed me most of the time. Every time they advertise a new menu item that sounds really good, when I order it, it is just “okay” at best. I really don’t like their chicken honestly. Their sides are usually pretty good, I could practically eat their red beans and rice as a meal in itself. But there is one menu item at Popeye’s that I am in love with, and it’s just about the only thing I ever order there… The popcorn shrimp. I am not even a big fan of shrimp, most of the time I tolerate it at best. But something about the way they make it, it never fails me. I sometimes have to make sure they give me the tartar sauce and cocktail sauce to go with it (they often forget and it’s just not nearly as good without them) but good grief. So amazing and it’s from a place that specializes in chicken.
Disclaimer… I have yet to get a chicken sandwich from Popeye’s. Every time I have tried to order it, they are out. Now, I don’t go to Popeye’s often, there aren’t any conveniently close to me so I only order when I happen to be near one. But every time I’ve tried, they didn’t have it. It has a really good reputation so it might blow me away. But considering I only think their chicken is “okay” (I like KFC better, especially their grilled chicken) I doubt it would be that impressive to me.
Yeah, the Indian McDonalds menu options are quite fun. The one time I went to India (for three weeks), I had to stop at a McDonald’s twice to check out some of the localized takes, and it was pretty interesting.
When I lived in Hungary, we had McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s (long since gone now). All three were pretty damned close to their US counterparts. Some different menu options, especially when limited time selections came through, but, honestly, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
And with the talk of fast-food chicken – my experience is that it is abysmally inconsistent. Of all the various fast food franchises, fast food chicken seems to be the worst in terms of repeatable quality, at least here in Chicago. Popeye’s has the most orgasmic chicken sandwich (though Shake Shack actually is neck-and-neck), but it’s like 1 of 5 that I get that sandwich here.
Not anymore. Wendy’s owned them for a decade from ‘95-‘06 before they spun them out and then Restaurant Brands International (in turn owned by 3G Capital from Brazil) bought Tim’s in 2014.
I confess to being rather appalled (this was 1998) when I stood at the head of the staircase at Waverley Station and noticed that I could descry three Burger Kings.
It’s not exclusively fast food; I’ve never had a British Dr. Pepper that wasn’t noticeably caramelized.
Wendys are coming back; they opened one in my area last fall and it seems to be doing okay although it’s not as good as the US ones. There are also Quiznos branches, although they are vastly outnumbered by all the Subways.
Burger King here is spectacularly bad, so I agree with your assessment. They seem to have worked at being awful.
The only chain that seems to be improved is McDonalds, largely because you don’t get the horribly sweetened buns (high fructose corn syrup is thankfully not ubiquitous here). But they’ve got the standard “milkshake/ice cream machines perpetually not working” problem.
Rather sad, because I really don’t like the soggy mess that is Krispy Kreme.
The problem with Arby’s is that it would take 20 quid to make one of their beef sandwiches. It reminds me of that recent SNL sketch there they’re selling 4 of them for $5.
Small nitpick, but it’s 5 for $10. And even at that price, I’ll pass. It is pretty cheap, I’ll grant you that. It would cost me about $2 to make 1/4 lb beef sandwich. But I’m not sure they even give you 1/4 lb of beef. Those sandwiches always seemed skimpy to me.
rimshot The chain originated in New Orleans, and the founder always claimed that he borrowed the name from “Popeye” Doyle, the main character in the film The French Connection, rather than the comic character.
That said, in its early days, the restaurant sponsored a local TV cartoon show in New Orleans, featuring Popeye the Sailor, and actually licensed the use of the character in their ads for several decades.
Is it chicken-based? I’ve heard references to it in British panel shows, but not figured out the cultural connotations. Is it takeout fast food a la McDonald’s, or more sitdown fast food, like Pizza Hut or Chipotle?
(I know, I could Google it, but I’d rather hear from an actual human being.)
