I often here people raving on about Italian cuisine (usually Italians). Personally, I think British food is underrated and Italian food overrated.

I know they make such a big deal about Italian food being simple but using the best ingredients, in order to bring out the quality of the food. But doesn't the same apply to any national cuisine, I mean using the best ingredients to get the best results. That's not some sort of secret they are privy to, that's just common sense.

Whenever I go to an Italian restaurant, I often leave thinking why did I spend all that money on something I could have cooked myself?

What British dishes would you consider just as good, if not better?

The one thing Britain does do exceptionally well is puddings.

No other country can even compete

You're going to the wrong italian restuarants. Italian food cooked well beats British stodge everytime.

British food cooked well beats Italian stodge everytime.

In fact, any food cooked well beats any stodge everytime

Stodge? I wouldn't call our food stodgy.

What do you normally order? If you're going to a "standard" Italian restaurant and ordering things like pizza, lasagne, spaghetti bolognese etc then yes, you probably could make better. My favourite restaurant is Italian though, the last time I went I had Sea Bream with crab crushed potato and caviar tortelini. It was stunning and although I'm a good cook I couldn't beat that at home.

Both cuisines have good and bad, a good restaurant is a good restaurant though, you shouldn't leave any decent restaurant thinking you could make better at home.

I think you can probably make stodge out of any cuisine cooked badly, good italian and good British foods are not stodgy.

Sounds like you're going to the wrong British restaurants.

I don't go to British restaurants anymore (except seafood ones). The food bores me.

Sounds like you stopped going in about 1980 to me.

Why not enjoy what both have to offer? Whether it be the likes of bangers & mash with onion gravy or a plate of pasta - who cares as long you enjoy it!

I'd say that good British is as good as good Italian but average British is worse than average Italian.

I was not too impressed with Italian food.

The best Italian food I've had is the Vesta beef risotto.

Give me a good old British chicken tikka maasala any day.

[I]"Whenever I go to an Italian restaurant, I often leave thinking why did I spend all that money on something I could have cooked myself?"[/i]

I think that's the mistake OP. What British food could you not cook at home, anyway? Food in Italian restaurants here doesn't seem to represent the cuisine well anyway. I ate much more variety of foods in Rome, which i have never seen in the UK.

To compare British to Italian is not comparing like with like. They are different styles.
On the one hand there's good British fayre like a good steak pie and on the other there's delectable Italian cuisine like lasagna al forno....but which is best? There's only one way to find out.....FIGHT!!!!

Ok,If I was challenged, I think I would find most Italian pasta recipes fairly simple, just get get fresh ingredients follow a recipe. But to make a great pie, or even a Cornish pasty. A really good one, that takes practise, I would find it much more challenging. I've had some good Italian dishes. But I haven't any to make me think they are so much better than us. I mean constant reliance on pasta, almost like a glorified Pot Noodle. Now French Cuisine, that's a different matter..

I think it was on Food & Drink they pointed out that outside London if a restaurant opened selling 'proper' Italian food it would be lucky to last 5 minutes.

Proper Itialian food is delicious. But a lot of cheap and cheerful type Italian restaurants just serve up gloopy bolognaise, milky carbonara, lasagne flavoured with peppers and other travesties that a real Italian probably wouldn't even recognise.

I lived in Italy (Rome) for 5 yrs and France (The Languedoc) for 4yrs and can say with hand on heart that good Italian food beats good French food every time. Doesn't mean I don't like FRench food of course and have had some lovely French meals but the best Italian food is simply divine.

I love great British food too!

British, because I'm not that keen on pasta itself.

Italian cuisine is not just pasta dishes or pizza, tired of hearing that we just eat pasta and pizza, tomato and basil as my british boyfriend says.
There must be a reason why british cuisine is not as famous worldwide :P, no offence, you don't find british restaurants in other countries serving typical british food, isn't that right? You find thai, indian, chinese, italian, and so on. I can't comment on french cuisine as I haven't tried it.
That said, I don't mind your cuisine at all even if I don't understand this habit of sticking butter everywhere and don't like your bread that much; in Italy we have lots of different types of bread and I miss that.
Please don't think I am being snobbish . When I try to replicate some british dishes at home in Italy they don't come out the same as when I make them here, so if you eat Italian food prepared here by non Italians, it's never gonna be like the real thing, that's my opinion anyway.

Loved real Italian bread when I lived over there. A nice loaf of Pane Salato with some provolone piccante. Lovely stuff. The burger buns and hotdog rolls the supermarkets sell were rubbish though!

It's very rare I have pasta in my house as I find it too stodgy, but I love having it in an Italian restaurant, it's always better. I like British food too, a roast pork dinner is the best meal ever. Food cooked well is food cooked well, doesn't matter what sort of cuisine it is

Don't doubt it, you and Americans are the experts , I am not being sarcastic btw.

This, I keep on having to say this to people even though I'm not Italian myself. I would love to quiz an Italian on the greatness that is Italian food. Best in the world in my humble opinion.

As for the pasta thing, an excellent lasagne or arrabbiata dish is the highest realm of heaven for me.