I used to love the smell of the bakeries...mmmm so goooood! I miss the chocolate eclairs, custard tarts, viennese fingers, cream doughnuts...aww man...to me, nothing I've had in the US comes close - they put this horrible bavarian cream in pastries and use horrible chocolate glazes instead of real chocolate - yuk!

Do they still make the ones I mentioned?

Yes though Greggs has kind of saturated the British bakeries market now, I personally prefer other bakeries to Greggs such as Stephens, Bayne's & Matthesons.

Really? I just checked out their (Greggs) website...no custard tarts or viennese fingers?

I was watching a show where a couple had emmigrated to the US and missed UK bakeries so setup a proper all English one over there.

Can't remember the show but I think it was in California.

Not surprised, there are alot of Brits in CA, not as many of us here in Florida. There's a few British grocery stores and pubs here and there, not many.

I miss the Chinese and Indian takeouts too. The Chinese place near where I used to live, had the best curry chicken with these juicy crisp onions, special fried rice and mushroom with onions..I used to get that all the time. The ones here cannot compare. The food in the UK overall is much better than the US.

I will agree on the cakes as the cakes in America are far to sweet. But the Chinese food there is great once you get used to it, its the same if you move five miles away to a new town in the UK the Chinese food is never as nice as the your regular one was.

And the food in America out ranks here in many ways restaurants, even chain ones, take pride in what they serve up as do the waiters and waitresses, our country could learn a lot from America food wise.

I think it depends. I found the steaks and seafood to be far better in the US than standard UK offerings, but most other things not quite as good. The Chinese we had there was particularly awful and it had good reviews too.


The staff there do take their jobs very seriously. Waitressing is a career over there, rather than just a stop gap as it is here most of the time.

Percy Ingles do more traditional cakes than Greggs. I've only seem them in East London & Essex, not sure if they are located elsewhere.

Greggs are too doughnut & cup cake centric these days.

When I was younger we used to have a gorgeous bakery near us. The smell used to waft out of the shop down the road - hmmm lovely.

I left England when I was young and didnt experience dining out at restaurants much while I was there so I can't really compare the UK to the US in that regard.

I must admit though, they do have a wide variety of restaurants here, but it all boils down to the type of food you enjoy really because for me, I like alot of spice (heat) and flavour which you're not going to find in many of the restaurants here. There are alot of Chinese restaurants, but again, for me, they don't come close in taste to the ones in the UK. Indian Restaurants are scarce in my area, but there is one about half hour's drive from home called Royal India and the food there is excellent. I've been going there for about 20 years...lol

Agreed, it does depend. The seafood offerings here in Florida are pretty good. We have great local freshly caught fish, etc.


Agreed, the majority do take their jobs seriously and are pretty efficient.

I'm one of the lucky people. I live just along the road from an independent bakers that do all the good quality goodies that are expected from an English bakers. infact this post has got me in the mood for a few things .

Oh...I'm not a huge doughnut or cup cake fan. I prefer a simple banana muffin with my cup of tea.

Aww man, I envy you!!

Would you mind taking a pic of the bakery and one of the display of all the treats so I can reminisce? lol