Remembering my time in the UK

I'm back. Back home in Singapore that is. It feels great to be back and able to bask in all that is familiar: seeing landmarks and favourite hangouts, eating local food (the first local dish I ate being a bowl of Yong Tau Foo) and hearing Singlish-laden banter when out in public. At the same time, everything does seem a bit foreign. No surprise that a little bit of reverse - culture shock has kicked in, I guess, since I was away for a good 6 months. I'll settle down to life in Singapore pretty soon, but while I'm still making the transition, I thought I'd reminisce a bit about my time in the UK while the memories are still fresh in my head. So, here're the 5 things (in no particular order) I will miss about the UK and life there:

1. British-style Fish and Chips. Fish and Chips as served in the country where it came from usually consists of beer-battered white fish (often Haddock, sometimes Cod), hand-cut chips and peas (may be whole or 'mushy'). A very popular condiment that is provided for free in most eateries where Fish and Chips are sold is malt vinegar. I will miss British-style Fish and Chips, especially the malt vinegar that often comes with it. Malt vinegar is MEANT to go with Fish and Chips. Sour with a hint of malt, it kicks the ass of the slices of lemon that often accompany the Fish and Chips sold in Singapore. I will also have to live with cravings for Haddock fish.This is a white fish that is similar to Cod but with a sweeter taste, and in my opinion, is more delicious than Cod. Haddock is now one of my favourite fishes to eat, but I don't know if I can get it in Singpore, where fishes like Tilapia, Red Snapper, Pomfret etc are more common.






2. My favourite British foods. Before I came to the UK, I read/ heard somewhere that British cuisine is one of the worst in the world. Well, I decided to keep an open mind and tried a big variety of British foods during my time in the UK and my verdict is that British cuisne is not all that bad, really! Okay, it is not one of my favourite cuisines (that would be Chinese, Japanese, Meditteranean and Italian). There are stuff I just don't get or don't like e.g. black pudding (a sausage made from dried blood and pig fat often consummed as part of the full English breakfast. I think it's gross.) and Steak and Kidney Pudding. But I did savour some really good British dishes, some of which are very popular worldwide and need no introduction: British-style Fish and Chips, Chicken Tikka Masala (yes, that's British. Chicken Tikka is an Indian dish, but Chicken Tikka Masala was invented in Britain), Sticky Toffee Pudding, Steak and Ale Pie, Victoria Sponge Cake, Scampi and Chips, Scones and Ploghman's Platter. Special mention goes to the traditional English afternoon tea, my love of which has already been openly-professed and well-documented .






3. Travelling around the UK. I travelled a whole lot around the UK. I did quite a bit of travelling when I first visited when I was about 10 years old. In April this year, my Mum visited and she and I travelled a lot within Yorkshire county, then popped in at nearby Cumbria county to check out the Lake District. This month, after my exams, my whole family visited and we went to Wales, hung around a bit in London and even spent about six days in nearby Ireland. I enjoyed my travels around the UK, for I got to see the country quite thoroughly: little villages, small towns, huge important cities, the rural countryside, the moors, beautiful lakes, historical sites, mountains etc. Some of my favourite places would be Whitby (a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast that is said to have the best seafood in the UK. I think the battered Scampi I had in The Magpie Cafe in Whitby was absoultely heavenly) and Ribblehead (a hilly, almost uninhabited moor located in the Yorkshire Dales that has a haunting beauty about it). Also worth mentioning as part of my travels in UK is my going to London to see the Royal Wedding. I'm proud to be able to say I was there, outside Buckingham Palace, to see the historical and fairy-tale wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton!


4. The city of Leeds. Okay, to be absolutely honest, Leeds as a city is not that great. It is not as huge, vibrant and diverse as London. In fact, it is just a small city. The tourist attractions within Leeds are pretty ho-hum. But Leeds is the place in the UK I will remember most vividly and sentimentally because this is where I lived and studied during my semester-long exchange. And even though it's kinda small, I did have places in Leeds I loved to hang around, such as the Leeds Union Student Union Building (better than the UQ student union!), Kirkgate market (my favourite Leeds tourist attraction and where I often do grocery shopping), Headingley (a suburb near my residential college that has a big student population, and where J.R.R. Tolkein lived in when he was teaching at the University of Leeds) and my favourite eateries (The Olive Tree Greek Restaurant, Hansa's, Las Iguanas and Salvo's Restaurant & Salumeria).





5. Learning about British culture first-hand. In my travels and in my day-to-day living in UK, I have learnt lots about British culture. I'm not really talking about culture in the terms of history and heritage, though I learnt quite a lot of interesting UK history during my one semester. More like, social culture: British attitudes, social behaviour, daily practices etc. It's fun to observe what the British are like and compare their behaviour with Singaporeans. One observation is that the British, especilly older people, like to address other people as 'dear' or 'love', as in "Have you had a good day, love" or "That's 10 pounds and 50 pence altogether, love". Another thing I observed is the common practice of thanking the bus driver before alighting from a bus, a practice that is also quite common in Australia. This is not common practice, in fact, something never practised at all, in Singapore. Finally, there is the pub as the watering-hole for the Brits. The pub, which is short for public house, is a small house people go to usually for drinking with friends or eating. Pubs are also where one should go to try authentic British cuisine. Pubs are extremely ubiquitous in the UK, just as hawker centres and food courts are in Singapore. Drinking at the pubs is to the British what eating and shopping are to Singaporeans.

So ends the chapter of my life that was spent living in UK. When I look through the list, I realize that it is little things that make my stay in the UK so memorable. The tranquility of a traditional English afternoon tea experience, the joy of slattering my Fish and Chips with malt vinegar, being called 'love' by someone who is a complete stranger, a walk through the beautiful English countryside, a morning or afternoon in spent in University ... all these minute details make up the bulk of my stay and thus play a large part in defining it. There are, of course, the 'bigger' things, most notably the opportunity to be present in London to see the Royal Wedding in April. It was a semester spent deeply immersing myself in UK culture, way of life and I even got to be present at a key moment in modern British history! All in all, it was a time very well-spent and enjoyed, and that's what really matters.

UK, you will be missed. From the bottom of my heart.

A return to Harrogate - dining at Betty's

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony
known as afternoon tea." - Henry James

Yesterday I visited Harrogate, a popular tourist destination in Yorkshire county somewhere north of Leeds, for the second time. The first time I went was in April, as part of my tour around Yorkshire with Mum. The experience I remember most fondly from the first trip was dining at Betty's Tearooms (see website here). Betty's is a very popular tea room that specializes in English - style afternoon tea, teas, coffees and desserts, and has outlets in several parts of Yorkshire (the main and original one being in Harrogate). I enjoyed Betty's so much that during my short stay in Harrogate in April, Mum and I went to Betty's 3 times altogether. Seeing how I will be returning to Singapore soon and leaving Yorkshire county next week, I decided that I must go back to Betty's one more time, to experience once again the magic of dining at Betty's.

I took a bus in the morning from Leeds to Harrogate, which took about 55 minutes. Interestingly enough when I arrived at Harrogate I could still pretty much remember how to get around, even though it was about 2 months since I first visited. I turned up outside Betty's at about 12 noon and already there was a long queue forming outside, which just goes to show how popular the place is. I didn't have to queue long, though, and managed to get a table in the Veranda Cafe section. My purpose for visiting Betty's was clear: I was going to have their popular and famous afternoon tea one more time. For those who don't know about it, afternoon tea is an English tradition that basically consists of some dainty sandwiches, a scone with jam (usually strawberry) and cream (usually clotted cream) and a small selection of little cakes. Not to forget a pot of English tea brewed using tea leaves, with sugar and cream/ milk on the side. Nowadays, people don't have it all the time, more like a treat. For myself, the afternoon tea set was my lunch. If I were to follow the tradition and have a lunch followed by the afternoon tea, it would be too much and I would not be able to finish the afternoon tea.

I didn't have to wait long for the food and drink to arrive. First came the English tea, served in pretty metal crockery. The beautiful 3-tiered cake stand with the food came a few minutes later. This is how the full traditional English afternoon tea looks like:

Very lovely and elegant, isn't it? That's what I like so much about Betty's: it's not just their lovely and tasty (though admittedly expensive) food, the place oozes a kind of Old World charm. From the smart black and white uniforms worn by the staff to the vintage teapots that decorate the wall to cane-woven chairs and marble-top tables, dining at Betty's takes one back to a time when life was less hectic and people were able to put aside work for a few hours and socialize over tea and dainty light bites. These days, tea, if eaten at all, is often biscuits or cake
(usually from the supermarket) and a cup of tea (made using a tea bag). Nothing wrong with such an afternnon tea, but there is no doubt that the traditional afternoon tea that was taken regularly in the past holds more cultural symbolism and is not merely a means of quickly satisfying mid-afternoon hunger pangs.

Anyway, I started with the tea, which came first, followed by the cake-stand of food. Before eating I took plenty of pictures of the lovely set of tea and food, to the amusement of people sitting near me. They surely thought that I was some weirdo foreigner who has never seen tea, sandwiches and pastries before. Well, it is precisely because I am foreign to British culture and way of life that I find the afternoon tea so fascinating! Back in Singapore, we do have our local light bites and snacks that are eaten mid-day (or any time of the day, really) but we do not have an afternoon tea tradition. Here's a close-up of the food on each tier:

Dainty little finger sandwiches. Common sandwich fillings used include egg-cress-mayonnaise, smoked salmon with cream cheese and cucumber. The ones featured in the photo are roast ham sandwiches and smoked salmon with cream cheese sandwiches.

A scone, sliced in half, with strawberry jam and clotted cream on the side. Until I came to the UK, I had no idea that the proper way to eat a scone was to cut it in half, then spread jam and cream or butter on the cut side. I used to eat scones simply by picking them up with my fingers and biting into it, like an apple.

I tackled this plate last: a chocolate macaron, mini fruit tart and mini financier. I can't decide which one I like best, all are a lipsmacking joy to eat.


I took about 1 hour for my afternoon tea. Why not? My afternoon was free, and I wanted to slowly savour the lovely and tasty food as well as the atmosphere of the tea room. As it was so popular, Betty's was crowded. Several patrons ordered afternoon tea too, while others had sandwiches or main meals. Whatever it was they were having, everyone was clearly enjoying their food and their experience at Betty's. I think that's the key reason why Betty's is so successful: they are able to offer a very pleasant overall dining experience: good and beautiful food, elegant decor and excellent service (I've got to hand it to the staff for putting up with my taking lots of photos of not just the food but also a few shots of Betty's decor and tantalizing displays of sweet treats, no one said a word about it even though they must have been amused or bewildered by my antics!).

After my wonderful afternoon tea, I popped in to Betty's bakery, which is located next to the tea rooms. This is where Betty sells its famous edible goodies, teas, coffees as well as Betty's souvenirs. The bakery was crowded with customers as well. It took a long time, but I finally decided to buy a tin of biscuits for my family and friends back in Singapore as well as a few postcards of Betty's. I then explored Harrogate and shopped a bit. The initial plan was to go home in time to prepare for dinner, but I ended up staying in Harrogate longer than expected and decided to eat at Harrogate. No prizes for guessing where I went for dinner. Betty's is famous mainly for its huge selection of teas, coffees and beautiful desserts, but they also have a nice selection of main meals for lunch and dinner. I opted for a rosti, a Swiss potato pancake, which was topped with roast chicken, grilled tomatoes and some cutney on the side. In case you're wondering why a Swiss dish is served at an English tea room, it's because the founder of Betty's was a Swiss man, so Betty's food has some Swiss influence such as the use of Swiss chocolate. I got the rosti because I remembered my Mum ordering it for dinner and declaring it delicious. It certainly was. To finish, I ordered a small pastry for dessert. I know, I have had quite a number of sweet treats that day. I told myself that while I am at a famous confectionary like Betty's I will give in and savour as much sweet treats as I can, then avoid buying desserts elsewhere because they probably won't be as well done as Betty's!

All in all, my second time at Harrogate to dine at Betty's was just as enjoyable and memorable as the first. Betty's was actually not the place where I had my first traditional English afternoon tea, that was in Benson's Restaurant in Stratford-Upon-Avon (which was also a delight, and before I left I bought a dainty and pretty little antique tea cup with saucer from an antique shop to commemorate my first afternoon tea). Another place I visited for afternoon tea was The Queen's, the oldest hotel in Leeds, where I had a great afternoon tea that included some Yorkshire pastries in the retro Queen's Bar. Every afternnon tea experience was wonderful, but I think I will remember the ones at Betty's most fondly. If I had to describe the whole Betty's experience in a word it would be this: beautiful. There is beauty in the food, the decor, the atmosphere, the smiles of the friendly and helpful staff and I am sure it is this overall beauty that makes people like myself come back to revel in the aura of a meal at Betty's.