MOCK English food all you like. But the local food thing is almost as inbred in England as it is in France; it just sometimes hides behind poverty, war or a fatal attraction to (as they call it) America. Today there are literally dozens of restaurants featuring not only fish from the Channel, the North Atlantic and the North Sea, but local beef and pork. Meanwhile, there is lamb from Wales and Scotland, and produce from everywhere.  My focus here wasn’t ingredients, however, it was a style of cooking that’s called, for want of a better term, “English.” No modern European cooking can escape French or Italian influences, of course. I just wanted something approaching pure: when I saw eel or Jersey royals (a new potato with a cult following) on a menu, I figured I was headed in the right direction. Here are my favorites, in order.  Admittedly, this is a chain. The atmosphere is similar to what you find in a New York coffee shop, and though character isn’t its strong suit, I find myself recommending Canteen to friends as well as stopping there myself whenever I’m in London. Maybe if you’re British the food seems ordinary, but to me it verges on the exotic: savory pies, meat or meatless; a salad of smoked haddock and poached egg; pig cheek with carrot and Swede (rutabaga); Welsh rabbit with egg.  In a city in which everything seems wildly pricey to Americans, Canteen is reasonable. Only one of the main courses approaches £20, or $31.50 at $1.56 to the pound, most are far less, and — get this — many if not most dishes are available in half portions for half-price. The last time I was there, two of us shared five dishes and a little wine and escaped for less than £50.  Finally — and this is not a small thing — the service is consistently efficient and friendly. Staff members take their time, explain different options, mostly get it right and don’t ignore you once the food is delivered.  I hope I’m not overselling here; the food is modest though often delicious, and the setting does little to either enhance or detract from the enjoyment. But to return to a place repeatedly and not be annoyed but delighted, not feel ripped off but suitably served — that makes it a place worth recommending.  Canteen, Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road (and three other locations); (44-845) 686-1122; canteen.co.uk. An average meal for two, without drinks or tip, is about £40.  They were eating steak in London before the New York steakhouse was invented. Hawksmoor, like Canteen, has multiple locations (the one I tried is called Seven Dials after its Covent Garden location) and with a little menu-fiddling can also be reasonably priced.  Comparisons pretty much end there. Here there are elaborate wine and cocktail lists along with huge steaks posted specially on a chalkboard; look to the printed menu for those of a more normal size. Either way, they should be shared. In fact, that’s my recommendation for everything, because the side dishes and desserts are both terrific. (You get a sense that there’s a real chef in the kitchen, not just some guy who knows how to grill steaks.) The beef, it should be said, is British. It is grass fed, delicious and impeccably cooked over hardwood charcoal.  I was happy about a samphire and crab salad, and even more so with a salad of eel, ham hock, watercress, mint, peas, croutons and poached egg; the plain green salad is also very well done. Sprouting broccoli (a winter variety we don’t see much in the United States), chips fried in beef fat (among the best I’ve ever had) and Jersey royals were all worth ordering. A whole grilled fish was also near-perfect, though the chicken was dry.  Fortunately for me I was here twice, so on the second visit I managed a few tastes of dessert: Champagne jelly with citrus is a gorgeous palate-cleanser; sticky toffee pudding, rich and dense; and peanut butter shortbread with salty ice cream, kind of ideal.  The Hawksmoor Seven Dials is in a vaulted cellar, bricked and lovely but unchanging throughout the day, and with a pleasant but decidedly saloonlike atmosphere. The tables are wood and unadorned but the seats are comfortable. Service on our visit was better than average.  Hawksmoor Seven Dials, 11 Langley Street (and two other locations); (44-207) 420-9390; thehawksmoor.com/locations/seven-dials. An average meal for two, without drinks or tip, can run £100, but, with judicious ordering, can be far less.  Waiting for me to get to the fancy-pants place? Here you go: it’s called Dinner. (You may never tire of saying, “We’re having dinner at Dinner,” and I guess that’s the idea.) In the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge, it couldn’t be in a more upscale location. Nor could it have a better pedigree: the chef is Heston Blumenthal, a molecular gastronomist best known for the Fat Duck (in the town of Bray, to the west), which, since El Bulli in Spain has closed, is the most famous avant-garde restaurant in the world.
What, exactly, is English cooking, and why would you seek it out? Here are five restaurants that provide tasty answers.