It’s often been said that English food is bland, tasteless, and boring. As we found out on our honeymoon, however, it’s simply not true. Actually, English cuisine just tastes so familiar to the mainstream American palate. Meat, potatoes, overcooked vegetables, fries (ok, “chips” in English parlance), lots of gravy! In any case, we were feeling nostalgic for England. Why? Who knows? Maybe it’s the fact that we just got two Christmas cards from our distant relatives in Exeter and Devon. Or maybe it’s just because our honeymoon in England two years back was such a proper jolly good time and the memories of the trip randomly came back into our heads. Well, no matter, because we needed no excuse to have a proper English meal.
The Olde Ship in Fullerton is the real deal, or at least as real as it’s going to get Stateside. It’s staffed by real subjects of the Queen and really does look and feel like the countless pubs we visited while during our honeymoon. For being in California, where we’re pretty accustomed to themed but obviously fake facades on many buildings, this one looks and feels like England, both inside and out.
Was it good? Is the Queen Mother’s favorite color baby blue? Of course! Ed had steak and kidney pie with a Newcastle, and as you can see here, Ed enjoyed it VERY much. So full of meat and gravy goodness.
Here’s Ed admiring the dish he’s about to eat:
The excitement is building…
And a closeup:
That’s some grubbing!
And what about Carrie? There was no way she could say “no” to fish and chips! That was definitely our favorite pub food while we were in England. So, here’s Carrie smiling with excitement:
And the closeup. Mmmmmmm….
It’s good!!
We wish we had pics, but there was a pirate party going on in the bar. No kidding. There were about 30 adults all dressed as pirates. And we’re not talking cheap and cheesy costumes; many of these people went all out! They were singing Christmas songs with lyrics adapted to the pirate lifestyle. It was surreal, and we never did find out what the occasion for the pirate party was. Or, maybe they’re actually pirates and this was a normal, usual night out for them.
In any case, we highly recommend a visit. It’s super fun, and the food is undeniably authentic!
