Let's be frank, Halifax isn't the name you'll remember immediately when talking about the famous places of the United Kingdom. At first glance, it's justified, but you should really pay more attention to the commercial, cultural and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire. If you wish to find the essence of modern England surviving the times and evolving with the years, it will make for an interesting visit, business or otherwise. Naturally, this kind of exploration involves food.
Onion strings are a crispy and delicious addition mainly to burgers and sandwiches, but they can also be served as an irresistible side dish or appetizer.
Let's start the list with something relatively simple. Onion strings are as modern and urban as one could imagine. The food that basically serves as an appetizer or often an ingredient for other dishes is surprisingly popular as a standalone dish. Cut and processed with sauces, then fried or baked, onion strings are universally consumed by those who can stomach such food. In Halifax, they are often recommended, especially if you want to start your day or take a rest with a bit of simple modernity.
The Navigation is an interesting place to start exploring like that.
The next offering in Halifax is also pretty normal by food standards. Sandwiches have become the most popular quick bites in the world, hardly challenged by anything because the nature of a sandwich is the combination of different ingredients. Meat sandwiches, veggie sandwiches, fish and seafood sandwiches - all kinds are available. Hot sandwiches are just an evolution of the concept, especially if restaurants want to take care of you fast. The only advice here is to order a drink of your choice to make the experience smooth.
Brow Bridge Cafe will make you feel right at home.
Hot chocolate, also known as hot cocoa or drinking chocolate, is a heated drink that consists of melted chocolate or cocoa powder, warm milk, and usually sugar. Hot chocolate may be topped with whipped cream or marshmallows.
Another offering that seems obvious but feels good. Hot chocolate was introduced centuries ago, and the recipe for making it has been modified and enhanced countless times. Hot chocolate is consumed throughout the world and comes in multiple variations, but hot cocoa is probably the most popular variation. Melted and heated chocolate that can be consumed by drinking is both classy and simple to make these days, so decent restaurants and cafes have it in abundance.
Noco will take care of your classy needs for food and relaxation.
Baked potatoes, or jacket potatoes, is famous for its crispy skin. This dish can be served with different fillings or toppings, such as sour cream, corned beef, gravy, cheese, butter, baked beans, and so on. It's so delicious!
If you're noticing a trend on our list, most popular dishes around Halifax are not that exotic. But being common and time-proven is not a flaw but a less than obvious advantage. For example, the beloved baked potatoes can be prepared in any restaurant with a half-decent chef, but the best variation of this kind of food requires both skill and imagination to bake something nice and interesting using the formula. Thus, looking for the perfect mix of baked potatoes in an entertaining quest in its own right.
Elder is a good place to start.
Generally larger than other types of prawns, king prawns are also amongst most popular ones worldwide. They have moist, medium-firm flesh and a rich flavour. Their tail ends are bright blue when raw. From simple sandwiches made with cooked prawns to a party platter of crispy prawns with dipping sauces, they star in a range of delicious meals that are perfectly suited to all occasions.
Finally, something that seems less ordinary! Well, as much as prawns can be ordinary in modern cuisine around the world. But there are certain tricks to making and enjoying this kind of food. For example, there are different types of king prawns, and picking one is a sign of deeper knowledge of food. You can actually distinguish between the types by the colour, however, when eating the prawns at a restaurant, the taste can be affected by the way they are boiled and combined with different sauces and other ingredients.
Temujin Restaurant and Takeaway has great king prawns.
While we're talking about the food of the sea, let's talk about other gifts that water brings to out table in Halifax. One particularly popular type of food is haddock, a saltwater ray-finned fish that belongs to the god of "true cods". Naturally, it can be compared to cod even as food, but the taste if different, as is the results of preparing it if you're not skilled enough and know the little things like the right time and temperature. The most popular variation is smoked haddock. It's also worth noting that haddock can be very low-cal food in the right hands.
Brown Horse Inn offers good fish, including haddock.
Halloumi is a Cypriot cheese made from goat's and sheep's milk and similar to mozzarella in texture. Halloumi tastes best when grilled or fried and can be added to salads, sandwiches, and vegetarian dishes.
Among the regular dishes and offerings that may be new to some, there's a name that isn't brought up too often. Halloumi is a semi-hard, unripened cheese made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes also cow's milk. It has a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled, which opens up a lot of possibilities for coming up with interesting new ways to include the cheese in other dishes or serve it on its own, even as a substitute for meat.
La Luna is a good place to try some.
Unlike sweet puddings associated with desserts, Yorkshire pudding is an appetizer or even a main dish. It is made from flour, eggs, and milk. It looks like a huge, flat cake made from dough, baked in the oven and filled with gravy and vegetables.
While we're in England, avoiding some pudding is almost impossible. There are many variations of this classic dish perfected over the years by home chefs and restaurant specialists. For example, there's the Yorkshire pudding, a baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. Popular as a common British side dish, it can be served in numerous ways depending on its ingredients, size, and the accompanying components of the meal.
Long Can Hall will take care of your pudding needs.
Pudding originated on the British Isles, where it still is one of the most common meals. Ingredients include pork fat or beef suet and a cereal, precisely oat groats or barley groats. Black pudding also contains pork or beef blood, whereas white pudding does not. Another ingredient, a herb called pennyroyal, distinguishes pudding from blood sausages served in other countries.
You have already guessed what this next offering is, still, it's worth clarifying that black pudding is no pudding at all. Instead, it's a distinct regional type of blood sausage originating in the United Kingdom and Ireland and somewhat popularized around the world over the years. Common ingredients include pork or beef blood, with pork fat or beef suet, and a cereal, usually oatmeal, oat groats, or barley groats. What makes black pudding different from other types of blood sausage is a high proportion of cereal.
Denmas Restaurant has some of the best black pudding around.
Roast beef is a British dish that is mentioned in songs, paintings and in books, describing dinners in noble houses. However, it was never a privileged dish, for example, a roasted piece of seasoned beef is associated with the strength of English soldiers in "Roast Beef of Old Kind England." The remnants of a Sunday lunch are used for cooking other dishes all week.
To finish today's list, it's only natural to once again refer to classics. As some may know, roast beef is one of the meats often served at Sunday lunch or dinner, very often with the aforementioned Yorkshire pudding. Roast beef is a characteristic national dish of England and holds cultural meaning going back as far back as the early 18th century. The dish is so synonymous with England and its cooking methods from the 18th century that a French nickname for the English is "les Rosbifs".
The Bottomleys Arms offers some of the greatest roast beef in Halifax.
Halifax has a lot to offer any guest, even if not in terms of exotically unknown wonders. It's a very English place with very English food, just perfect for the 21st century. Enjoy it if you have the chance.