British Dishes: What to Eat in Towns Across the UK

A balti is a Birmingham invention served in the same thin steel bowl it is cooked in. Here is how the dish works, where the Balti Triangle sits in Sparkhill, Balsall Heath and Moseley, and which named restaurants are worth planning an evening around.

Birmingham rewards a bit of planning: a two-Michelin-star Indian tasting menu and a quiet Jewellery Quarter room serving a short set lunch can both sit on the same weekend. This guide sorts the city's food by dish and occasion, names the area for each venue, and flags the one that is now closed.

Brighton eats fish first, brunches properly and hides its best value a street back from the seafront. Here is what to order, which dishes suit a day trip versus a weekend, and how to split your money between a chippy lunch and a booked dinner in the South Lanes or Hove.

Cambridge has no single signature dish, so the food worth seeking out is a spread of British puddings, chop-house grills, bistro seafood and Sicilian bakery food. This guide names the dish to order at each place, says where it sits in the city, and flags which rooms suit a date, a family or a quick stop.

Canterbury eating is a Kentish larder story: farm vegetables, oysters and herring, sourdough, English wine, Kentish cider and a handful of small, specific places worth planning around. Here is what to order, where each place sits and how to play booking versus walk-in.

Chester food is a Cheshire larder inside a tourist city: cheese, local ale, pub classics and food-hall stalls. Here is what to order, which named places to head for, and the trade-offs that come with eating inside the walls.

Dover is a working ferry port where the sea sets the menu: fish and chips, seafood, Kentish produce and a Sunday roast, eaten at the marina or under the castle. Here is what to order and which harbour restaurant, pub or café to head for, with the trade-offs at each.

Keswick eats like a fell town: cafés that open early, a chippy by the square and a handful of small independents that reward a bit of planning. Here is what to order, where, and how to dodge the waits.

Leeds eats best when you mix the Yorkshire classics with the city's street-food energy. This guide names the dishes worth ordering, the places that serve them and how to group a day of eating around the city centre.

Liverpool food runs from a bowl of Scouse to steak on Seel Street and small plates by the water. Here is what the local dishes are, which places suit which occasion, and how to build a day or weekend of eating around the city centre.

Scouse is a slow-cooked lamb or beef stew with root vegetables, and it is the dish that gave Liverpool its nickname. Here is what separates it from a plain stew, why beef or lamb and swede or carrot still start arguments, what Blind Scouse is, and how to order a bowl without paying tourist-trap prices.

Newcastle's food is more than one dish: stottie and pease pudding for the old Geordie end, generous small plates in the centre, good pizza in Heaton and a food hall that has anchored Northumberland Street since 1882. This guide sorts the city by what you are choosing, from a cheap lunch to a counter-seat dinner.

Nottingham rewards eaters who plan around a few good rooms rather than a long list. Here is what to order, where each kind of food sits in the city, and which bookings to sort first.

Stratford-upon-Avon eats like a small Warwickshire town with a big visitor trade: pub classics and Sunday lunch, riverside Italian, curry houses and a few smarter tables a short drive out. This guide sorts the named places by street and by occasion, so you can pick an area, then a dish.

Whitby food comes down to three things first: smoked kippers, fish and chips, and a pint alongside pub classics. This guide names the places worth your lunch, says which side of the River Esk each sits on, and flags the queues, the tourist-facing spots and the dishes to order.

Whitby kippers are herring, gutted by hand and hung in the smokehouse rather than simply cooked. Here is where Fortune's Kippers sits on Henrietta Street, how the shop works, and how to jug or grill a kipper at home.

York food is café food first: pancake stacks, fat rascals, Sicilian ice cream and crepes you eat standing up. Here is what to order, where each thing is served, and which queues are worth joining.

York serves the Yorkshire pudding three ways: a proper Sunday-lunch pud, a giant one used as a plate, and the YorkyPud Wrap you eat on the move. Here is where to find each, what goes in them, what they cost and where the vegan version falls short.

Derry food rewards a bit of planning: order Foyle fish, local charcuterie and handmade fudge, drink beer brewed in the city, and split your eating between the walled centre and the riverside at Ebrington. Here are the dishes worth seeking out and the named places that serve them.

A flat, flaky, distinctly salty roll built on layers of fat: that is the Aberdeen buttery, also called a rowie. Here is how they taste, how locals eat them, what a pack costs, how to freeze them and why home baking lives or dies on quick hands.

Aberdeen eats well, and most of it sits within a short walk of Union Street. Here is what to order, from a haddock supper with double-cooked chips to Aberdeen Angus off the grill, Mackie's ice cream and a proper Italian welcome near the Castlegate.

Fort William eats like a west Highland town should: seafood, hearty pub plates and whisky-bar drinking. Here is what to order, where to sit and how to time a walk-in or a booking.

Two solid places to eat haggis in Inverness bookend the day: a full Scottish breakfast on Church Street and a music-led pub on Academy Street. Here is what haggis is made of, what neeps and tatties actually are, and how to order it without the fuss.

Inverness food is hearty and coastal: haggis at breakfast, smoked haddock soup at lunch, Moray Firth salmon and a dram or a pint to finish. This guide works through the dishes worth ordering, what each tastes like, and the city-centre and riverside places to try them without doubling back across town.

Order like a local in Orkney's capital: the Pattie from a Bridge Street chippy, fresh haddock, brown crab, North Ronaldsay mutton and a pint of Orkney ale, with the Kirkwall venues that serve each one.

Oban food means shellfish from the water beside you: scallops, oysters and langoustines, plus a fish supper on the harbour front. Here is what to order, where a sit-down seafood dinner fits, and how the Sunday carvery at The Olive Garden on Railway Pier works.

Stirling food is traditional Scottish cooking in low-beamed pubs, with a few contemporary kitchens and cafés in the mix. Here is what to order, from Cullen skink to Balmoral chicken, and which named pubs, restaurants and cafés in and around the city serve it.

Seafood landed on Loch Broom is what Ullapool does best, from langoustines at a harbour shack to a booked tasting menu. Here is what to order, which room to sit in, and how to split a budget between walk-in cafés and a special dinner.

There is no single British cuisine: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each bring their own classics to the table. This guide walks through the dishes worth ordering, from chippy tea to Sunday lunch and suet pudding, with what to look for on the menu and what to expect when it arrives.

A style-by-style guide to British cheese: what Cheddar, Stilton, Wensleydale, Lancashire and soft British cheeses actually taste like, how to read a label, when a flavoured truckle is worth buying, and what to put on the board with it.

British desserts run from date sponge drowned in toffee sauce to cold, creamy Eton mess and jam-packed tarts. This guide explains what each pud is actually like, which ones to share, and how to read a menu that calls everything pudding.

A dish-by-dish checklist for a first or second trip: what each British classic actually is, whether to order it at a chippy, pub, café or bakery, and how to pace your appetite so you do not peak too early.

If you have one meal in England, make it a Sunday roast or fish and chips, and build the rest of your eating around pies, breakfast and pub classics. This guide explains what each dish is, how it lands on the plate, and how to order it without guesswork.

Northern Irish food runs on a short, confident list of dishes: the Ulster fry, soda and potato farls, champ, dulse and yellowman. Here is what each one is, how it is served and what to order first.

Welsh food is a short, well-defined set of dishes: cawl, Welsh rarebit, bara brith, laverbread, bakestone cakes, Glamorgan sausages and Welsh lamb. This guide explains what each one is, how it is served and which to order first if you have one meal to spend.