I fear the cafe at lunch time

I wanted to start a foodie thread about the Lunches in the UK, when you head to the cafe and you hear the weirdest combinations of food and the fact that people will wolf it down and then head back to work.

My lunch row here at work consists of a cafe, a chippie and a deli (a very loose description of the word deli). Fridays is my engwish luncheon day and I head to the shops. Loads of people in there from office types to builder and you just hear the grossest combos. Here are a few of mine:

"sausage, chips and beans with loads of vinegar" - from the chippie
"pie, chips and curry sauce" - again, and why do chippies have curry sauce
"full english" -cafe, at lunch time, 1pm fry up
"sausage, bacon, mushroom, egg baguette with mayo" - coworker gets this from the cafe
"cheese mayo salad bap" - deil... that is not a deli sandwich
"tuna and sweetcorn in a jacket" - deli... yes I never will understand this combo

What are you looking for?  Lunches people like?  Lunches they've seen other people order?  Lunches that are not commonly eaten in the US and are therefore weird?  Any combination of the above?

If I buy a lunch I'm quite partial to a panini (or panino if you must) although if I pass a bit too close to a McDonald's and catch a whiff of those lovely trans-fats I can be tempted by their 'saver menu' (mmm Mayo Chicken.) 

On the 'wacky Brits' front; Mrs PR is fascinated by the option of 'half rice, half chips' as a side at the University Refectory.  This may be a strictly Northern thing though.

I love chips (with salt & vinegar) with gravy...yummy

DH likes the chips with s&v with beans...I've tried it and it's nice, but I'd take the gravy over the beans.

Jackets with tuna mayo & sweetcorn is yummy too, but I like my jacket with cheese, butter and coleslaw 

Chips and curry sauce is one of my husband's favorite indulgences, though he normally just has that and doesn't have any sausages or fish with it. We usually put extra vinegar on them when we get home since the shops don't put a ton here where we live, and I really can't eat chips without it now (I even end up putting it on my chips when I'm in the States, much to the amusement of my family and friends).

I think since we usually have kids around our house (if not one, then all three of my husband's kids) we've gotten very used to any combo of fish, pie, chips, beans or chicken strips. I'll have to try gravy over chips, sounds like a good combo, I'm so used to having beans on mine that it's like second nature sometimes, and it's the end of the world when we run out of them

My favorite lunches to get when I was working in England was beans and cheese on a baked potato or ratatouille and cheese on a baked potato. There was a sandwich shop across the street that made the best sandwiches. I went in one day and ordered a bacon sandwich with mayo. Then I asked if he could throw some lettuce on there. Oh, and could he toast the bread. Yes, it was a BLT (hold the T!), but the guy making it had no idea that's what it was. I got back to the office and everyone was like, 'You're sooo AMERICAN with your BLT!!' Ha!! 

Colleen, I don't find anything weird about the choices you mentioned.

My favorite lunches to get when I was working in England was beans and cheese on a baked potato or ratatouille and cheese on a baked potato. There was a sandwich shop across the street that made the best sandwiches. I went in one day and ordered a bacon sandwich with mayo. Then I asked if he could throw some lettuce on there. Oh, and could he toast the bread. Yes, it was a BLT (hold the T!), but the guy making it had no idea that's what it was. I got back to the office and everyone was like, 'You're sooo AMERICAN with your BLT!!' Ha!! 

I havent had a BLT in years, I hate bacon but not when its in a BLT, will have to ask them to make me one sometime 

The sandwich shop across the road from us does BLTs. I've never had one, though, so don't know what they're like.

Maybe it's different in Ireland but BLTs aren't exactly rare or exotic in England.  Any sandwich shops has them on the menu and they're a staple of the pre-packed-triangle-sandwich industry.  I had one yesterday from the buffet car on a train into Stockport, I'm not sure you can get much more common than that.

Maybe it's different in Ireland but BLTs aren't exactly rare or exotic in England.  Any sandwich shops has them on the menu and they're a staple of the pre-packed-triangle-sandwich industry.  I had one yesterday from the buffet car on a train into Stockport, I'm not sure you can get much more common than that.

Was the bread toasted? In England a BLT is a cold sandwich, often served in the cardboard triangle (which is a whole other thread). No, it's certainly not exotic, but it wasn't on the menu at this particular sandwich shop and the guy seemed clueless that's what I wanted.

Tuna mayo and cheese jacket potatoes are one of my favourite things about the UK!  Nothing weird about them at all, just a whole lot of num num goodness.

The idea of tuna on a potato, and tuna with sweet corn just grosses me out. I did eat potatoes with cheese and beans quite a bit. I wasn't a fan of breakfast items on a baguette, but I do love a bacon sandwich (mine has to be toasted on white with mayo).

Yeah, I'm kind of grossed out by the tuna mayo on jacket potatoes.  The worst was when I went to lunch with a friend awhile back & she had both tuna mayo and beans on her potato.  Beans?  Ok.  Tuna mayo?  Yucky to me (on a potato).  Beans and tuna mayo?    (and I think there was cheese thrown on there too!)

I usually get the chili or chicken curry on my jacket potato.  I also like the occasional curry sauce with chips, but it's something kind of dirty that would probably taste really good when you're drunk.  

I looooove bacon butties though - and brown sauce is a must!  Although that's more of a breakfast thing.  However, I don't think it's especially weird.

Used to be the building where I work had this really cheap & nasty pub, where a bunch of old geezers who were drunk by noon would leer at you...except it had a cafe/dining room attached to it that was run by little old ladies, who made things like 1970s-style chicken curry with half chips & half rice, and you'd get 2 hot lunches (big plates of food) for £5 there.  The people in my office loved going there until it closed down.  End of an era.

My lunchtime is school dinners...I get a choice from two main dishes (often similar) and have no choice on the veg and potato or 'pudding'
No salt is allowed even on chip day!

On the plus side, since I eat it in the fun company of the students...it is free!

"sausage, chips and beans with loads of vinegar" - from the chippie
"pie, chips and curry sauce" - again, and why do chippies have curry sauce
"full english" -cafe, at lunch time, 1pm fry up
"sausage, bacon, mushroom, egg baguette with mayo" - coworker gets this from the cafe
"cheese mayo salad bap" - deil... that is not a deli sandwich
"tuna and sweetcorn in a jacket" - deli... yes I never will understand this combo

All that sounds lovely to me.