American Restaurants in the UK??

Is it really that big of a problem finding good sushi outside London? I must be totally spoiled with about 5 awesome, family-owned sushi places within 30min travel of mine (including one that's a ten minute walk away - Poppy Hanna at Bermondsey tube). I had no idea they were hard to find anywhere else...

Any place that uses mayo on sushi is no friend of mine. 

Is it really that big of a problem finding good sushi outside London? I must be totally spoiled with about 5 awesome, family-owned sushi places within 30min travel of mine (including one that's a ten minute walk away - Poppy Hanna at Bermondsey tube). I had no idea they were hard to find anywhere else...

I can say that in 4 years of being in Derby I've not seen 1 sushi place...there might be one in Nottingham but in the 2 dozen times I've been there I've not seen one.    It had been 4 years since I had sushi when we stumbled across the Yo!Sushi place in St Pancras the last time we were in London.

I'm spoiled for sushi choices as well. I'm in Acton where there's a very vibrant Japanese community. I feel badly for anyone who can't access good sushi! I had no idea it was hard to come by outside of London.

I'm spoiled for sushi choices as well. I'm in Acton where there's a very vibrant Japanese community. I feel badly for anyone who can't access good sushi! I had no idea it was hard to come by outside of London.

heh, I'm in Ealing and can attest that there is a huge Japanese community here and some of the best sushi restaurants in the UK, including Kiraku and Atari Ya in North Acton which supplies restaurants like Nobu with fish.

Any place that uses mayo on sushi is no friend of mine. 

I love Japanese mayo on sushi! They do lots and lots of it in Japan! Thats where I first had it!

Hmm...definitely no sushi places where my husband lives...though they do unholy things with herring.  

No chain restaurants, at all, US or otherwise (unless you count that fact that the same people own all the hotels).  There's a filling station/chip shop a couple miles away.  It's occasionally open, and occasionally still has fish and/or chips, and I've heard it's pretty good.

I'm just as glad there aren't any chains/fast food joints where I'm going to be living.  It can only improve my health. 

I do think, though, that our area is really missing out by not having any sort of diner/casual family restaurants.  There's the hotels, which offer rather fussy, expensive cuisine.  There's the chippy, the hotel pubs, and there are a couple of tea rooms with sandwiches, and that's it.  You either pay through the nose for touristy food, or you get something purporting to be a cheeseburger.  There's no in-between, no place to get breakfast that doesn't smell of booze, no place to go and have a decent, everyday meal on an evening when nobody feels like cooking.  I'm not sure if that's a lack that's particular to our area, or if it's throughout the UK? 

Even if you're not a fan of the US franchises (for me, they're hit-or-miss), there are a couple things that US restaurants, in general, get right.  When my husband was here last month, we took my parents out for dinner, and he couldn't believe how cheap it was.  Granted, we went to a small, rural Wisconsin supper club, but he bought dinner for 5 adults for the price of 3 starters at the local hotel restaurant back home.  He's also become a fan of free soft drink refills. 

All this talk of diners is only making me crave Denny's. 

All this talk of diners is only making me crave Denny's. 

Denny's isn't a diner!! This is a diner:


 

There's two sushi places in Nottingham City Centre. One is a Yo Sushi. The other one is a private venture (as opposed to a chain). It is close to the Yo Sushi location. Both are decent. Although eel is not the same here in the UK.
 

Denny's is nasty.   

When you are hungover, a Moons over My Hammy does the trick!

But yes, in most other situations, I always feel a little gross after Denny's.  But it was a college staple.

When you are hungover, a Moons over My Hammy does the trick!

And if you are still drunk, Moons Over My Hammy is fun to say, as is Super Bird, which would be my choice in this situation.

For non-drunk Denny's, the Grand Slam breakfast is my meal of choice.  Now I'm really hungry and I have no plans to return to the USA, so thanks.
 

Denny's isn't a diner!! This is a diner:


 

Hellllooooooooooooo Pawtucket!    Now where's my coffee milk, dammit?!

The Japanese definitely put mayo on their sushi.  And their omelets, their noodles, their rice, their pizza... The list goes on and on.  I want some real Japanese sushi!