Moving to another country always has some wrinkles to iron out. So many things that are easily available in the US were suddenly impossible to find in the UK. It was always a hunt to find ingredients for my recipes. After living there for six years, I got really used to certain ingredients and food stuffs being readily available, but again, coming back to the US, these ingredients were next to impossible to find. Well, enter Parker’s!
Parker’s is a British shop located in Buffalo, NY where they make authentic British food such as Fish and Chips and a variety of pies, as well as selling desserts, sweets, and packaged British goods. One of my fellow US-living British friends told me about it, so I decided I should order some things that I just can’t find here and try out some of their pies.
I was really excited to find black pudding available to order, but they also provide a huge selection of British sausages that are very uncommon in the supermarkets and butcher’s shops here in the US. To my black pudding, I also added in an order of British back bacon. I ordered some Steak and Kidney pies, Cornish pasties and pork pies, all of which come refrigerated or frozen so you can have them at a later date. I finished off my order with some Branston pickle (for cheese and pickle sandwiches), mushy peas and piccalilli (to have with the pork pies). They also have frozen fish and chips (which I didn’t try, but definitely intrigued me as the fish and chips in the UK is far superior to anything you can find in the US).
All in all, I was pretty happy with what I ordered. The steak and kidney pies were really tasty, and I served it with some sweet potato fries and mushy peas. The pasties were definitely not quite as good as being in the UK, so it may be something I’m going to have to try to recreate at home! The pork pies were fantastic though, and definitely something I would order again and again.
Parker’s definitely filled my itch for that British food I’d been missing, and I may have to make another order soon for some delicious pies and maybe to even try out the fish and chips. They ship things to stay cold and frozen, so there is no worry about food spoilage, and they sometimes offer free shipping on $100 or more worth of items (so it pays to buy in bulk). They occasionally carry unusual flavors of British crisps like Prawn Cracker, so if you like those crisps/chips flavors, then you know where to find them!
Score: 4/5
Recommendation: The pork pies were banging!
