Reading through this thread reminded of a trip I took to London several years ago with my wife and daughter. As we were walking back to our hotel one evening, we came across a small restaurant advertising "American Style Barbeque." Curiosity got the better of us, so we decided to stop in to check it out.
As it turns out, the owners were a very nice young Polish couple. When I asked them about how they came to open a barbeque restaurant in London, the husband explained that they just felt there was a niche for it there. I then asked, "So where in America have you visited?" Strangely, it turns out they had never been here.
As for the offerings on the menu, there was really nothing I would remotely consider "barbeque." They had beef ribs, but the description said "roasted rib of beef." There were none of the other trappings that come to mind when we think of barbeque. No brisket. No chicken. Not even the smell of smoke. They had burgers and sausages cooked on a grill, so maybe the owners thought that anything grilled qualified as barbeque.
In the end, I settled on a bowl of chili (not barbeque either), that turned out to be not chili, but rather a thick tomato soup that was more like what I would consider ghoulash. I don't believe it contained any traditional chili spices, but rather paprika.
So it turns out that people in other parts of the world also seem to have some misguided notions as to what constitutes "American Cuisine."
In fairness, I did run across
this place in Chester UK on the web that actually looks like it might be decent. If I ever find myself in Chester, I'll have to give it a try.
