“This area is actually known as Little Britain,” Anne Jones tells me as we sit outside Best of British Café & Pub in Davenport.
I slip a bit of sausage to my pup beneath the table. Jones, a dog lover, had come out to bring him water. Now, we’re having a chat.
“Most of the houses up and down 27 are vacation rentals. A lot of the property managers are Brits and tend to settle near where their properties are.” It’s how Jones and her husband, Jimmy, found themselves here, two such Brits who first owned a rental, then moved here to manage 21 more of them.
Twelve years later, they had about 80 homes in their charge but were burned out. “It was just crazy,” she says. “We had one holiday together in all that time!”
Naturally, they decided to go into the restaurant business, with its shorter hours and lighter workload.
Jones, whose cafe and catering experience goes way back, laughs.
“Believe it or not, it is less work!” She pauses. “Well, it’s hard work, but it’s a pleasure. Our friends come in. Everyone’s friends come in.”
I can vouch, actually.
On my first visit, a friend and I rolled in for lunch and Elise Jones, Anne’s daughter, waited on us at the bar. The friend found the place through a British mate who swore it was as close to home as he’d ever found in Orlando.
It’s a strange setup — a pub tucked into the bright, cavernous space of a Florida strip mall, but still immersive, thanks to busy décor including English knickknacks, football flags, maps from home. The staff is comprised of Northerners: the Joneses from Bishop Auckland, the cook and her daughter from Hull and one spunky staffer whom Jones calls “their Yorkshire pudding.” There’s a grocery wall, too, where patrons can snap up sundries from back home.
Union Jacks abound, even on the pies.
They’re made in-house and come in a vast array of flavors from steak and kidney to cheese and onion.
“That one’s my favorite,” says Jones, a vegetarian.
I was blown away by the homey leek and potato, surprisingly knish-like with its pronounced and delicious oniony flavor and a lovely flaky crust. I tried a bunch — in-house and reheated at home — and would recommend any of them. Which is best depends on your palate. None is fancy. Nothing here is.
“We keep it dead simple,” says Jones. “The food is basically what we were all brought up on. Grandma’s recipes. Good, old workman’s food.”
Toasties. Jacket potatoes. Sarnies. Puddings. Savory, sausagey Scotch eggs. The Full English breakfast is available all day with bacon rashers, sausage and black pudding brought in from Murvest Fine Foods, a South Florida craft butcher that supplies several British and specialty shops with its traditionally made wares.
There’s cottage pie baked in an oversized teacup, dense with peas, potatoes, ground meat and gravy. There are crumbles and creamy things for dessert. No wings. No burgers.
“One thing I said opening this was that we’ll never do anything that’s not British and I will not be swayed from that,” Jones says, noting that folks have suggested Taco Night in the past. “I wouldn’t go to a Mexican place for British food. Why would you come here for a taco?”
So, no Taco Night at Best of British, but there are other options.
Curry Night, for one, where a local pro comes every couple of weeks.
“Chef Paul trained in London under an Indian chef,” says Jones, “so this is British-Indian food.”
There’s Drag Night, too, four performers who’ve been knocking pubgoers dead at every show ($5 cover). And there’s Quiz Night, where trivia teams battle it out for supremacy.
Jones laughs.
“If you want to see British people at their best and worst, come to the Quiz,” she says. “The banter is amazing. It’s just like sitting in a pub in England. They’re all at each other — ‘Cheater! Loser!’ It’s crazy. Good fun.”
As we sit, a man approaches to head next door, but The Chippy isn’t open just yet.
“I’ve had my eye on this place for months,” says the gent, another Brit.
“Should be open within the next week or so,” Jones tells him. “We just got our last permit today.”
The small space will soon be a takeaway — fish and chips, pies, curries, a few other bites. It’s where Best of British got its start in 2019 before moving into the bigger unit next door.
Chatter on The Chippy’s Facebook page says the visitor has plenty of company, even with Gordon Ramsay’s new ICON Park joint in the mix. I haven’t been but mention folks online have been giving it reasonably good marks.
“Go on the Brits in Florida group. He’s getting slated!”
I joined. She’s not lying. Even the ones who liked the fish slagged the chips. Most shouted out their favorite locally-owned British shops, Best of British among them.
The Chippy, she says, will be slinging “proper fish and chips,” what folks from England are used to, which is what Best of British is about, as well. Jones and her team are grateful for the support of their community, and the Americans, tourist and local, who’ve found them.
“We just wanted to open a little café like you’d have in England, where you could sit and not be bothered,” says Jones, pledging a vow. “My girls will never bring you a check — you’ve got to ask — because I hate that. It gets me.”
Best of British is a place where you can sit all day with a cup of tea and a cake and feel welcome, not rushed.
“People just start talking to each other and it’s ‘Hey, we’ll meet you tomorrow! Come down for a cuppa…'”
Or a pint. And a match. And some good-natured trash talk.
“We’re all dead friendly,” she says.
It’s my second visit and we’re having breakfast together. And she’s petting my dog. And it’s all pretty much by accident.
So, yeah — I can vouch for that, too.
If you go: 150 California Blvd. in Davenport, 863-424-2022; bestofbritish.net
Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group or follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
