Following my previous post where I detailed all of the eating I did in a few days in New York, I thought it would be amiss if I didn't bring back a bagel to the UK to conduct a head to head between New York and London to see who has the best doughy vehicle for cream cheese and smoked salmon consumption.
This may not be a fair test for a few reasons I should point out first:
- The NYC bagel in question was from Apollo Bagels in Brooklyn and while they are some of the best rated bagels in NYC they are not typical NYC bagels given their sourdough base and more new-school approach – a bagel from another shop would probably be a more apples and apples comparison.
- The NYC bagel travelled in my luggage on a 7 hour transatlantic flight and also spent a day being refrigerated for freshness so not as fresh as bagels should be – obviously bagels need to be eaten there and then (or at least within 24 hours).
- I resorted to toasting them to remove any concerns over freshness which obviously is not the ideal way to eat a smoked salmon & cream cheese bagel (they should be untoasted)
- The London beigel (that's how we spell it over here and it's pronounced b-eye-gal not bay-gal) was from a famous East London beigel shop, the spiritual home of beigels in the UK.
- The salmon/cream cheese used to make the bagel/beigel were both from a local jewish deli.
The verdict:
The Apollo bagel was bigger, lighter, doughier and had a much more complex flavour owing to the sourdough. I think the flavour was almost too complex but that could be because of the transit time and time since being baked.
The London beigel was more compact and I feel complemented the salmon/cream cheese flavours better, perhaps owing to the fact it is better suited to being toasted and the flavour is more neutral and therefore less conflicted with the cream cheese/salmon (probably less of an issue with bagels from other, more traditional NYC bagel shops).
I should point out that I had a Russ & Daughters salmon, scallion cream cheese bagel while in NYC and it was as good as anything I've eaten bagel wise. However, on this particular occasion, despite all the caveats that probably make this an unfair test, and the fact they were both good bagels/beigels, the London beigel wins out.
To anyone from NYC, I highly recommend coming to East London and finding out how we do things, and where beigel is still pronounced correctly 😉
by tequalspitimese
Dining and Cooking