Is there such thing as English food?

Yes, of course, but cuisine doesn't have hard borders.  One region seamlessly blends into another.  English food is pretty good when it's well-cooked but it relies on the ingredients themselves being flavourful.  If your meat is watery and flaccid and your vegetables old you won't understand how those dishes ever came to be popular.  The popular sharp sauces aren't supposed to kill the taste but complement the flavours.  The other "problem" is that English food doesn't brand itself well.  Even when dishes aren't called things like "Peggy's Leg" (Spotted Dick is just too obvious!) the names can be fairly flat.  If you were sitting in a restaurant or café which of these would you be tempted by?

Kentish batter pudding vs clafoutis aux cerises

potted meat vs rillettes

butter pie vs tourte aux pommes terres

rusks vs biscotti

pease pudding in a stottie cake vs panisses au four au pain (both an excellent hangover cure)

the f-word that's an actual foodstuff vs crépinettes

All the above recipes come in versions nearly identical to each other as part of the wider European culinary tradition.  They are all dishes with documented centuries behind them in their respective countries.  It's the local spins that set them apart, but sometimes you wouldn't be able to tell at all that one is English and the other French, for example.  I'll admit that I put off trying "butter pie" for years because it sounded like something someone would make on a dare at a Texas State Fair.  When I finally decided that I really should try it I was actually strangely disappointed to discover it has a doppelganger in the Auvergne.  "Bread sauce" sounds disgusting but somehow if you thin it down slightly it becomes one of any number of "rustic" Spanish or Italian "soups" that travel guides claim you must try to fit in with the locals.

There is genuinely really good stuff in the traditional English repertoire and even more if you open it out to include the whole Island, Scotland makes the best soups and baked goods in Britain, really it does.  I honestly think that of all the European cuisines the British do game best with real care and consideration on how best to present each animal.  (Though I acknowledge that US palates don't prize "gaminess.")  I think a huge part of the problem is that the good stuff is not quick to prepare and when people go out to eat they want to go on a little adventure so apart from the better gastropubs there are not many English restaurants.  The "native" food tourists are exposed is pretty mediocre.  Just yesterday I made an apple, "mutton" broth (can only get lamb these days) and barley soup.  It was delicious, but I don't see how anyone would get to sample such a thing if they came atouristing.

hey're usually fairly substantial meals, like stews, roast meats, suet puddings, pies, pasties, yorkshire puddings

Yorkshire pudding (a must-have side with a roast) and meat pies are as English as you can get.  Even fish & chips is a UK/Irish staple.

There are some fairly unique trademarks, if you will; beef wellington, the full English breakfast with blood pudding (not to mention other various puddings, which are more of a cake in reality). The cliche fish and chips... But what comes to mind is the Mexican Pizza fallacy. Tostino's simply put colby jack cheese and cummin on their typical frozen pizza and called it "Mexican." It was good for what it was but that's the issue at hand. Every culture has meat and potatoes, a sandwhich, soup, ect. Boil beef and it's an American stew. Boil lentils and it's an Indian curry, same difference. 

Yeah. Bangers and mash. Full English Breakfast. Shepard's Pie-made with lamb. None of it is good for you.

Yep - they're usually fairly substantial meals, like stews, roast meats, suet puddings, pies, pasties, yorkshire puddings

Yorkshire meat pie

Cornish Pasty

Fish and Chips with mushy peas

Shepherd Pie

Roast beef with Yorkshire pastry

Roast lamb with mint sauce

And the unique English Banger!s and Mash --

Of course they exist. But generally they are considered rather bland. 

Yes, English food exists, and all you have to do to find out what it is, is to google 'english food', and read what you find.