Hubs sent me this YouTube video and tells me that things like Brazilian pizza also exist. So anyone more traveled than me, have you ever had anything particularly interesting?
Edit: It’s also interesting to me how English adjective order affects this. The video is, for instance, describing Indian Chinese food, not Chinese Indian food. I’m sure other languages have something similar.
I had pretty good baguette in London.
This question is basically tailor made for the UK.
Only because the US is cheating. Somebody commented that and I agree.
Look at this Scotch egg! Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Do döner kebabs in Austria count as a Turkish food?
No, it counts as German food
Depends on where the dönertier was raised.
idk man the doner kebab I had in Berlin was way better than in Istanbul. Istanbul still had excellent food, just not the kebab for whatever reason. Maybe we just didn’t try the right place.
Where? Friend of mine from Vienna always complains about the lack of good Döner and would love a good recommendation.
Unfortunately it’s been 18 years since I was in Austria, and as an American who’d never had one before they all seemed good, so I couldn’t really help. I remember once my cousin took us to a pizza place that served both döners and the meat inside of dough like a calzone, but couldn’t tell you at all where it was beyond I think we were on the eastern side of the Danube.
But please have an Ottakringer Blopp and/or Kaiser Doppelmalz for me the next time you’re in Vienna.
NYC is cheating
Toronto too. Or LA. I know a lot of Koreans that say the best Korean food in the world is in LA.
I had a blintz in Bali.
Sounds like a 1930s tap dancing song.
Or a 70s rock song
🎶 Bali Blintz Bali Blintz Bali Blintz Bali Blintz 🎵
Are you ready Steve? Uh huh.
Andy? Yeah. Mick? Ok.
Alright, fellas, let’s go!
Paint my fence!
I had an excellent home-made lasagne in a restaurant in Gent, Belgium.
Was the restaurant attached to a home?
Nope. It was on the main square and was called 't Vosken.
Now I’m genuinely confused what made it homemade…haha
Because they made it themselves, I guess.
Isn’t making things themselves what restaurants are supposed to be doing? Not always, but a good restaurant would, at least.
Can I ask in which one? I’m planning to go to Gent soon
Certainly! It was: 't Vosken, Sint-Baafsplein 19. I’ll try to upload a photo.
Thank you very much! I saved it already and really appreciate the effort :)
You’re very welcome. Make sure you have the Dame Blanche with cream for dessert!
Indian food in the UK. I don’t think this will surprise anyone, though.
Absolutely. I was just recalling in an earlier thread a dinner I had in Cornwall near Tintagel, at a family run Indian place. I was keen on trying vindaloo, but the owner talked me down to madras - and I was glad, because that madras was at the perfect edge of my hotness tolerance and was delicious. The vindaloo probably would have been too much for me.
Yep. Vindaloo from a good Indian is evil 😃
Disappointed that I failed the Dave Lister test tho. OTOH it means I still have more than one taste bud.
I moved to New Zealand six months ago, and I have had exactly one truly bad meal since I’ve been here. I haven’t eaten any Maori food, so I guess all the food I’ve eaten has been from another country.
The one that surprised me the most was KFC. We moved from one state away from Kentucky, and we had to come here to have truly good KFC.
I was expecting the Chinese food to be good here, but it’s really good. So is the Korean, Indian, and Malaysian food. The fish and chips are good. The burgers are great, even from McDonald’s. The absolute best was Filipino food from a tiny little restaurant in a random strip mall near Sylvia Park. That food changed my life.
In fairness, I have had a couple of “fine” meals—as in, “well, nothing special, but it was fine.”
The one bad meal was Pad Thai made by Thai people at a Thai restaurant down by the beach. It was just way too sweet, which makes me wonder if they saw me and made it “for a white guy” or something.
Well, I had the exact opposite experience with KFC. In Europe KFC is crispy, crunchy, seasoned, delicious. When I was in Kentucky we stopped at the supposedly first KFC. Holy greasy bland chewy chicken, batman! Didn’t try KFC again the whole trip.
Yeah, I don’t know what the US malfunction with KFC is. Obviously capitalism, but beyond that.
Wondering where you’re were coming from (e.g city or rural), because what you described has basically been my experience in every US city I’ve spent time in. One of my favorite aspects of multicultural city life tbh
City, but a small one. And yeah, food was good, but the floor and average were both lower there.
Vietnam has amazing French food. Especially top tier baked good like croissants. Up there with the best in Paris.
I would never have guessed, this is what I made this post for.
I mean it makes sense given that Vietnam was a French colony up until Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnam wanted out after WW2
History was always my weak point. It’s interesting but I could never keep up with the names and dates.
puerto rico is not really a country, but it did have the absolute best hummus pizza I’ve ever had. the food there in general was top notch.
Hummus… Pizza? That’s a new one for me. Where is that popular/from?
I’d describe it as a Mediterranean fusion food. It’s not common, but when you see it, it’s typically an option at trendy artisanal pizza places.
Interesting. Does the hummus just replace the red sauce, or is the rest of the structure different too?
I’ll have to give it a try if I come across it.
No cheese, typically toppings that go well with hummus (roasted reg, olives, herbs).
Ah, gotcha. The pizza dough is really a substitute for pita, rather than fitting the hummus into pizza (if that makes sense). Still sounds pretty yummy, I’ll def have to find that somewhere.
I had fantastic khachapuri in Lithuania.
The only true oven for it within the city of a Chicago (Argo Bakery on Devon) closed a few years back and it’s like an ache in my soul.
I had something in Germany they told me was from Austria that was just ham steaks with eggs and potatoes in an incredible red sauce.
I don’t remember what it was called, nor where it actually originated from. But fuck, I wish I knew what that sauce was because the rest of it was super simple and something I can get easy at home. It’s not the same without the sauce, tho. It wasn’t spicy, it wasn’t BBQ and it wasn’t ketchup. It was just pure deliciousness.
I had something in Germany they told me was from Austria that was just ham steaks with eggs and potatoes in an incredible red sauce.
It sounds a bit like Tiroler Gröstel but with Gulasch Sauce. Gulasch is usually it’s own dish, but you could use it as an addition to another dish.
I had some really good Chinese takeaway noodles in Athens. Bonus: 500mL Heineken’s were a €1.50.
I’ve had some really good fried chicken in Vietnam, one of the best burgers ever in Singapore, and conversely, terrible Mexican food in Spain, lol
Singapore has some of the best food for sure. Absolutely world class across nearly any cuisine. Say what you will about their economy/politics, but that kind of variety is really hard to find.
I dunno, London has that sort of variety … but is also a capitalist hellhole :-/
I’d throw San Francisco in there as well, but I don’t think either really match Singapore in that regard. I think it’s a combination of having been a gigantic financial and trade hub for centuries (I see London and San Francisco more as endpoints, honestly) and the pressure/post colonial culture from the island state’s government to curate their image/culinary scene.
It’s a very unique crossroads and set of circumstances which I have not seen anywhere else in the world.
Edit: “an” to “a”
London was, in some ways, a hub thanks to the Empire. Less so now, but it does have variety, much more than any other European city IME
You can get stuff like jellyfish salad, jerk chicken, Lebanese food, etc, with little effort.
Also, it’s legal to take durians on the London underground, so that’s one up on Singapore :-P
Lol the durian debate continues! Yeah, the variety is definitely true of London. It has more of an organic sort of variety that I would compare with San Francisco, New York, or Hong Kong.
I think what really hit me was the overt curating I saw in Singapore (which also has a chilling/freezing effect on the small restauranteur) All the restaurants I went to were completely amazing and, like anything in that city, way more costly than in any other country I’d visited that trip. Singapore, at times, felt a bit gauche and decadent with how great/polished everything was.
I also think it’s interesting to see what permeates these trade hubs in terms of food. I will say that I did not catch any Caribbean fare in Singapore, although I wouldn’t be surprised given its imperial past. International hubs for technology, finance, and pretty much anything else miss out on varied cuisines if they’re sufficiently culturally or geographically insulated (looking at Paris and Shanghai from my experience lol).
Yeah, the careful curation of everything put me off, over all … I’d rather stick with provincial but real, personally (she says while getting a tattoo in a Vietnamese alley)
I’ve only passed through Shanghai - what’s it like?
Agreed. Singapore felt like Disneyland. There’s a place for that experience and I can only take it in doses lol.
I loved Shanghai. During that trip, we stuck mostly to the historical bits, which I was suuuuper fascinated by. We had a few days there and a few more in and around Beijing with some traveling in between.
Foodwise, it was awesome, but all very traditional fare (which I never grew tired of and would definitely go back). We were on our own, though, so we didn’t have the luxury of local friends and their preferences. Definitely got gawked at a bit more than in Hong Kong, but everyone was super kind. A bit more businessy, I’d say.
Yeh London and Singapore. Have a similar thing going on. I also feel both have lot of average mid level capitalist places. They do each have the odd goodie spots. I used to love Camden but it’s become all about the insta post fire. Love all the stalls about SanFran.
Singapore is streets above London. I love that for any price point $10/50/200 you can get a fantastic meal from a great range of cuisines.
Personal fav was the Malay. Disappointment the Chinese HotPot. Surprise contender the Indian drink range…so nice in the heat. Best local was the Teh. It was amazing.
I totally agree lol. Never been anywhere else like it. I’m surprised the hot pot let you down though. The only places I felt were middling were in Orchard Center.
Had the most amazing burger in Japan. I’m not sure what they put in their food, but EVERYTHING there tastes amazing.
Perhaps Ajinomoto?
Maybe! But msg is used basically everywhere so why would it be so much more amazing in Japan haha.
Native production ig?
Which is funny because many non-japanese living here complain about finding good burgers (which is, of course, subjective to begin with).
