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.
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.
Pizza in Austria. From a shed, somewhere high up in the Alps. No inside seating just a guy selling street food pizza at freezing temperatures. There were plenty of people standing in line in the snow so I figured it should be good and my goodness it was.
Fair enough. Austria is right next to Italy so maybe it doesn’t really count?
There was a place I only went to once, closing night of it, that did amazing Mediterranean food. Probably as authentic as they could try to make it here in the states. It was to die for it was so good.
Otherwise, close by to where that place used to be is an Indian restaurant that has the best vindaloo I have ever had.
I had the best wonton soup I’ve ever had at some random Chinese restaurant in Montreal
It had little crispy bit of i think cracklins floating around in it
All of the food we had in Montreal was great, and this was just some random place we stopped in for a quick bite on our way somewhere
Carbonara in Krakow, Poland.
It was authentic and tasted incredible.The next few I ordered at «italian» restaurants had ham, cream, peas (!!!) and one even onions. I just stopped ever ordering it out and learned to make it myself, but the one in Poland will forever be in my mind.
Brasil everything, pizza, hamburgers, sushi, pasta. They add their own style to international food and it’s awesome.
Brasilian BBQ is awesome.
Oh, I have A Story.
I studied abroad for a year in Fukuoka, Japan (beautiful city, off the beaten path for foreigners), and the options where I was were pretty limited in terms of foreign restaurants. However, at some point, us international students discovered this little Turkish shawarma place hidden away somewhere, and it was absolutely delicious, very filling (in a way Japanese food generally isn’t), affordable, and unlike any of the other options. The word spread quickly through the I-house, and many of us became regulars (although it seemed mostly ignored by the locals). We were there so often we got to know the owner, who spoke English, he was ethnically Turkish, but had actually come from Germany and decided to move to Japan and open a restaurant. Over several months while we were there, we watched the place get noticably nicer, more decor, the guy started importing Turkish rugs to sell out front, etc.
Unfortunately, as our second semester came to a close, we went there one last time to say goodbye to the owner and his delicious shawarma. He said like, “Damn, you’re leaving? I don’t know what I’m going to do.” I’m pretty sure we were almost single-handedly keeping his business going, and it would take several months for the next exchange students to arrive and no guarantee they’d find the place or fall in love with it like we did. We didn’t really have a way of leaving a message for that next group, to say, “Hey, check out this shawarma place,” and I never did find out if the business survived us leaving.
Funny enough, this was how I learned what shawarma was, just before the first Avengers movie came out (dating myself here).
I’m surprised you say Fukuoka is off the beaten path since it’s like the biggest city in Kyushu with international airports, schools, and whatnot. Was it not a popular destination for foreigners back when you were there? I know it’s always been a popular spot for Japanese people.
Do you know if the shop is still around?? I might be going for work next month, and I’d love to get some good shawarma.
I meant “off the beaten path” relative to places like Tokyo or Kyoto. Fukuoka is still a good sized city, but my experience is that most Westerners haven’t heard of it. Japan is a homogeneous country in general, so outside of big tourist destinations, you’re unlikely to just bump into another foreigner on the street, and occasionally like a little kid would stare at me in awe (I did also stand out because of my height, and found it amusing). Like I said, beautiful city, and definitely recommend it.
Do you know if the shop is still around?? I might be going for work next month, and I’d love to get some good shawarma.
Well, I got curious and did some googling. I’m pretty sure the place I went to was called Pasha and unfortunately it closed down. However, there’s actually a place that looks pretty similar (I thought maybe it was the same one at first) called Kafe Toruko that you might check out.
Had better sushi in Taiwan than Japan on the same trip.
Look at this Scotch egg! Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Do döner kebabs in Austria count as a Turkish food?
No, it counts as German food
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.
Depends on where the dönertier was raised.
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.
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.
Had some amazing Indian food in Bordeaux.
This place: https://rajistan.fr/
I was out on business floating around the Cayman islands going from point to point and met a small statured man from the Philippines. he had this amazing boat that was so whimsical it felt as if it had floated out of a story book. it had these incredibly tiny glass chimes hanging from the palm roof and with the washing of the waves it sounded like magic.
anyway, he offered us something to eat and we obviously couldn’t say no. he quickly began to work on his boat cooking up a storm. he was an absolute master at what he was doing! it was such a thrill to see him toss a bit of this and that into his pot and watch over it lovingly as it simmered. the air was filled with this amazing aroma of garlic, saffron, and tomato.
finally after a mouthwatering hour of cooking he plated the most beautiful Bouillabaisse for us to enjoy, and what a treat it was! it was the best Bouillabaisse I have ever had in my life!
unfortunately, I heard not that long after that the cartel found him and took his life. it’s a shame that nobody will ever get to experience his cooking again, he was truly a master.
Wow, that story took an unexpected tragic turn. But I’m glad you’re still paying tribute to this man’s artistry.
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.
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.
