When traveling to one country...

[Kouign Aman]

Depends on how many meals I have. The local version of 'ethnic food' is part of the culture. If I have time to enjoy the traditional food, and meals left over, then exploration is part of the game. But I rarely have much time for that - the trips are too short, the meals too few, and the traditional options too many. The delineation is interesting - Indian and gyros shops 'are' serving british food.

I usually check out the McD's menu for grins as it does vary interestingly from place to place, tho I have only eat at one overseas once. (In Caracas, McD's was a godsend for reasons quite other than the menu. Cleanest place I think I have ever seen). I took a nice walk downtown in Suzhou, to check out the redbean fried pie. Cant get those here. It was a lot of fun placing the order, because I'd forgotten my little bit of cardstock with the kanji on it (courtesy a previous guide). So the no-English young woman at the order counter and I had some fun, with lots of smiles and laughter, while we figured things out. The pie was good too.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

My only experience with eating at a restaurant (not fast food) outside of the US was a visit to what was supposedly the best Chinese restaurant in Mexicali... and it was very good food.

[bwv544]

New here, so i apologize if this post is bungled for some reason or another...

when i go to Taiwan (which is where most of my family is), i try to stick with local food as much as possible because even on that small island, every region has its own specialties. the exceptions have been if there's a large family gathering, when they take us to Japanese restaurants because they're "fancy," or this one particular occasion when my cousin thought it would be fun to take me to a "Texan" restaurant. it was awful. horrendous, even. i vaguely remember "chicken fried steak" smothered in canned tomatoes and served with overcooked spaghetti. on the other hand, this restaurant wasn't in Taipei, or Taichung, or any of the other big cities, so maybe it's not truly indicative of how "Texan" food is handled over there.

the Japanese restaurants, though, have always been quite good. my only issue with this last visit was that EVERY relative felt the need to take me to a Japanese place, so at the end of two weeks i'd eaten sushi and miso for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and i hadn't had any Chinese/Taiwanese food at all. when i got home my other half "surprised" me with a dinner at a Japanese restaurant and i wanted to scream.

[SuzySushi]

As Kouign Aman says, "The local version of 'ethnic food' is part of the culture." When I travel, I don't restrict myself to any one cuisine, no more so than I do when I'm home. For example, I've had excellent Vietnamese, Moroccan, and Senagalese food in France, though the Chinese food I ate there was just so-so by my standards, and an excellent carbonnade Flamande in a small town in Britain. And how can I forget the "haggis pakoras" in Glasgow, Scotland?

[Alchemist]

Sorry about th3e spelling.

Many, many years ago I was living on a small island off the west coast of Thailand. I was waiting tables and bartending at a wonderful “resort” (5 palm shacks, with mesquito netting and a shower that looked out on the gently lapping ocean. There were often creepy crawlies dancing about in the gravel of my shower.) The food was amazing. A dreadlocked chef, and his two prep cooks (his younger brother was employed to sit in the corner and pack bong hits.) cooked each meal with love and Irie that was beautiful, (but very very slowly) to behold. It was not unheard of to wait 2 hours for your meal. There was much laughter, and tasting going on. Bob M., and Jimmy C. grooved to the beat of the waves lapping on the beach 30 feet away. People came from the mainland and waited hours, a few at the least to have his food.

There is a point to this I swear… It is just so much fun to write…

So the 5 tables would be packed. I was mixing up “Devils Cups” (it was made in a huge rice bowl, Couple of pints of whiskey and some pineapple juice and a wee bit of Sprite, for six people, My job was trying to translate French/Italian/German into English and then translate it into WICKED STONED Thai.

It was a normal tue night, people dancing on the tables naked and when of the prep cooks cut her finger, Badly. The kitchen came to a FULL STOP. I breezed around with a comp Devils Cup and we decided to go to the new “ethnic” resurant down the beach about a quarter mile.

So a sheet and a half to the wind we meandered down the beach, sand like velvet betiquikts our toes. It was going to be a night of feasting on the Greek delights.

I was surviving in employee meal, all Thai. I had been eating rotten fish head stew for a while, so my idea of “exotic” was a bit skewed.

I would have walked a mile for tacos, pasta, dosas, hamburgers, lo mein, dumplings, scrapple, corned beef hash, tortilini, bacon, pork belly, martini with good vermouth, pasta with gravy, stom pot, tater totts…

So we get to the restaurant and get beer and Gyros. We were so exixited to have exotic food. There were so many things wrong with the service. Bit the Tzickie was made with strawberry yogurt. The meat was mealy, the "pita" horrific, the plate dirty. Not so bad.

[nakji]

So we get to the restaurant and get beer and Gyros. We were so exixited to have exotic food. There were so many things wrong with the service. Bit the Tzickie was made with strawberry yogurt. The meat was mealy, the "pita" horrific, the plate dirty. Not so bad.

I cannot even begin to count the number of times in Asia I have seen strawberry yogurt employed in capacities beyond what it was meant for (that is to say a socially acceptable breakfast dessert and/or a wimpy dessert your mom would pack with lunch, along with an apple) - not the least of which was as a salad dressing on iceberg lettuce and corn.

So strawberry yogurt masquerading as tzatziki doesn't shock me at all. Getting decent Greek food in Asia is hard.

What island were you on?

Edited October 13, 2007 by nakji (log)

[Alchemist]

Kho Lanta. AAAAAhhh Kho Lanta, home of the Best Gang Saume in the world.

[brandtbl]

Oh man, I can say pretty unequivocally that though there are lots of good ethnic eateries in Berlin, there was at one time at least one Mexican place that was quite horrifyingly bad. I had been in Europe quite a long time (well, for me. Probably 2 months or so), and the idea of Mexican sounded really good for some reason. I'm pretty sure I ordered enchiladas, and it came out in a little casserole type dish, hot from the oven. At first glance it looked okay, but at first bite I was sorely disappointed. I (thankfully) don't remember the whole thing, but I do recall that they used creme fraiche instead of sour cream, and I think the cheese melted on top of whatever it was tasted a lot like gruyere. The filling was above all bland. I think they substituted mild paprika for any sort of spiciness that might generally be included in such a dish. I'm really sort of glad I can't remember the rest. It was a pretty disturbing experience all around and I don't think I or my girlfriend finished our meals. Oh well, at least the drinks were strong.

Surprisingly enough, I actually did have a pretty passable Mexican meal in Budapest once.

Why do I go to Europe and order Mexican, anyway? I can't explain that at all.

--Ben