So new school year and one of my resolutions is to try foods from all cultures. I read Rekrul's koreaaaa guide and the part where he talks so highly of Galbi-sal for korean food is really good example of what im hoping to get out of this thread.
So what I want to know from the diverse TL.net group, what from your culture do you recommend a foreigner eat? It doesnt necessarily have to be from your culture but if you have so much experience with French food and youre not french, im sure its okay.
So an example. I am filipino and if anyone ever goes to Philippines and needs a certain dish to try, I would say try Beef Kare Kare. You can say Adobo is popular but Kare Kare just has that taste of spanish/chinese influence that all visitors must try!
I was going to have a full write up on yogurt and pita bread, but I then realised it really wouldn't be funny.
Some very common food, we do have a ton of variety, but this has to be mentioned.
If you ever try a Persian restaurants, you'll have to try the chelow kebab, which is just minced meat grilled(or do you call it broiled?) on a skewer and served with a side of rice, and as for the drink, my memory is shotty, but I think its doogh which I believe is made by leaving yogurt for a while, until it goes slightly sour, and then its mixed with water and salt and some other stuff (can't remember =/ ) but its awesome to settle your stomach and put you to sleep to boot.
With that, you sort of grill everything, vegetables most commonly tomatoes and eggplant.
Bah, I want to visit Iran again, I miss those settings =/.
Chelow Kebab, and you can see a glass of doogh on the side.
Here is a good site for some dim sum and other chinese food (I stole some pics off there too)
All you can eat Dim Sum at a good restaurant is heavenly >< Finding a good restaurant or at least a decent one is most important. A crappy restaurant can really make for a poor experience (goes without saying but yeah chinese waiter peoples can be really gay sometimes). If you can somehow get recommendations by other people who have visited particular places then that'd be good.
On January 13 2008 11:55 skyglow1 wrote: DIM SUM OMG (pronounced sorta like deem sum) I love going to dim sum restaurants with my family and just ordering everything that I like.
This is one of my favourite things to get (the pink ones called shrimp Har Gao):
All you can eat Dim Sum at a good restaurant is heavenly ><
Siu mai is also awesome, except my family doesn't eat pork, so my mum bies these mini siu mais that are made out of prawn meat and they are like just as awesome.
Arg I want dim sum so badly right now looking at those pics
Oshiruko (red-bean soup) is a fairly obscure (for foreigners) Japanese sweet, it's usually consumed during New Years, it's sickeningly sugary, but I think unless you're REALLY adverse to sweets (I'm generally unable to tolerate sugary foods ala American cake icing, but I'm fine with mass-red-bean) it's worth a shot, if only to see the epitome of Japanese obsession with red beans.
In terms of standard food, it's a relatively more commonly-known one, but Katsudon is good.
I like encouraging people to try Japanese foods that aren't Sushi or Sashimi, as I feel disheartened when people say "I love japanese food" and they only mean those two... and even then they're eating fake (especially Americans, 95% of those sushi restaurants are owned/cooked by Koreans using completely different rations, ingredients and procedures... and they also somehow think rolls are sushi omgwtfbbq) ones anyways.
On January 13 2008 11:55 skyglow1 wrote: DIM SUM OMG (pronounced sorta like deem sum) I love going to dim sum restaurants with my family and just ordering everything that I like.
This is one of my favourite things to get (the pink ones called shrimp Har Gao):
All you can eat Dim Sum at a good restaurant is heavenly ><
Nice, man. Hak gao and Siu mai ftw.
is that white bun the one with custard in it, cuz i want some nowwww omg
Here is a good site for some dim sum and other chinese food (I stole some pics off there too)
All you can eat Dim Sum at a good restaurant is heavenly >< Finding a good restaurant or at least a decent one is most important. A crappy restaurant can really make for a poor experience (goes without saying but yeah chinese waiter peoples can be really gay sometimes). If you can somehow get recommendations by other people who have visited particular places then that'd be good.
haha i was going to say exactly the same thing peking duck (from the right restaurants) is also really really good
Katsu kare (curry) + melon soda float is pretty much the best Japanese food there is. Okonomiyaki is pretty good too.
I like encouraging people to try Japanese foods that aren't Sushi or Sashimi, as I feel disheartened when people say "I love japanese food" and they only mean those two... and even then they're eating fake (especially Americans, 95% of those sushi restaurants are owned/cooked by Koreans using completely different rations, ingredients and procedures... and they also somehow think rolls are sushi omgwtfbbq) ones anyways.
Yeah, but you can't really blame them since they don't know how to speak to the chefs or anything.
EDIT: BTW the difference between Japanese curry and all the other asian kinds is that they use beef fat for the sauce, so it's thicker, tastes better and is much, much worse for you.
even though i've visited so many places and all sorts of restaurants, you just never stop being amazed by all sorts of food and settings.
theres a freaking load of variety, i wish my parents had taught me to eat correctly when i was a child, when i was 15 i only ate fish and chips, hamburguers and stupid stuff.
now i've learn to try ANYTHING, at least 3 times cause i've learned sometimes you don't like it the first time and then you do after another try.
that looks soooo fucking good but give a damn name/ description. I love exotic food, especially the spicy and meaty dishes. The dishes I like (that might be foreign to you guys):
jajang mun (I used to order these all the time when I was at pc bangs in korea, and man they are good. Basically white noodles in jajang sauce, don't really know how the sauce is made but it usually has onions, sliced cucumber, ground beef, sometimes peas and garlic... very fucking good)
samgyubsal (strip of pork that's cooked on a grill with kimchi and onions. The porks usually super greasy cuz it's customary to leave the fat on the slivers of meat, which is why I love eating it with kimchi which makes me feel less sick and plus cooked kimchi is super good. This is probably my favorite korean dish)
dweji bulgogi (meh, I was going to put bulgogi but it has already been posted so I put this, which is basically the same thing but with pork and chili paste.)
this is banh xeo or the vietnamese crepe and ugh..couldnt find a good picture but trust me its delicious :D
THIS IS THE SHIT! Bun Bo Hue. My favorite dish of vietnamese and ignore the shit on there usually theres NOT that much but trust me its better than pho =)
and as you all knmow...the thing that gets boring pho..
On January 13 2008 15:38 MYM.Testie wrote: Evan, you've been pushing that chinese food for a very long time I've seen you post about it atleast three, possibly four times now.
Yeah has anyone every tried it? No! So I will keep advocating it untill someone OTHER than myself try its glory.
side story: When I was in China last last yr I ate it for the first time in 5 years I went crying "long live communist!" on the streets, people stared at me strangely hahaha, but it's that good.
On January 13 2008 11:49 Energies wrote: I was going to have a full write up on yogurt and pita bread, but I then realised it really wouldn't be funny.
Some very common food, we do have a ton of variety, but this has to be mentioned.
If you ever try a Persian restaurants, you'll have to try the chelow kebab, which is just minced meat grilled(or do you call it broiled?) on a skewer and served with a side of rice, and as for the drink, my memory is shotty, but I think its doogh which I believe is made by leaving yogurt for a while, until it goes slightly sour, and then its mixed with water and salt and some other stuff (can't remember =/ ) but its awesome to settle your stomach and put you to sleep to boot.
With that, you sort of grill everything, vegetables most commonly tomatoes and eggplant.
Bah, I want to visit Iran again, I miss those settings =/.
Chelow Kebab, and you can see a glass of doogh on the side.
I can vouch for this stuff both of my parents are from iran and this stuff is absolutely amazing I always put on about 15 pounds every time I visit iran because of how good the food there is.
On January 13 2008 13:40 RtS)Night[Mare wrote: oh i got a counter for that: TACOS DE SUADERO
you can also try bistek, pastor and barbacoa, those are really good too
thats the best food ever, for myself, you should try it sometime
Looks a bit dry though. Is there some sort of sauce that comes with it?
well that stuff it has its cilantro ->dunno how to say it in english and onion, and of course you put some sauce on it. Guacamole sauce fits the best for me but you can try red sauce or green spicy sauce, i dont know, here in mexico at least there are about 5 different type of sauces to put on the tacos
On January 13 2008 11:49 Energies wrote: I was going to have a full write up on yogurt and pita bread, but I then realised it really wouldn't be funny.
Some very common food, we do have a ton of variety, but this has to be mentioned.
If you ever try a Persian restaurants, you'll have to try the chelow kebab, which is just minced meat grilled(or do you call it broiled?) on a skewer and served with a side of rice, and as for the drink, my memory is shotty, but I think its doogh which I believe is made by leaving yogurt for a while, until it goes slightly sour, and then its mixed with water and salt and some other stuff (can't remember =/ ) but its awesome to settle your stomach and put you to sleep to boot.
With that, you sort of grill everything, vegetables most commonly tomatoes and eggplant.
Bah, I want to visit Iran again, I miss those settings =/.
Chelow Kebab, and you can see a glass of doogh on the side.
What he said :D
and i'll recommend my favorite too , Ghormeh Sabzi , our "national dish" i'd say.
On January 13 2008 17:23 EpiK wrote: The dishes from iran definitely look really good. What's the yellow stuff in the rice? And is that egg yolk in the center of the second dish?
The yellow stuff is saffron , and yeah that's an egg in the second dish (tho i personally don't like egg with my rice).
had these when i was in shanghai for xmas. so awesome. to make the meat inside super juicy they take chicken, pork knuckles and other meats and bones and boil it then let it set to a gelatin and mix it in with the dumpling meat so when it is steamed the "soup jelly" melts into soup. when you eat it take a small bite and suck out the sauce then dip the dumpling in a little vinegar with ginger and eat the whole thing =D
la mian (pulled noodles)
real chefs make noodles like this and not cut with knifes or with the help of machines! had this in shanghai too like three times. the noodles are nothing like the instant pack ramen you get. its so much more chewy and full of wheat flavor served in a thick broth of beef and lamb =D
lol the people posting a picture with the name of the food in their native language is of little help. i have to guess what the foods are made of and whats so special about them -___-
Laksa is a coconut-based curry soup. The main ingredients for most versions of laksa include tofu puffs, fish sticks, shrimp and cockles. Some vendors may sell chicken laksa which uses chicken instead of shrimp. Cockles are usually very commonly used in laksa.Usually, thick rice noodles also known as laksa noodles are preferred.
Otah is made by mixing fish paste (usually mackerel) with a mixture of spices including chillies, garlic, shallots, turmeric, lemon grass and coconut milk. The mixture is then wrapped in a banana leaf that has been softened by steaming, then grilled or steamed.
To contribute, being born in France and going to uni in the states -- what i miss the most about french food and what I stuff my face with everyday when I go back is..
Bread and Roquefort (type of cheese, extra moldy =])
It's so simple and yet the fucking best. its all i eat
A normal raclette consists of potatoes, charcuterie (cold, pork-based products) and raclette cheese. Everyone cooks his cheese in a device that looks like this (you can put the potatoes on top of it to keep them warm).
yup. i think that's "hor fun". (Some type of noodle dish). my fav. got to try it. It's a white flat, noodle, i think made out of rice. Goes well with any vegies or meat. It can be made into noodle soup or stir fried noodles (shown above), in which case the noodle turns a browner colour from the soya sauce.
edit: oh yeah... it's Chao Kway Teow actually. The noodles look so similar to each other. :D They're both my favourites!
Idk if there are many restaurants like this in America, or any western/European country, but if like Indian you need to go to a traditional restaurant. You get this massive 15" tray and 6 little bowls on it each filled with different curries, ranging from sweet to spicey, vegetable to different meats etc. Then they just dump rice in teh middle of the tray and you eat with your (right) hand. If it is traditional like this then there will be real Indian chefs, and it will be beautiful. Not only is the food sooooo good, but it is a real experience and different to normal eating...a million indians can't go wrong...
Peking duck. It's chinese (or what we americans all chinese, idk if they eat it in China) but it is AMAZING. cooked duck + green onions + plum sauce + flour tortilla (or is it corn?) but its sooo good.
I'm from germany and I really advise you to avoid german food. Really. Germany's food culture is the second worst in the world, only to be surpassed by England.
If you happen to be on a roadtrip through europe, make sure to visit France right before Germany so you can survive a week or two with your marché shopping.
If you happen to visit Germany exclusively, look out for restaurants that are distinguishably not German (Chinese, Maroccan, Afghanian, Japanese etc.) and run away from all places that spell something like "Brauhaus", "Jägerhof", "Gaststätte" or "Schnitzelkeller".
If you live in Germany, cook for yourself or get really drunk all the time.
EDIT: I just had a second thought about my post, let me rephrase my recommendation in a more optimistic, catchy and easily understandable way:
yup. i think that's "hor fun". (Some type of noodle dish). my fav. got to try it. It's a white flat, noodle, i think made out of rice. Goes well with any vegies or meat. It can be made into noodle soup or stir fried noodles (shown above), in which case the noodle turns a browner colour from the soya sauce.
edit: oh yeah... it's Chao Kway Teow actually. The noodles look so similar to each other. :D They're both my favourites!
thats not chao kway teow that's just gon chow ngau hor lol o_O
but they're similar enough i like both and they're good shit w/e
The problem with Japanese food is that so much of it is bland and the stuff they serve in restaurants in the US is not really that great. Soy sauce is the main seasoning for most stuff and it's really just salt, and I rarely ever had sushi or teriyaki while I lived there. What they really do best is the junk food. All of this stuff is pretty cheap, but people pay exorbitant prices for Japanese food in the US. + Show Spoiler [Lots of Pictures] +
Pork Katsu
Okonomiyaki (kind of like fried cabbage pancake)
Duh
Yakisoba (like Ramen noodles out of soup, with a really good sauce)
Takoyaki (Octopus balls, especially fun since you can help make them)
And any kind of donburi rice bowl, especially oyako donburi (chicken + egg over rice.)
Omochi (rice balls) is pretty awesome too, especially after you watch them make it.
And of course kare
They also do a really good job copying other people, particularly toast and german pastries (Japanese bakeries are all excellent.) On the other hand, their version of sausage (IT'S A FISH PENIS) and pizza is a bit horrific. Shucream (cream puff)
The only "really" Japanese desert you can find is sweet bean paste stuff, but that's pretty gross. So here's some strawberry shortcake. Also, for some reason Japanese people are in love with flan.
Melon cream soda
Their parfaits are pretty badass too (yes, those are corn flakes at the bottom)
As for great American food, look no further than chili, buffalo wings and:
On January 14 2008 01:07 zuqbu wrote: I'm from germany and I really advise you to avoid german food. Really. Germany's food culture is the second worst in the world, only to be surpassed by England.
If you happen to be on a roadtrip through europe, make sure to visit France right before Germany so you can survive a week or two with your marché shopping.
If you happen to visit Germany exclusively, look out for restaurants that are distinguishably not German (Chinese, Maroccan, Afghanian, Japanese etc.) and run away from all places that spell something like "Brauhaus", "Jägerhof", "Gaststätte" or "Schnitzelkeller".
If you live in Germany, cook for yourself or get really drunk all the time.
EDIT: I just had a second thought about my post, let me rephrase my recommendation in a more optimistic, catchy and easily understandable way:
Im American and spent about 6 weeks in Germany this summer. SOME of the food is not so great, but the basics I enjoyed. Blood sausages were god awful. Those and the extra sweet/weird ketchup and mustard were the biggest minuses in basic german fare that I saw. Luckily I saved some spicy french dijon that kept until about 2 days before we left. Coca-Cola also tasted sweeter than the american version.
For the pluses. How can you go wrong with a decent schweinenschnitzel though? Pretty much every pork dish I had was fine. Although, I could not understand the preoccupation with turkey as a meat staple. I would describe German food as hearty and basic. So long as you like meat, bread, and potatoes you will not be disappointed. If you eat it too much its more boredom than distaste that sets in.
I think my favorite food is probably a home made burrito that I like to make.
haha that's like the most generic shit you can get served anywhere.. fries and wienerschnitzel
Here's some Slovenian stuff:
Potica (nut roll) is an Eastern European pastry of yeast bread similar to a strudel, with one or more fillings. It is also known as: Potica (also known as Povitica, gubana or guban'ca, depending on the region) in Slovenian; Orechovnik in Slovak; Štrudla in Serbian; Povitica, Orehnjača (walnut variant), or Makovnjača (poppyseed variant) in Croatian).
And of course "prekmurska gibanica", which is a layered pastry, originating in the region of Prekmurje, Slovenia. It variously contains poppy seeds, walnuts, apples, raisins, and cottage cheese fillings. Although native to Prekmurje, it has achieved the status of a national speciality of Slovenia. The unique sweetmeat shows the variety of agriculture in this region.
Chinese or Korean cakes the icing is not super sweet like american icing, and theres yummy fruit cocktail and pretty fruits all over it
That thing that looked like worms to someone is also amazing. My family calls it gan chao niu he
and the 'chinese crepe' thing is also amazing, it probably has different names but I call it jian bing guo zi. I eat it everyday for breakfast when I visit my grandparents in tianjing
Also.. I like dog >_> my friends and I decided to try it one day in china and we had some dog ribs, they were so good
Black caviar sandwich. Best stuff ever for special occasions.
Bacon fat is the perfect topping for any sandwitch. Best combined with black bread, delicious!
Pelmeni (ravioli), traditional Russian food. Best served with lots of sour cream, butter, and vinegar. I even put on a hearty load of pepper.
Blini (pancakes) is another traditional Russian food. Unlike the fat American pancakes, this is a very thin slice of dough. Usually used for desert, they are filled with sugar, honey, or jam and then foled into eighths. For a more special occasion, they can be filled up with red caviar, and rolled up.
Vobla. This is a very dried out fish. It is like a fish jerkey; very dry and very salty. Obviously, the hands down best food for beer.
Correction, THIS food best compliments beer. My favourite, crayfish. Bought live, boiled in a pot with 5+ tablespoons of salt and dried out dill (seedy part) for flavour.
i will go for butter chicken with naan and steamed white rice (i am from south india and this is typically considered a north indian dish but i still love it):
On January 14 2008 04:18 MaGic~PhiL wrote: zuqbu u are totally talking out of your ass , arent u ?
No. Why should I? German food is far from diverse, healthy and tasty. It's boring at best. Most of the time the only spice you get served is salt, and most germans use it in quantities of a sauce. Go to a german supermarket and you can choose from 20 different brands of the same gouda! Now that's diversity! Just don't try to find a place to buy fresh fish, and if you've really found one don't expect them to sell more than 4 or 5 different types of fish. German's don't think much about food and it's quality, it just has to be cheap. Discount markets which all sell the same boring stuff are the big deal. Germans can name more food discount stores than types of pasta. If you want to buy fruits and vegetables of good quality you're looking for a Turkish store, if you aim for fresh spices you end up in a Chinese or Japanese supermarket. That's the good thing about globalisation: Germans can enjoy good food, too. Since this is a food recommendation thread, we should stop talking about Germany.
On January 13 2008 11:55 skyglow1 wrote: DIM SUM OMG (pronounced sorta like deem sum) I love going to dim sum restaurants with my family and just ordering everything that I like.
This is one of my favourite things to get (the pink ones called shrimp Har Gao):
And this is siu mai which everyone loves (pork dumplings):
I really like this stuff (Chee chong fan) when there's enough sauce provided with it:
I wonder it this simple, yet nice drink is known by people who arent from eastern/southern europe. The simpliest form of kompot is boiling ~1kg of cherries in around 5 litres of water with around 5-6 big spoons of sugar. Personally I love cherries and I can drink big ammounts of kompocik.
Probably the Czech/Slovak and Russian guys know it, wonder about the rest of you.
Chinese creppe is great for breakfast and the late night snack.
Korean Bibimbab is good if there's a good accompanying sauce.
The olden back-of-a-bike charcoal meat skewer stools are amazing too. Just the right amount of meat (yes, too much is bad for a skewer), grilled and smoked till the fatty bits are crunchy on the outside...amazing stuff. I always suspected they put in opium poppy in the mixture as it is just too addictive for be normal.
There's a hidden section of food that I'm rather fond of, they are, CANNED FOOD.
The vegies I pass up but there's something special about huge pot pressure cooked meat. There's a brand by the name of Maling that does this steamed pork can, where the fat are virtually melted in the soup and it makes a fantastic base for any soup or sauce.
On January 14 2008 04:18 MaGic~PhiL wrote: zuqbu u are totally talking out of your ass , arent u ?
No. Why should I? German food is far from diverse, healthy and tasty. It's boring at best. Most of the time the only spice you get served is salt, and most germans use it in quantities of a sauce. Go to a german supermarket and you can choose from 20 different brands of the same gouda! Now that's diversity! Just don't try to find a place to buy fresh fish, and if you've really found one don't expect them to sell more than 4 or 5 different types of fish. German's don't think much about food and it's quality, it just has to be cheap. Discount markets which all sell the same boring stuff are the big deal. Germans can name more food discount stores than types of pasta. If you want to buy fruits and vegetables of good quality you're looking for a Turkish store, if you aim for fresh spices you end up in a Chinese or Japanese supermarket. That's the good thing about globalisation: Germans can enjoy good food, too. Since this is a food recommendation thread, we should stop talking about Germany.
You are exaggerating. While I agree the german every day food might be more cheap than anything, I've seen that to be the case in a lot of countries.
Go to different parts of germany and order traditional dishes! People tend to forget there is so much to dicover in their own country. Try it out!
And don´t forget about the sweets. While austria is certainly THE country to visit if you are more interested in the dessert than the rest of the meal, there are also a lot of german sweets worth trying.
On January 13 2008 16:36 OhThatDang wrote: umm i am vietnamese so what i got so far is..
this is banh xeo or the vietnamese crepe and ugh..couldnt find a good picture but trust me its delicious :D
THIS IS THE SHIT! Bun Bo Hue. My favorite dish of vietnamese and ignore the shit on there usually theres NOT that much but trust me its better than pho =)
and as you all knmow...the thing that gets boring pho..
Man, quite a selection there, representing all the three parts of VN. Nonetheless, you'd better go back to Vietnam and try these dishes at their original places. For example, Ba'nh Xe`o tastes best in SG, bu'n bo` Hu'e best in ... Hu'e (u might guess), and Pho? in Hanoi. I've tried them in both, Australia and the U.S. but they were nowhere near the quality from the homeland :D.
yum... all the european foods... imma gonna take photos when i go to a restaurant on weds just to show you fucks that Chinese food isn't just peking duck, noodles, or dim sims.
On January 14 2008 23:28 haduken wrote: yum... all the european foods... imma gonna take photos when i go to a restaurant on weds just to show you fucks that Chinese food isn't just peking duck, noodles, or dim sims.