Clearly you've never been to the Robot Restaurant.

:p

New York. It may not be the least expensive, but you can find any cuisine at truly authentic levels, mashed-up with our cuisines or totally Americanized.

That would explain it. Most of the best restaurants (IMO, of course) in Chicago are not downtown but are in the surrounding neighborhoods (not suburbs). The restaurants in the suburbs are generally "meh".

Besides the commute, it's what I miss the most about working in the city. In the city, it was always "What cuisine do I feel like eating for lunch today?" In the suburbs, it's more "Which fast food joint should I go to?" Bleh.

City recommendations for spicy seafood dishes, anyone?

I'd choose Manado, not necessarily for the city, but for the cuisine.

Hong Kong, due to the superiority of properly sourced and cooked Chinese food. Nothing else comes even close to that and HK also serves nice Euro, Japanese, Korean and US dishes.

The other cuisine I love is Turkish and other ME cooking. For that, is there any "capital of Byzantine food"?

I will probably be the only one here, but I have a very surprising contender for 'best food city in the world': Belém, Brazil !

Yes, it's a disorganized, crowded and extremely hot city, full of crime (think Bogotá-levels of crime...) and poverty, with rain every day. And there's not a whole lot to do in the city itself. But oh my god the Pará style food is absolutely delicious ! Full of unique Amazon ingredients nobody has ever heard about outside of the region. Crabs, shrimp, açaí, a plethora of fruits, giant Amazon fish etc. it's too much to even list here.

The tastes are absolutely unique and even unlike anywhere I've been in Brazil. It far outshines the food in say Rio or so.

I was in Belem for my research and lived there (and elsewhere in Pará) for 3 months. And everything is very very cheap too (for us westeners).

I'd kill now for a bowl of tacacá, maniçoba, açaí, etc. Or a cupuaçu ice cream oh my god !

As for Europe, the best food can be found in Italy (duh) and in Portugal imo. I so miss portuguese food too, I need to go there soon ! Great seafood and fish, and they are also not bad at the other dishes.

I rarely had a good meal in France. I think that unless you go very very high end, France is very overrated for food. I have no idea why everyne raves about it. This is amplified by the fact that French people absolutely loathe foreigners. For me, a town/place that is 'good for food' needs to be good at ALL price levels; from high end to common or even street food.

I actually prefer German style food to France because at least the food is warm, hearty and comforting, even if not the most culinary, fresh or vibrant. It suits my Dutch palate I guess. Any central/east european country with similar stuff is similar. Poland, Lithuania, Hungary etc. One exception though: Czech is ... terrible. They have gone too far with the 'hearty' concept and everything is cooked through and through and has the same colour. But maybe that's just my experience. And they eat Carp. I cannot understand how peple can eat Carp, in my country it is taboo to eat Carp but I have been fed it by my Czech relatives !

My own country, Holland, is very terrible for anything but the high-end restaurant food. I really do not like to spend lots of money on what is mid-range restaurant food here, only to end up dissapointed every single time. There is a small amount of nice things (go to the market and eat a Herring, for example, or some fried fish or so, eat some smoked Eel which is the best delicacy there is, some North Sea shrimp, Mussels etc.) but the best food is made in my home and not in the restaurants here. Not only is the quality in anything but the highest-end restaurants often mediocre, you pay a lot for what you get bth in quality and especially quantity. I eat a lot and I don't like leaving the table hungry.

EDIT: Oh yeah and I am kinda a sea food person. Though I don't have lots of experience with the larger critters such as lobsters and crabs (almost picked up a live crab at the market to experiment, but I have no idea how to eat it, haha), I love my mussels, shrimp, squid, octopus and most any type of fish (except that damn CARP, you czechs !).

Mediterranean food is the best in the world, hands down.

Galle and Unawatana, Sri Lanka.

+1.
Closely followed by Asian.
Should I ever be offered a last meal on Death Row a simple plate of rocket salad,vine tomatoes,olive oil and shaved parmesan will see me through to the hereafter with a contented smile on my face.

What specifically do you recommend in these ports?

(As an aside, I did enjoy some delectable crab/shrimp fritters at Galle Face Green...but they were not spicy.)

These both cover a very, very wide range of possibilities.

Given the thread title word of "city" I'd say you might as well just go with "earth" if you're considering Mediterranean and Asian.

Singapore.

Unanimously, most foodies will agree Singapore is an enclave for delicious food from cross cultures:
http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/a...-for-singapore
http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/t...iles-singapore
Check out Anthony's Bourdain's video on Lay Over and his other episodes on Singapore.
He has some good recommendations like Tian Tian Chicken Rice (don't go at lunch hour, it's packed...try in between office hours.) He stayed at the Hyatt which is also a great location to get around the country.

Malaysia and Thailand have similar food for cheaper prices but you don't have the same convenience and amenities as Singapore. It's a foodie enclave in a first world country.

Seconded. Seafood curries there are second to none.

Krabi, Thailand. I've had some wonderful spicy seafood curries in the night markets there. Burn-your-face-off spicy.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7610/...bcc0e21c_z.jpg

https://www.travelfish.org/location/...nd/krabi/krabi

Salvador de Bahia in Brazil also has spicy AND seafood, to offer a less well-known / non asian destination. Oh god acarajé with shrimp and some spicy sauce, hmmmmmm....

(not that there is anything wrong with what's already listed, but being Brazilian I just wanna share my experiences with cities in brazil that might not be well-known to most people, always good to know something different right?)