Food you encountered traveling that stuck with you.
Dec 19, 2019, 10:49 pm
#61
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: SJC/SFO
Programs: WN A+ CP, UA 1MM/*A Gold, Mar LT Tit, IHG Plat, HH Dia
Posts: 6,284
I learned to enjoy sushi in Tokyo. I'd tried it a few times in the US years earlier but the friends eager to introduce me to it had undiscerning palates (i.e., anything that ticked the box as "sushi" was devoured with fawning praise) so I wrote off the whole category as "meh" food at inflated prices. In Tokyo I figured "When in Rome..." and gave sushi another try. Worlds apart!
I've enjoyed Korean barbecue, especially bulgalbi, since my first of many trips to South Korea. I marinate and cook my own meats Korean-style at home now.
I've enjoyed Korean barbecue, especially bulgalbi, since my first of many trips to South Korea. I marinate and cook my own meats Korean-style at home now.
Dec 22, 2019, 7:15 am
#63
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: About 45 miles NW of MCO
Programs: Acapulco - Gold, Panama - Red, Timothy Leary 8 Mile High Club
Posts: 29,238
Thinking back on it, barbecue may be the reason I came back to the south permanently. My first taste of it in the late 70’s was at a nondescript place in Gastonia. The memory lingered over quite a few years back in New England and I’ve tried pork from dozens of barbecue pits across the south after moving to Tennessee in 1989 and loved almost all of them.
Jan 9, 2020, 1:30 pm
#64
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: South Bend, IN
Programs: AA EXP 3 MM; Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium Elite
Posts: 18,560
I love steak tartar, but I find that the Polish version grinds the meat up too finely - really more like a paste. I prefer the small cubes of the French style.
Jan 11, 2020, 4:53 am
#65
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: New England
Programs: American Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Silver
Posts: 5,638
Puerto Rico:
- Passion Fruit "Juice" (They seem to call any fruit drink a juice, even if it only contains 5-10% juice). I've tried making it here in the states by buying the fruit and mixing it with water and sugar, and it just isn't the same. There just isn't that tropical fruit flavor to it.
- Arroz Mamposteado. I tried looking up a recipe and after reading the ingredients list (a whole cart full of groceries) I'm going to leave it to the professionals.
UK: Lamb Rogan Josh. An Indian dish that I can never find here in the states.
Caribbean: Tropical Fruit. REAL tropical fruit. Pineapples that are orange on the outside, sweet like candy, and smell amazing from 5 ft away. Not the green and brown ones we have in grocery stores that are pale on the inside and are tart and eat away at your mouth.
Florida: Ripe Carambola (starfruit). Tree ripened starfruit are orange and taste sweet and amazing. Starfruit found almost anywhere else in the US are either green or yellow because they were picked before they ripened and never fully ripen after they're picked.
Latin American stores: Chicharrones. Real chicharrones. Also known as pork scratchings in the UK. No, not that stuff with the texture of styrofoam. Good pork rinds are the kind with the fat cap still attached but rendered out during the frying process. Addictive, and definitely worse for you than regular pork rinds.
SE Asia: Fresh seafood. We freeze almost all our seafood here in the US. Fresh is always better. The variety is better as well.
- Passion Fruit "Juice" (They seem to call any fruit drink a juice, even if it only contains 5-10% juice). I've tried making it here in the states by buying the fruit and mixing it with water and sugar, and it just isn't the same. There just isn't that tropical fruit flavor to it.
- Arroz Mamposteado. I tried looking up a recipe and after reading the ingredients list (a whole cart full of groceries) I'm going to leave it to the professionals.
UK: Lamb Rogan Josh. An Indian dish that I can never find here in the states.
Caribbean: Tropical Fruit. REAL tropical fruit. Pineapples that are orange on the outside, sweet like candy, and smell amazing from 5 ft away. Not the green and brown ones we have in grocery stores that are pale on the inside and are tart and eat away at your mouth.
Florida: Ripe Carambola (starfruit). Tree ripened starfruit are orange and taste sweet and amazing. Starfruit found almost anywhere else in the US are either green or yellow because they were picked before they ripened and never fully ripen after they're picked.
Latin American stores: Chicharrones. Real chicharrones. Also known as pork scratchings in the UK. No, not that stuff with the texture of styrofoam. Good pork rinds are the kind with the fat cap still attached but rendered out during the frying process. Addictive, and definitely worse for you than regular pork rinds.
SE Asia: Fresh seafood. We freeze almost all our seafood here in the US. Fresh is always better. The variety is better as well.
Jan 13, 2020, 9:11 am
#66
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: ORD
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Platinum/LT Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 5,594
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Jan 14, 2020, 4:58 am
#67
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: New England
Programs: American Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Silver
Posts: 5,638
Can't find it at all in my area. I think it might have to do with how it's a Kashmiri dish and how most Indian food in my area is Punjabi or Punjabi-style. The Indian restaurants in my area either cater to an American palate, or they're Pakistani/Halal places that serve Indian food. Fast Indian-style food also seems to be trending here. There's a place that I consider to be the "Indian Chipotle" and there's also a small chain of counter service Indian food that I would describe as the "Indian Panera" but without the bakery part. Both are "dumbed down" for an American palate, so the curries are very unidimensional.
Last edited by diburning; Jan 14, 2020 at 5:03 am
Jan 20, 2020, 12:38 am
#70
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: San Francisco
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I went to nuernberg for work for 15 years and always loved spaetzle (potato “pasta”) and red cabbage. Thankfully there are enough German restaurants in USA that can cook them quite nicely.
Feb 12, 2020, 2:06 pm
#71
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PHX
Programs: AA ExPlat, United Gold, IHG Amb Plat, HHonors Diamond(Aspire), Bonvoy LT Plat, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 453
Caldo de Pescado Asuncion, Paraguay
Ceviche & Pilsen Manuel Antonio Beach, Costa Rica
Som Tam On a Junk Tour of Halong Bay
Chalupas Puebla, Mexico
Laksa Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Lou Malnati's Chicago, Illinois
Ceviche & Pilsen Manuel Antonio Beach, Costa Rica
Som Tam On a Junk Tour of Halong Bay
Chalupas Puebla, Mexico
Laksa Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Lou Malnati's Chicago, Illinois
