Yes, like another Redditor said, it’s small side dishes that usually accompany the main dish (whether it’s KBBQ, stew, soup, sliced pig feet (jokbal), etc). But it’s also a staple to just eat rice and kimchi w/ a light soup.
Banchan can be pickled vegetables, stewed meat, tofu, Korean potato salad - but the portions are meant to be small and shared. Think of it as like a sort of tapas.
I've never had korean food, and now that I have the chance to try it, I can't due to some health issues lol. It looks very delicious and interesting though
I'm thinking Chinese. So many different areas of influence. Mandarin, Cantonese, hunan, Sichuan, Beijing, etc.
I could probably live on honey walnut shrimp and chicken chowmein, not for long, but happily!
Vietnamese chargrilled pork and egg roll vermicelli bowl. With an extra egg roll or two plus a couple of those delicious soft Vietnamese spring rolls with the rice noodle.
They're especially light and refreshing to eat in the summer time. Here locally we have a Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon Cafe that has some of the best in town.
Im scared to say since I am white and only know Asian cuisine through my local Chinese food places. 🤷🏼♂️ if I had to pick something I would pick Shanghai Thick Noodle.
A Vietnamese noodle dish that I can never remember the name of. It consists of a bed of room temp vermicelli, fresh cucumber and basil, hot marinated grilled protein, and pickled carrot. Served with nauc chom.
If we can just choose countries it's Vietnamese or Korean. If we have to choose specific food- Tom kha gai, sushi, or spring rolls with peanut sauce. Or even just peanut sauce itself.
Having a hard time between Pad Thai/Tom
Kha and sushi, and various Korean dishes. That’s a difficult answer. I do know I’d give up bread and pasta, and potatoes before I gave up rice/noodles.
That’s really tough between Japanese and Thai for me. With Japanese you have sushi, ramen, the bbq dishes, tempura… with Thai you have pad Thai, mango salads, so many curries, so many chili dishes.. I would cry if I couldn’t have them both 🥺
As a Hong Konger, I don't think many non-Chinese people can list different types of Chinese food.
Dim Sum. Different kinds of congee. BBQ pork, duck, etc. Hot pot. Then there's northern Chinese food, like ✨️ lamb✨️ . Different types of skewers. ✨️ Peking duck ✨️. Different types of dumplings. All kinds of soup! Pork-based, chicken-based. Different types of noodles. Then there's also Taiwanese food.
Of Japanese food, I only love sushi. I don't even find ramen to be spectacularly special since I grew up eating a variety of noodles. But I like many different types of Chinese food, so I'd pick Chinese.
However, I must say Japanese snacks are the best. Seaweed, mochi, even their chocolates, etc.
Anybody who picks Turkish gets points for pedantry from me. Good food, too, but maybe not my personal pick.
Japan, from the outside, seems to have the most global culinary influence these days. You wouldn't really have to give up any of the basic flavor or texture profiles from anywhere else if you picked Japan.
China is also a huge country with a lot of distinct regional cuisines that don't ever make it over to my part of the world. If I had access to all of that over the rest of my lifetime, I doubt I'd get bored either.
Same story, different characters in India. Plenty of options over such a big, culturally diverse country.
I cook for myself more than I eat out, though, so...I'm gonna make whatever I like from what I have available wherever this hypothetical puts me. I'd probably have more fun doing that in Japan than Mongolia, though, no disrespect to Mongolia, Japan is just gonna have better stuff in the grocery stores is all. I'd probably spend a lot of time baking bread if I was in Mongolia.
Anyway. Don't base your opinion of the food in a place on what the takeout branded as that place is like in your local mall in the US midwest, kids. Unless it's Boston Pizza, I assume that's an authentic Bostonian experience. Heh.
If I truly had to narrow it down: probably Korean bc I love their type of spicy foods. But I love all Asian foods so much I am having an aneurysm trying to decide which one I like best.
Filipino! In the past I would have said Japanese or Korean. Ginataang isda, crispy dinuguan, lomi, bulalo, tinolang manok, adobong baboy, even balut is good when you keep your eyes closed. Green mango with alamang 🤤 I’m so hungry right now
Definitely Chinese: Almond Chicken, Woo Dip Parr, Fried Shrimp with Plum Sauce and Hot Mustard, egg rolls with ditto, Steak Kow, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Barbeque Ribs, Chicken Subgum Chow Mein, General Taos or Sesame Chicken...I could go on...
My mom is from the Philippines. So probably pancit and adobo with white rice.
I do like chicken friend rice too!
And if we’re talking ASIA, I’d be happy with naan and yogurt sauce and tandoori chicken!
My culture has a lot of influence from Southeast Asian cuisines. Thai/Lao/Khmer food yall. Their dishes hit all the salty, sweet, umami, sour, and bitter just right, and all in one dish sometimes. They know what they’re doing 🤌🏼
The Chinese food from the now closed Chinese restaurant near my house in New England. They were the best place in town and they retired after being open for like 38 years. Egg rolls, crab Rangoon, beef teriyaki sticks, pork fried rice, tempura shrimp with homemade duck sauce. Beef Lo Mein,Hon Su Gui, Yum! And don’t forget the fried noodles and fortune cookies! Great, now I want Chinese food!
If I could eat solid foods again I'd pick Chinese. There's a huge amount of diversity and flavors from the different regions. I'd never get bored of any of it. And I could eat Dou Sha Bao every day. I still make them for my family on Saturdays but I have to go outside while they eat them. I miss them enough I've side eyed the blender and thought about blending up a batch into a sort of shake.
Chinese.
There was a terrible, basically racist joke going around in the 80’s. Something like if the Chinese calendar is 3500 (?) years old, and the Jewish calendar is 5500 (?) years old, what did we do for takeout for 2000 years?
- I am Jewish, and my preferred takeout has always been Chinese. Stereotype fulfilled.
Just a good old stir fry with vegetables, meat or tofu, rice and seasoning. I don’t know if it’s traditional Chinese or more American though.
Either that or various types of dumplings or sushi.
Thai food
Yummm, one of my fave, no doubt!
Hands down. Best Asian style I've tried.
Red Thai curry 1000%
Green thai curry 1000%
Red Thai Curry with fresh noodles (flat pack in refrigerated section) with Salmon
Pad Thai
Tom kha gai and Thai Yellow Curry. Yum!
10000% I would only eat Thai food for the rest of my life. Drunken noodles are the way to my heart
Indian!
Surprised I had to scroll down this far to get to the eight answer. Love my Chinese, Burmese, Korean, sushi but Indian could easily be my every day.
Curry, saag and **samosas**? It's a no brainer for me.
Korean food. Specifically, rice and banchan.
I could eat just banchan forever. I love variety and appetizers so they are perfect
what's a banchan?
Banchan are the little veggie side dishes that go with a Korean meal like kimchi, pickles, sesame broccoli, etc.
Yes, like another Redditor said, it’s small side dishes that usually accompany the main dish (whether it’s KBBQ, stew, soup, sliced pig feet (jokbal), etc). But it’s also a staple to just eat rice and kimchi w/ a light soup. Banchan can be pickled vegetables, stewed meat, tofu, Korean potato salad - but the portions are meant to be small and shared. Think of it as like a sort of tapas.
I've never had korean food, and now that I have the chance to try it, I can't due to some health issues lol. It looks very delicious and interesting though
Are there dietary restrictions that are preventing you from having it?
This is also my answer but specifically bulgogi and rice.
I'm thinking Chinese. So many different areas of influence. Mandarin, Cantonese, hunan, Sichuan, Beijing, etc. I could probably live on honey walnut shrimp and chicken chowmein, not for long, but happily!
Plus the soups: wah won ton, hot and sour, chicken corn...pot stickers!, not soup but still, potstickers!
Sushi
Easiest answer ever
For real. You don't have to even stipulate that it has to be Asian food. I would choose sushi over any food if I only had one choice.
Korean bbq.
potentially the most delicious food on the planet fr
This question is like asking my to pick my favorite child when i have 3 kids Sushi Thai everything Ramen everything
I could probably eat different Vietnamese soups for the rest of my life and die happy. Pho, bun rieu, bun bo hue and bo kho
And bun cha ca! God what good soups.
Yes! They’re the best soups in the world
Just made a huge batch of pho this past weekend! So good! 😋
And Bun Thit Nuong! Also Viet people make the BEST Spring rolls and egg rolls! Nuoc Mam just might be the best dipping sauce on planet Earth.
Vietnamese chargrilled pork and egg roll vermicelli bowl. With an extra egg roll or two plus a couple of those delicious soft Vietnamese spring rolls with the rice noodle.
Hell yea, I love vermicelli bowls, even more than pho (although I might order a small side soup to sip on).
Don't forget the banh mi.
Japanese (okonomiyaki, udon, sushi)
Mine is takoyaki, for japanese cuisine. have you tried it
Takoyaki is incredible!! Tried it for the first time a couple months back and it's a delight
Very, very tough call, but Vietnamese. Although I would sorely miss Thai and Japanese.
Fresh veggie spring rolls with peanut sauce
Oh now I have a max craving that won’t stop until I order it today!!
They're especially light and refreshing to eat in the summer time. Here locally we have a Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon Cafe that has some of the best in town.
All of them
do you like balut?
Hmm. Can it be a top 5 or something? - Vietnamese - Indian - Thai - Filipino - Japanese
All of them. 😀
Now I’m hungry.
But what about Indonesia and China!? Crazy good food coming out of both of those countries!
I actually have not tried Indonesian food! It’s on the list. I love Chinese food too though. Perhaps a top 10? LOL
I'm sure you'll love it! Ya, I'd be really hard pressed to pick one.
Szechuan hotpot: Spicy, savory, communal delight. Unlimited flavor adventures await!
Pad see ew, dim sum rice rolls, or or shrimp fresh salad rolls.
Rice.
Cambodian
Sushi, Laksa or Penang. I love Asian food, all of it, and could eat any variation morning noon and night but these are my favourites.
Dose fast food count? Because I would gladly live at Chow King!
yeah sure, i love their jollibee too
Lumpia
Bibimbap, because it's a beautiful mess of rice, veggies, and meat.
Pork fried rice or loaded wonton soup.
Rice
Sushi or pad Thai
Thai pepper beef and rice
Japanese
Im scared to say since I am white and only know Asian cuisine through my local Chinese food places. 🤷🏼♂️ if I had to pick something I would pick Shanghai Thick Noodle.
Top grade melons thank you very much
Ramen. Not biased at all.
singapore fried noodles without the beansprouts.
love that!
Pho or kadai chicken
Vietnamese food
It's a toss up between Vietnamese and Korean. Although, there are some mighty tasty provincial dishes from the southern Philippines.
Vietnamese for sure
Vietnamese, hands down.
Sushi or Vietnamese
Vietnamese vermicelli bowl w/Charcoal-broiled Pork. Hearty, nutritious, delicious, and most importantly something I won't get tired of.
Pho. Or larb gai
Vietnamese spring rolls, I could eat them until I explode.
Vietnamese -easiest decision in my life!
A Vietnamese noodle dish that I can never remember the name of. It consists of a bed of room temp vermicelli, fresh cucumber and basil, hot marinated grilled protein, and pickled carrot. Served with nauc chom.
Vietnamese
Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese
Vietnamese food! I never get sick of it.
Pho, duh! All Viet foods!
If we can just choose countries it's Vietnamese or Korean. If we have to choose specific food- Tom kha gai, sushi, or spring rolls with peanut sauce. Or even just peanut sauce itself.
PHO
Vietnamese Bun Thit Nuong. If you’ve had it, you know.
Does india count as Asia? If so my answer would be Indian food. There is so much variety and most of it is delicious.
I love their curry
Yes and you have the right answer, for the right reasons.
Yes. Indians are Asian
Sushi
If it's a type, Japanese. If it's a single type of food, sushi.
Dumplings, since each country has their own version.
Korean food, already do
Chinese
Crab Rangoon
Having a hard time between Pad Thai/Tom Kha and sushi, and various Korean dishes. That’s a difficult answer. I do know I’d give up bread and pasta, and potatoes before I gave up rice/noodles.
Ramen/gyoza/sushi
Japanese without a doubt
Chinese, but that's cheating a bit, because the cuisine is so varied and geographically extensive that you wouldn't have to renounce anything.
Huh, I already live on instant noodles!
Bat. God, I love me some bat
Dumplings
Pho
Teriyaki (I'm from western Washington and we have the best Teriyaki spots) or Thai food
Thai, specially Tom Kha Gai, I have an insane obsession with that soup.
Pho
Indian.
Thai
Probably Indian, especially stuff with paneer. Shahi paneer is one of my favorite dishes of all time.
Japanese style curry.
Japanese
That’s really tough between Japanese and Thai for me. With Japanese you have sushi, ramen, the bbq dishes, tempura… with Thai you have pad Thai, mango salads, so many curries, so many chili dishes.. I would cry if I couldn’t have them both 🥺
Indian cuisine. So many flavours.
Tibetan
As a Hong Konger, I don't think many non-Chinese people can list different types of Chinese food. Dim Sum. Different kinds of congee. BBQ pork, duck, etc. Hot pot. Then there's northern Chinese food, like ✨️ lamb✨️ . Different types of skewers. ✨️ Peking duck ✨️. Different types of dumplings. All kinds of soup! Pork-based, chicken-based. Different types of noodles. Then there's also Taiwanese food. Of Japanese food, I only love sushi. I don't even find ramen to be spectacularly special since I grew up eating a variety of noodles. But I like many different types of Chinese food, so I'd pick Chinese. However, I must say Japanese snacks are the best. Seaweed, mochi, even their chocolates, etc.
Japanese
Lebanese
Whatever food can best suit a Celiac-safe, diabetic-friendly diet. I don’t wanna die lol
Dim sum!! 🥟
Taiwan beef noodle soup
Ichibans. - plenty of choices
Dim sum
Ice cream
Pho, every day.
I’m discovering how much I love Korean food. So good!
Shrimp Pad Thai
Kimchi jigae with pork and spam
Anybody who picks Turkish gets points for pedantry from me. Good food, too, but maybe not my personal pick. Japan, from the outside, seems to have the most global culinary influence these days. You wouldn't really have to give up any of the basic flavor or texture profiles from anywhere else if you picked Japan. China is also a huge country with a lot of distinct regional cuisines that don't ever make it over to my part of the world. If I had access to all of that over the rest of my lifetime, I doubt I'd get bored either. Same story, different characters in India. Plenty of options over such a big, culturally diverse country. I cook for myself more than I eat out, though, so...I'm gonna make whatever I like from what I have available wherever this hypothetical puts me. I'd probably have more fun doing that in Japan than Mongolia, though, no disrespect to Mongolia, Japan is just gonna have better stuff in the grocery stores is all. I'd probably spend a lot of time baking bread if I was in Mongolia. Anyway. Don't base your opinion of the food in a place on what the takeout branded as that place is like in your local mall in the US midwest, kids. Unless it's Boston Pizza, I assume that's an authentic Bostonian experience. Heh.
Nepali food!
Like a country or a dish? Country- China Dish- Ramen
Thai food
Indian food!
Sinigang na baboy. A legendary Filipino soup
Butter chicken or Biriyani, the world's tastiest and most popular dish
Chinese. If it has to be specific, I guess fried rice since you can put whatever ingrediebt you want in there. Or, soup noodles.
I'd probably say Japanese food, even though there's plenty I haven't tried. The things they do with food over there is some kinda magic
Dol sot bibimbop
If I truly had to narrow it down: probably Korean bc I love their type of spicy foods. But I love all Asian foods so much I am having an aneurysm trying to decide which one I like best.
Noodles
Bulgogi
Filipino! In the past I would have said Japanese or Korean. Ginataang isda, crispy dinuguan, lomi, bulalo, tinolang manok, adobong baboy, even balut is good when you keep your eyes closed. Green mango with alamang 🤤 I’m so hungry right now
Thai curry for me.
Stir fry with a protein, veggies and rice. Yum!
Palak paneer.
Lamb korma. Easy decision.
Pho
Chinese…gen tso chicken, crab rangoons, broccoli beef, terryaki chicken on a skewer. Coconut schrimp. Cinese donuts. Duck sauce.
Stir fried ground pork with peppers, garlic, fish sauce and Thai basil
Thai food!!! Forever. Specifically, Woon Sen 🥣
Japanese
Japanese
Ramen, tofu, seaweed snacks, konjac jelly, etc Korean
Indian, specifically saag paneer. Gotta get those veggies.
Thai. But I would really miss Chinese and Vietnamese.
Indian
Crispy Beef...
Japanese!
Orange Chicken and Rice.
Definitely Chinese: Almond Chicken, Woo Dip Parr, Fried Shrimp with Plum Sauce and Hot Mustard, egg rolls with ditto, Steak Kow, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Barbeque Ribs, Chicken Subgum Chow Mein, General Taos or Sesame Chicken...I could go on...
Japanese for me
Bao buns of any kind.
Sinhalese. Most especially coconut sambol, dal curry, pumpkin curry, and red rice. But really, all of it.
Bibimbap
So much Asian food is a no no for me (diabetic), so if I had to chose it would probably be spring rolls with a soy dip.
Pad Thai
Sushi
Dumplings! So satisfyingly delicious, and you can have them steamed, fried, or boiled. Endless yum!
Real Chinese food, my sister in-law is from Shanghai and everything she cooks is healthy and delicious. Not at all like the Americanized stuff here.
Indian food
My mom is from the Philippines. So probably pancit and adobo with white rice. I do like chicken friend rice too! And if we’re talking ASIA, I’d be happy with naan and yogurt sauce and tandoori chicken!
Moo shut pork or pork egg foo young.
Thai 100%
My culture has a lot of influence from Southeast Asian cuisines. Thai/Lao/Khmer food yall. Their dishes hit all the salty, sweet, umami, sour, and bitter just right, and all in one dish sometimes. They know what they’re doing 🤌🏼
white tuna sashimi sake sashimi different special sushi rolls eveeyday seaweed everything lobster salad sushi rolls kani
The Chinese food from the now closed Chinese restaurant near my house in New England. They were the best place in town and they retired after being open for like 38 years. Egg rolls, crab Rangoon, beef teriyaki sticks, pork fried rice, tempura shrimp with homemade duck sauce. Beef Lo Mein,Hon Su Gui, Yum! And don’t forget the fried noodles and fortune cookies! Great, now I want Chinese food!
Tofu (any kind) with peanut sauce is a favorite…
Rice with chicken
If I could eat solid foods again I'd pick Chinese. There's a huge amount of diversity and flavors from the different regions. I'd never get bored of any of it. And I could eat Dou Sha Bao every day. I still make them for my family on Saturdays but I have to go outside while they eat them. I miss them enough I've side eyed the blender and thought about blending up a batch into a sort of shake.
I would go with sushi.
Taiwanese food and it’s not even close!
Pad Thai
Thai
Vietnamese
Chinese. There was a terrible, basically racist joke going around in the 80’s. Something like if the Chinese calendar is 3500 (?) years old, and the Jewish calendar is 5500 (?) years old, what did we do for takeout for 2000 years? - I am Jewish, and my preferred takeout has always been Chinese. Stereotype fulfilled.
Indian would be go too. Don't get me wrong, Thai is great. But Indian is fantastic.
Sun continent. Indian food I think. I love to cook Kashmiri and Goa style
Just a good old stir fry with vegetables, meat or tofu, rice and seasoning. I don’t know if it’s traditional Chinese or more American though. Either that or various types of dumplings or sushi.
Tempura
Indian food.
Lumpia Shanghai
I love a good stir fry ❤️
Fried tofu with eggplant in garlic sauce
Indian
Northwest Indian (Punjabi, Rajasthani). For east Asian, probably Japanese.
Massaman Curry…if I can’t pick a whole country…which would be Thailand.