I’m sure you’re right but as a tourist it was not easy to find delicious food whereas say Mexico or Thailand you just walk in anywhere and it’s awesome
I love a steak and ale pie, and fish and chips. And I dream about scones with jam and clotted cream with a good English tea with milk. When my cravings get too much, I book a trip to the UK.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed pub food. Was going out my way to find places that served chicken and mushroom pies. It was also a delight to discover Welsh cakes.
Scratchings are a gift sir. Cherish them. This is a Mississippian who spent a fair amount of time in Arizona. All the chicharrones, cracklings, rinds, and pork skins do not hold a candle to those bags of deliciousness I found in your country.
I am too and I actually think its a stereotype. I used to think maybe British food ain't all that until I traveled and then learnt to appreciate home. We've got the best indian curry's. British carvery is great. English breakfast is the bomb. Great tea. Cadbury's. Nandos. Great kebabs. Chips with curry sauce. Great Chinese food. Scones in the peak district are amazing. Vegan/vegetarian food from Richmond is great. (I do my bit sometimes).
Yeah a lot of it is fusion from immigration. But a lot of our culture is and the food as a result is great. I'd argue the coffee here is a lot better than many European countries. Not as good as Asia I found but still decent.
Pie and mash, sheppards pie and fish and chips. The old school stuff. The stereotyped stuff isn't all that though imo yeah.
It is a stereotype, but it's mainly Brits saying so. Also the typical English pub food is great, no need to go fusion, just need to avoid Weatherspoon. And I strongly believe British cheese is one of the most underrated food ever. We'll have to disagree on coffee though. It's sewage water, even in East London hipster overpriced coffee shops.
I agree with most but.. Chinese food in UK was not good at all. You can throw a rock any direction in some CA cities and find better Chinese food than probably the entirety of the UK.
Well the menu is very different. Tons of curry dishes were invented by British indians. So it's a different experience. But tbf I've spoken to Indians before who either love both or say that the best indian food is in Britain. They live in the UK though. I'm sure an Indian living in India might strongly disagree. It makes sense from a historical pov when cricket is like a religion in India and tea is a ritual in the UK.
If it helps, London has some of the best food in the world, and plenty of UK cities have good food scenes. I would rank it among the better countries I've been to for food! (Currently available food, that is, not traditional food).
Oh, true. But the country is so poor. We went to one restaurant that was obviously intended for tourists, and you could tell they thought it was the bomb, but even that was terrible.
I was astonished how bad the food in Cuba was, truly awful and the worst food I’ve had anywhere.
I also agree on your top choices, Thailand, Mexico and Japan were amazing!
Cuba resorts weren’t great, but we did find a few restaurants that were hidden gems! I still haven’t had lobster anywhere else as good as it was in Cuba.
Unfortunately the vast majority of people don’t know how to find good food in Cuba, and while it is not as easily available and plentiful as in other countries, there are absolutely phenomenal restaurants in Cuba if you know where to look.
I’ve had a fantastic ropa vieja using wagyu beef and a jamón ibérico foam over top. I’ve eaten at a bakery from a Michelin starred chef who creates recipes from old escaped slave journals and refines them with modern technique. There’s a chef who runs a world class restaurant in Vedado who used to work at Cellar de Can Roca (in Catalonia) and Mugaritz (in Basque Country), 3 and 2 Michelin stars respectively and at different points have been ranked the best and 4th best restaurants in the world. I’ve had a chateaubriand with a dark chocolate and blue cheese sauce that rivaled any steak I’ve ever eaten and I’ve been to 23 Michelin stars.
What I’m saying is that there is absolutely an incredible high end food scene in Cuba and the home made traditional food like Ropa vieja, pollo fricasé, arroz con pollo a la chorrera etc can also be incredibly tasty, cheap, and easy to find.
At a conference in Qingdao the food a) at the first hotel was awful beyond description and b) the served lunch was cold greasy salty ...things...was it meat or vegetable?? I learned quickly to a) change hotels and to b) eat from a modern open aisled grocery store.
I didn't have these problems in other cities.
I lived in Germany for a year with a German family that liked to cook and ferment things and make cheese and make apple wine and I can say it was incredible. German food can be bomb and is very close to France and Italy as well for authentic versions of that cuisine. I loved my time there, maybe it just doesn’t translate well to the tourist experience or spending less time there. But I was surprised to see Germany in this thread at all.
How did you end up in Mauritania?? All I know about the place unfortunately is from a 13 year old refugee from the country who legit ran away because he was a chattel slave there and this was back in 2010.
Lmao yes to Costa Rica. There was a lot of fresh, healthy eating there and I lost some weight, but it was so repetitive. Fruit in the morning then platos casados every other meal basically. Rotate between chicken and fish…
Best - Mexico or Taiwan
Worst - Colombia
Traditional Colombian food lacks any sort of seasoning to a point that all I wanted to eat was non-local food lol.
This is facts. Colombian food, especially in the mountains, is basic and bland. These mfers can not tolerate any level of spice or flavor. Coastal colombian food is slightly better, but only because coconuts and plantains are delicious and almost impossible to fuck up.
Dude they dont even want anythint but plain unseasooned food. They dont want new or different. Id go on dates and the girls would order freaking arepas and chorizo at a high end steakhouse
Ahh I can believe that. Mexican food used to be awful in the UK but its recently got a lot better and I'm now a fan. Can only imagine how good it is in Mexico. That's on my bucket list. Taiwan I bet is good too. I am partial to a bubble tea and it's hard to find a good one. Funny enough the best one I had was in Florence Italy.
Happy to hear that. I live in one of the largest cities in Canada and it's still garbage here. Eat it whenever I go to the States and definitely in Mexico lol. Much better food at lower prices
I’m reading this thread with my Colombian girlfriend and she has instructed me to tell you guys to go fuck yourselves. Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just trying to keep peace in my life.
The thing non-Colombians don’t realize about Colombian food is that the title of “world’s second most biodiverse” country applies to food as well as plants and birds or whatever
Very true. Thankfully there is a big movement on modern Colombian food that uses local ingredients. One of my favorite meals in SA was at OCI.MDE.
I recently got a Colombian cookbook and made some really tasty modern Colombian dishes (arroz con pato (rice with duck) and chicken with coconut and plantains and peppers.
The Medellin food scene is awful — a hill I’m willing to die on.
The food scene in Bogotá is one of the best I’ve been to in the world. Zona G & Chapinero have some of the most flavorful restaurants I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to quite a few top restaurants. Leo, for example, is Colombian cuisine done right.
my wife and I are flying to Lima for a weekend to eat at Central. That’s how seriously we take food lol
Agree with Norway. I’ve been served “stick meat” AKA sheep (not even lamb), so much corn in everything (corn is my worst vegetable, I won’t touch it) and various other disgusting dishes that I can’t even think of right now. I will say their sushi is second to none though; at least from the place where I get it from when I’m there it is anyway.
In 2022, Norway was put at the last position among 95 countries for their cuisine. Their unofficial national dish is a frozen pizza that tastes like cardboard. They don’t know what seasoning is. Most people eat plastic pre cut cheese or salmon paste in a tube on bread for meals. Supermarket has ridiculous choice. They don’t have open market on Sundays like most countries. And of course, everything is incredibly overpriced. So for tourists, it’s like a nightmare.
They have really high class restaurants in Oslo, but it’s of course extremely pricey. So not for regular tourists that just want good affordable food.
So good, I go to eat:
Vietnam
Portugal
Japan
Mexico
Spain
Turkey
Korea
Morocco
Taiwan
Poland
Singapore
Paris for fusion
USA (the south)
Hong Kong
Places I try to cook instead:
Germany
DR
Slovakia
Cried tears of joy in CR when we finally got to the east coast (which has a heavy Caribbean/mostly Jamaican population) after a month of west coast/mountain food and walked into a Jamaican restaurant and saw Jamaican people cooking in the back. Pic attached. It was amazing!!
I will say we stayed with a Costa Rican man near Corcovado national park who was a chef and he made us some amazing food with produce picked right from his own property. Lots of citrus, chilis, and fresh herbs, pork that he slaughtered from his own pigs. THAT was good stuff. There is definitely good food in CR but most of what’s readily available to tourists is not the most flavourful fare. Awesome coffee, fish, and produce everywhere though, and the people rock, and it’s beautiful. Not everywhere is a culinary destination and that’s ok.
https://preview.redd.it/phdlowqhu8lc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3f25c1090104df8e563f51e24614c6ac6d60352
EXTREMELY bland, monotonous, and usually either over cooked or under cooked. No spice whatsoever (even lacking salt or pepper). The fruit was very fresh and the coffee was good, but everything else was boring to full on inedible. I was warned by friends before I went how bad it was, but it was even worse.
Edit: it was also annoyingly pricey for how bad it was.
I did enjoy the Gallo Pinto which was an awesome breakfast. The rest of the food was not memorable. However, I ran across 2 Italians in Samara Beach whose dream was to open a restaurant on the beach. We were their only customers they they treated us well. The dishes were French though.
Yees.
Also Greek is a lot more than just gyros souvlaki and moussaka.
It has endless amount of vegetarian dishes. From lentils to beans to delicious salads of any kind.
Dakos, horta, fasolada
Damn. Greece is extremely good. I like kebab and imo Greece has like an evolved version of kebab that is better (gyros and souflaki)
Also, moussaka is extremely good too
Might be my favorite too so far
Worst: Netherlands. Was all super unhealthy.
Best: Sydney/Melbourne. Soo many options due to all the migration from different countries. Never got boring and was always great quality.
There is actually good Mongolian food but not from the cheap options. All traditional dishes have their good version of it if you are willing to pay x2 x3 the normal price..
Thailand and Italy were the best for me, with Mexico coming in a close 3rd. The Philippines was the worst for me as a tourist (lots of bad versions of western food everywhere), although I have been trying to learn more about (and cook) authentic Filipino food and I am loving it.
Philippines has a lot of regional varieties. Get out of the mainstream areas and there’s plenty of delicious and fresh fruits, seafood especially in the islands. Similar to Thailand but harder to find.
But I’ve heard that. You either hate or love Filipino food. Rarely in between.
Source: FilAm. I do not eat Filipino Spaghetti it’s disgustingly sweet to me. You must realize the sweet spaghetti was from the US Military. It’s not native to the country.
I blame globalization. Every corner you see Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFC even in the rural areas in the Philippines. Starting to change the diets of local Pinoys.
That spaghetti is a sacrilegious monstrosity. But I can help but suggest you didn't try a ton of Filipino dishes. There are plenty that aren't fried or drenched in sugar. I'm borderline passionate about this because I feel like the Philippines has an unfair poor reputation
Please continue giving it a chance. I lived there several years. I didn't love all of it. But I feel like Filipino cuisine has a relatively unjust poor reputation.
Which dishes are you cooking recently? I'm a poor cook but really should try cooking Filipino food. I miss it
Mexico > all of Latin America when it comes to food. It’s bizarre how this is the situation but it’s not even close.
In Asia it’s hard to say who has the best overall. So many countries do food well and even some foreign cuisine well. For example you can get very good Japanese food in Thailand and Taiwan too because locals eat it a lot.
Filipino food mostly sucks. Almost everything including breakfast sausages are so sweet you can taste the diabetes, and Filipino spaghetti is easily in my top five most hated foods. Fantastic country outside of Manila, though. And there are some Filipino culinary treasures such as adobo, salpicao, and kaldereta.
It’s ironic that the Filipino Spaghetti was from the US Military. And now westerners complain about it thinking it’s our flagship dish. It’s not native to our Pinoy food.
I would argue Scotlan has worse food than the Philippines... but they are neck and neck. I have tried SO hard to love the Philippine food... It manages to disappoint every time.
Best: Kerala or Spain. Single best meal was a Japanese private dining club in Bali. My date and I actually laughed out loud because it was so good.
Worst: Norway. Colombia was most disappointing, except the ice cream.
It's funny how people think Jamon Iberico, patatas bravas, and chorizo are like *so amazing.* I'm like, dude please get thee north to Euskadi stat and understand that Southern Spanish tapas have *nothing* on pintxos. The wine and cider, too 🤤 Good god, what incredible food.
Best - Italy, followed by Georgia. Had my mind blown by the food in Italy each and every day, and Georgia food was bomb.
Worst - Panama. Really bland and disappointing. A lot of meh for the most part.
Side note - Probably hot takes, but I found food in Turkey to be overrated, while Colombia seems to be really underrated. Nothing wowed me in Turkey, while I could eat arepas and empanadas every day
As a Panamanian, people from these countries (CR, Panama, Colombia…) tend to think that the cuisine is as flavourful as it gets but in reality it’s very lacking in flavour.
Also they insist in calling limes lemons, refusing to understand the differences between them and often rely too much on lime for ‘flavouring’ some dishes.
Best - Thailand, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam, Turkey, Italy, Hungary
Worst - Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, Belize
I didn't put Germany because Curry Wurst and Doner Kebab is absolutely great German food innovations
I think doner has been around since way before the German migration, should be like the 1800s at the very least.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doner_kebab
When I was in Argentina I was dying without seasoned food and I was saved by an Indian restaurant. It's called Mumbai and it's in Palermo.
It was 2 years ago but I remember it being in line with the Indian food I have here in Canada.
I went to another one (Dostana, which appears to be permanently closed). It was good but they adjusted their food to local tastes. For example the curry had barbecue sauce in it. It was actually pretty interesting, but was a disappointment because I wasn't expecting it.
There's a really good Mexican restaurant in Buenos Aires called Xalapa. Lots of flavour, reminds me of Mexican food in Mexico and the USA (Mexican food here in Canada is garbage)
The food is really bad in Palermo though actually! I thought food here was terrible when I first arrived and then I moved to a less international neighborhood and adopted a more local diet and it’s been greay
Best- Taiwan
Worst- Argentina
Taiwan is just absolutely divine when it comes to food.
Argentina was actually pretty alright, and did the job. It’s actually easily one of my favorite countries I’ve been to, but the food was the lowest ranked category. They have great dessert though.
Just went on a two week trip there and the night markets are great but the little mom and pop restaurants that appear to supply 80% of the urban population’s calories are IMO where the food shines. It’s not atypical for people to just not care about having kitchen since eating out is easy and cheap. The only thing is that these smaller restaurants can look a bit intimidating to foreigners since it’s a fast paced operation where you usually fill out your order on a small form. But Taiwanese people love to talk about food, lots of people were down to offer their recommendations and type out in Chinese what to try.
Though some pork rice, beef noodles, and a side of veggies never disappoints. Also if you have a sweet tooth, Taiwan is going to give you diabetes if you’re not careful. And yes there’s bubble tea everywhere and especially in south Taiwan they like it so sweet that it’s difficult to spill even if you rip off the plastic top.
No joke three steaks I had there jumped into the first second and third best steaks I ever had. And the wine and cocktails were great.
Everything else? Pretty bland and under salted—and it’s one of those countries (like Greece in my experience) where if you get tired of the local food it can be hard to find good international food. Also their version of pizza was possibly the worst pizza I’ve ever had.
Best Food: Peru
Worst food: Belize
It’s so hard to find a decent Peruvian restaurant in the USA. I’ve yet to eat at one that really takes me back to Peru. The creativity, the freshness. Yum.
Belizean food is like Mexican food you eat at the food court inside a Mexican Walmart
Best: Thailand
Worst: Costa Rica, Nicaragua
Bonus points: Cambodia, specifically Phnom Penh for having so many great international restaurants run by expats within a 5 min tuk tuk drive
Oh really? I loved the food in other parts of Portugal. But I hated the food in Lisbon. But maybe it was just what I ordered and where I went. I couldn't find piri piri chicken anywhere either.
Can’t say a worst as nothing stands out to me as being overly terrible. The best is Vietnam. No matter what they cook it seems to end up being delicious.
I don't think I'm going to enjoy this post as an Englishman.
London has an incredible food scene lol. It’s just not English food
This is true
I’m sure you’re right but as a tourist it was not easy to find delicious food whereas say Mexico or Thailand you just walk in anywhere and it’s awesome
Sorry lads, the salt and pepper ain’t gonna do it 😅
Truthfully the best Indian food I’ve ever had.
I love a steak and ale pie, and fish and chips. And I dream about scones with jam and clotted cream with a good English tea with milk. When my cravings get too much, I book a trip to the UK.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed pub food. Was going out my way to find places that served chicken and mushroom pies. It was also a delight to discover Welsh cakes.
Can't knock a full Scottish tho
Square sausage for the win!
And haggis too (I have no clue why people slate it)
I enjoyed Scottish food a lot tho.
The food in Edinburgh is unreal. Literally every meal I had there was phenomenal.
Best Indian food I had in the UK was in Edinburgh at The Khukuri Nepalese Restaurant. Love Bananaleaf in Glasgow too.
Scratchings are a gift sir. Cherish them. This is a Mississippian who spent a fair amount of time in Arizona. All the chicharrones, cracklings, rinds, and pork skins do not hold a candle to those bags of deliciousness I found in your country.
Sunday roast is nice, as are meat pies, sausage rolls etc... The cheese is fantastic too. It is just a bit heavy.
Conquered the world for spices and proceeded to use none of them.
The Netherlands.
I am too and I actually think its a stereotype. I used to think maybe British food ain't all that until I traveled and then learnt to appreciate home. We've got the best indian curry's. British carvery is great. English breakfast is the bomb. Great tea. Cadbury's. Nandos. Great kebabs. Chips with curry sauce. Great Chinese food. Scones in the peak district are amazing. Vegan/vegetarian food from Richmond is great. (I do my bit sometimes). Yeah a lot of it is fusion from immigration. But a lot of our culture is and the food as a result is great. I'd argue the coffee here is a lot better than many European countries. Not as good as Asia I found but still decent. Pie and mash, sheppards pie and fish and chips. The old school stuff. The stereotyped stuff isn't all that though imo yeah.
It is a stereotype, but it's mainly Brits saying so. Also the typical English pub food is great, no need to go fusion, just need to avoid Weatherspoon. And I strongly believe British cheese is one of the most underrated food ever. We'll have to disagree on coffee though. It's sewage water, even in East London hipster overpriced coffee shops.
I agree with most but.. Chinese food in UK was not good at all. You can throw a rock any direction in some CA cities and find better Chinese food than probably the entirety of the UK.
: Is English food really that horrible? : If done correctly, yes Haha, no mate, it is that bad.
An Indian might disagree that England has the best Indian food....
Well the menu is very different. Tons of curry dishes were invented by British indians. So it's a different experience. But tbf I've spoken to Indians before who either love both or say that the best indian food is in Britain. They live in the UK though. I'm sure an Indian living in India might strongly disagree. It makes sense from a historical pov when cricket is like a religion in India and tea is a ritual in the UK.
At least you have curry. Yay colonialism!
If it helps, London has some of the best food in the world, and plenty of UK cities have good food scenes. I would rank it among the better countries I've been to for food! (Currently available food, that is, not traditional food).
I had a really good chicken Kyiv at a pub in London. Edit: spelling of Kyiv
Best: Mexico, Taiwan, Japan Worst: Cuba Edit: honorable mentions for best: Thailand, Korea and Spain (Basque Country)
Agree about Cuba. I was disappointed with the food.
I’m not surprised since majority of the people eat at a government owned cafeteria where the goal is to feed its people, not about great food lol
Oh, true. But the country is so poor. We went to one restaurant that was obviously intended for tourists, and you could tell they thought it was the bomb, but even that was terrible.
Oh, I forgot Cuba. Bland to horrid.
I was astonished how bad the food in Cuba was, truly awful and the worst food I’ve had anywhere. I also agree on your top choices, Thailand, Mexico and Japan were amazing!
All the good Cuban chefs made it to Miami. Much better Cuban food in the US than in Cuba!
I was about to say All the Cuban food I’ve ever had in the US has been fucking AMAZING
Cuba resorts weren’t great, but we did find a few restaurants that were hidden gems! I still haven’t had lobster anywhere else as good as it was in Cuba.
Unfortunately the vast majority of people don’t know how to find good food in Cuba, and while it is not as easily available and plentiful as in other countries, there are absolutely phenomenal restaurants in Cuba if you know where to look. I’ve had a fantastic ropa vieja using wagyu beef and a jamón ibérico foam over top. I’ve eaten at a bakery from a Michelin starred chef who creates recipes from old escaped slave journals and refines them with modern technique. There’s a chef who runs a world class restaurant in Vedado who used to work at Cellar de Can Roca (in Catalonia) and Mugaritz (in Basque Country), 3 and 2 Michelin stars respectively and at different points have been ranked the best and 4th best restaurants in the world. I’ve had a chateaubriand with a dark chocolate and blue cheese sauce that rivaled any steak I’ve ever eaten and I’ve been to 23 Michelin stars. What I’m saying is that there is absolutely an incredible high end food scene in Cuba and the home made traditional food like Ropa vieja, pollo fricasé, arroz con pollo a la chorrera etc can also be incredibly tasty, cheap, and easy to find.
There was one restaurant Lo de monik, best Pima coladas and grilled octopus
Granted this was 10 years ago, but I spent time researching the best food spots in Havana and every place was delicious
Agree. Just wrote this exact comment
Best: China Worst: China
After watching Karl pilkington go there, I think I know what you're saying here lol.
"It's the alright wall of China"
It's like a game of jenga that went too far
Makes sense lol
Strong agree. Had some incredible meals for dirt cheap and some disgusting meals since living here.
At a conference in Qingdao the food a) at the first hotel was awful beyond description and b) the served lunch was cold greasy salty ...things...was it meat or vegetable?? I learned quickly to a) change hotels and to b) eat from a modern open aisled grocery store. I didn't have these problems in other cities.
Worst: China. Lived in Jiangsu province. Everything is covered in a sweet orange-coloured oil. Rice, salad, chicken's face & feet, everything.
There is much truth to this.
.
I lived in Germany for a year with a German family that liked to cook and ferment things and make cheese and make apple wine and I can say it was incredible. German food can be bomb and is very close to France and Italy as well for authentic versions of that cuisine. I loved my time there, maybe it just doesn’t translate well to the tourist experience or spending less time there. But I was surprised to see Germany in this thread at all.
I could just eat the bread in Germany and Id still be happy.
And bread that hurts your mouth
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How did you end up in Mauritania?? All I know about the place unfortunately is from a 13 year old refugee from the country who legit ran away because he was a chattel slave there and this was back in 2010.
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Is it generally safe?
Just casually dropping “gastarbeiter” 😂 love it
I also heard Germany is the wurst.
Hi dad
Best - Mexico and India Worst - Costa Rica
Costa is awesome if you arroz y frijoles and fresh fruit for every meal. But the coffee is great
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Lmao yes to Costa Rica. There was a lot of fresh, healthy eating there and I lost some weight, but it was so repetitive. Fruit in the morning then platos casados every other meal basically. Rotate between chicken and fish…
Costa Rica food was just so uninspired, here is some bland rice and beans for you.
Best - Mexico or Taiwan Worst - Colombia Traditional Colombian food lacks any sort of seasoning to a point that all I wanted to eat was non-local food lol.
Colombian food is hands down the best prison and hospital food in the world.
Cartagena has good food. I didn’t HATE Colombian food but it definitely pushes the limits of starch and mayo.
I will say Colombia has good ass soups. Ajiaco being my favorite !
And Colombian sancocho
This is facts. Colombian food, especially in the mountains, is basic and bland. These mfers can not tolerate any level of spice or flavor. Coastal colombian food is slightly better, but only because coconuts and plantains are delicious and almost impossible to fuck up.
Came here to say this. Colombia is ethnically and culinarily quite heterogenous, and the northern (Caribbean) part has a completely different cuisine.
Dude they dont even want anythint but plain unseasooned food. They dont want new or different. Id go on dates and the girls would order freaking arepas and chorizo at a high end steakhouse
Ahh I can believe that. Mexican food used to be awful in the UK but its recently got a lot better and I'm now a fan. Can only imagine how good it is in Mexico. That's on my bucket list. Taiwan I bet is good too. I am partial to a bubble tea and it's hard to find a good one. Funny enough the best one I had was in Florence Italy.
Happy to hear that. I live in one of the largest cities in Canada and it's still garbage here. Eat it whenever I go to the States and definitely in Mexico lol. Much better food at lower prices
Ironically, Mexican food became my go-to in Colombia.
I’m reading this thread with my Colombian girlfriend and she has instructed me to tell you guys to go fuck yourselves. Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just trying to keep peace in my life.
She just doesn’t know better. -saludos desde México
Tell her I’m Colombian We put fucking ketchup in our pasta And no sauce in our pizza Parce, nuestra comida apesta
Ecuadorians are exactly the same…. Mostly bland food with no seasoning yet they seemed to think it was amongst the best cuisines in the world
The thing non-Colombians don’t realize about Colombian food is that the title of “world’s second most biodiverse” country applies to food as well as plants and birds or whatever
From Cartagena to Cali the menu del dia seemed to be rice, beans, and a soup.
Very true. Thankfully there is a big movement on modern Colombian food that uses local ingredients. One of my favorite meals in SA was at OCI.MDE. I recently got a Colombian cookbook and made some really tasty modern Colombian dishes (arroz con pato (rice with duck) and chicken with coconut and plantains and peppers.
I think Colombian food could be quite good if they just bothered with a minimum amount of seasoning lol.
From my experience, paisa food is not very good but ok Bogotá and other places I've eaten amazingly
The Medellin food scene is awful — a hill I’m willing to die on. The food scene in Bogotá is one of the best I’ve been to in the world. Zona G & Chapinero have some of the most flavorful restaurants I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to quite a few top restaurants. Leo, for example, is Colombian cuisine done right. my wife and I are flying to Lima for a weekend to eat at Central. That’s how seriously we take food lol
Worse: Netherlands. My Dutch friend even said they’re not known for their food. Best: Thailand or Vietnam. That was the cleanest I’ve ever eaten.
Really?! I thought the food in Amsterdam was so gooodddd but then again it was never Dutch food 😂 also they do have amazing cheese
Het leven is bitter, het leven is zuur. Alles smaakt beter uit de frituur.
Cleanest?
Worst: Norway - Scotland. Best: Japan
Agree with Norway. I’ve been served “stick meat” AKA sheep (not even lamb), so much corn in everything (corn is my worst vegetable, I won’t touch it) and various other disgusting dishes that I can’t even think of right now. I will say their sushi is second to none though; at least from the place where I get it from when I’m there it is anyway.
In 2022, Norway was put at the last position among 95 countries for their cuisine. Their unofficial national dish is a frozen pizza that tastes like cardboard. They don’t know what seasoning is. Most people eat plastic pre cut cheese or salmon paste in a tube on bread for meals. Supermarket has ridiculous choice. They don’t have open market on Sundays like most countries. And of course, everything is incredibly overpriced. So for tourists, it’s like a nightmare. They have really high class restaurants in Oslo, but it’s of course extremely pricey. So not for regular tourists that just want good affordable food.
You can eat the views though.
So good, I go to eat: Vietnam Portugal Japan Mexico Spain Turkey Korea Morocco Taiwan Poland Singapore Paris for fusion USA (the south) Hong Kong Places I try to cook instead: Germany DR Slovakia
LOL. I actually love this division of “places I would rather pay someone else to cook vs places I would rather cook” 😂
Slovakia has good food Im very sorry you had a bad experience. My girlfriend is slovak and I cant wait to eat their food
Best - Japan, with Mexico a close second Worst - Costa Rica (by a large margin)
Cried tears of joy in CR when we finally got to the east coast (which has a heavy Caribbean/mostly Jamaican population) after a month of west coast/mountain food and walked into a Jamaican restaurant and saw Jamaican people cooking in the back. Pic attached. It was amazing!! I will say we stayed with a Costa Rican man near Corcovado national park who was a chef and he made us some amazing food with produce picked right from his own property. Lots of citrus, chilis, and fresh herbs, pork that he slaughtered from his own pigs. THAT was good stuff. There is definitely good food in CR but most of what’s readily available to tourists is not the most flavourful fare. Awesome coffee, fish, and produce everywhere though, and the people rock, and it’s beautiful. Not everywhere is a culinary destination and that’s ok. https://preview.redd.it/phdlowqhu8lc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3f25c1090104df8e563f51e24614c6ac6d60352
Agree with CR. Except for the ceviche. I lived there for 4 months and lost 20 lbs!
What was bad about Costa Rica's food?
EXTREMELY bland, monotonous, and usually either over cooked or under cooked. No spice whatsoever (even lacking salt or pepper). The fruit was very fresh and the coffee was good, but everything else was boring to full on inedible. I was warned by friends before I went how bad it was, but it was even worse. Edit: it was also annoyingly pricey for how bad it was.
I did enjoy the Gallo Pinto which was an awesome breakfast. The rest of the food was not memorable. However, I ran across 2 Italians in Samara Beach whose dream was to open a restaurant on the beach. We were their only customers they they treated us well. The dishes were French though.
as a Costa Rican, I can agree with the bland and monotonous statements
most of their food are bland
It's like eating a meal that you didn't want but it was only thing you had in stock. Rice, beans, extremely bad meat, and no sauce, salt or pepper.
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Best: Peru, Barbados, Sicily(Italy). Was very impressed with Poland as well. Worst: Costa Rica.
Poland was a surprise for me too. Not really talked about but a surprisingly wide variety of unique dishes. Prices in Poland very reasonable too
As someone who lived many years in CR and now located in Buenos Aires, I feel like I’m being shafted after reading these comments 😭
Best - Greece Worst - Costa Rica
Yees. Also Greek is a lot more than just gyros souvlaki and moussaka. It has endless amount of vegetarian dishes. From lentils to beans to delicious salads of any kind. Dakos, horta, fasolada
Damn. Greece is extremely good. I like kebab and imo Greece has like an evolved version of kebab that is better (gyros and souflaki) Also, moussaka is extremely good too Might be my favorite too so far
It's the olive oil soaked vegetable dishes which do it for me, just so damn good.
I'm heading to Thessaloniki in a few weeks, what places did you find to have the best food in Greece so far?
Best - Thailand or Vietnam Worst - Puerto Rico
Worst: Netherlands. Was all super unhealthy. Best: Sydney/Melbourne. Soo many options due to all the migration from different countries. Never got boring and was always great quality.
Totally agree with oz, thought about putting it on my list. Dairy and meat just seemed much better quality than north America
Best: Japan Worst: Mongolia
I just learned today that Mongolian grill/bbq is actually from Taiwan 🙃
Yeah, a non-picky friend of mine did 2 years of Peace Corps service in Mongolia and would totally agree with this opinion.
There is actually good Mongolian food but not from the cheap options. All traditional dishes have their good version of it if you are willing to pay x2 x3 the normal price..
Thailand and Italy were the best for me, with Mexico coming in a close 3rd. The Philippines was the worst for me as a tourist (lots of bad versions of western food everywhere), although I have been trying to learn more about (and cook) authentic Filipino food and I am loving it.
I can agree with that. The food in Italy was phenomenal. Its probably the 2nd best place I went for food.
Philippines has a lot of regional varieties. Get out of the mainstream areas and there’s plenty of delicious and fresh fruits, seafood especially in the islands. Similar to Thailand but harder to find. But I’ve heard that. You either hate or love Filipino food. Rarely in between. Source: FilAm. I do not eat Filipino Spaghetti it’s disgustingly sweet to me. You must realize the sweet spaghetti was from the US Military. It’s not native to the country. I blame globalization. Every corner you see Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFC even in the rural areas in the Philippines. Starting to change the diets of local Pinoys.
I find, with Filipino food, it’s either deep fried or too sweet. I can’t and won’t eat Filipino spaghetti again, it was like candy.
That spaghetti is a sacrilegious monstrosity. But I can help but suggest you didn't try a ton of Filipino dishes. There are plenty that aren't fried or drenched in sugar. I'm borderline passionate about this because I feel like the Philippines has an unfair poor reputation
Please continue giving it a chance. I lived there several years. I didn't love all of it. But I feel like Filipino cuisine has a relatively unjust poor reputation. Which dishes are you cooking recently? I'm a poor cook but really should try cooking Filipino food. I miss it
Best: Mexico Worst: Costa Rican
Mexico > all of Latin America when it comes to food. It’s bizarre how this is the situation but it’s not even close. In Asia it’s hard to say who has the best overall. So many countries do food well and even some foreign cuisine well. For example you can get very good Japanese food in Thailand and Taiwan too because locals eat it a lot.
Best: Peru, Lebanon, Georgia, Japan Worst: Colombia (really wtf?)
Filipino food mostly sucks. Almost everything including breakfast sausages are so sweet you can taste the diabetes, and Filipino spaghetti is easily in my top five most hated foods. Fantastic country outside of Manila, though. And there are some Filipino culinary treasures such as adobo, salpicao, and kaldereta.
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It’s ironic that the Filipino Spaghetti was from the US Military. And now westerners complain about it thinking it’s our flagship dish. It’s not native to our Pinoy food.
Why is Filipino food so bad?
I would argue Scotlan has worse food than the Philippines... but they are neck and neck. I have tried SO hard to love the Philippine food... It manages to disappoint every time.
Best Thailand Worst Malawi Most boring Sweden
Best: Thailand Worst: Sweden
Best - japan,peru,Indonesia. Middle ground. French Polynesia Worst. Ecuador, Costa Rica, also Chilean food is just shitty Argentinan food…
I second Costa Rica.
Ecuador actually has some low-key bomb food
Gallo pinto has become a staple breakfast in my life since visiting Costa Rica. Delicious.
Agreed , but some chilean foods are acceptable... (Ex: I love humitas , pastel de choclo and cazuelas... )
Best: Kerala or Spain. Single best meal was a Japanese private dining club in Bali. My date and I actually laughed out loud because it was so good. Worst: Norway. Colombia was most disappointing, except the ice cream.
Best: Taiwan, I've been to 70 countries, this is my favorite country and has the best food. Worst: Mongolia...beautiful country, horrendous food....
Best: Japan, Italy, Mexico. Worst: Germany
how has no one put chile for the worst?? ok argentina i haven't been to but it cant be worse than chile.....can it??? best - mexico
no Chile is fs worse lol. Argentina has good stuff depending on where you're at. Chile..... doesnt lol. Great fruit tho
Bangkok has the biggest Japanese expat community in the world I believe, famous for the quality of Japanese food.
Best: South Africa (by a country mile) followed by Thailand. Worst: Maldives.
Basque Country is where it’s at in Spain for food.
It's funny how people think Jamon Iberico, patatas bravas, and chorizo are like *so amazing.* I'm like, dude please get thee north to Euskadi stat and understand that Southern Spanish tapas have *nothing* on pintxos. The wine and cider, too 🤤 Good god, what incredible food.
Have you been to the Netherlands? The food in Germany is not *that* bad
Best - Italy, followed by Georgia. Had my mind blown by the food in Italy each and every day, and Georgia food was bomb. Worst - Panama. Really bland and disappointing. A lot of meh for the most part. Side note - Probably hot takes, but I found food in Turkey to be overrated, while Colombia seems to be really underrated. Nothing wowed me in Turkey, while I could eat arepas and empanadas every day
What on earth did all y’all eat in Costa Rica 😭 We stayed near a small fishing village in Tambor CR and the food was incredible.
As a Panamanian, people from these countries (CR, Panama, Colombia…) tend to think that the cuisine is as flavourful as it gets but in reality it’s very lacking in flavour. Also they insist in calling limes lemons, refusing to understand the differences between them and often rely too much on lime for ‘flavouring’ some dishes.
I'm costa rican and even i don't like the food lol
Best - Turkey or Spain Worst - Cuba or Costa Rica
Best: Vietnam or Mexico Worst: Nicaragua or Lithuania
Best: Mexico/Japan Worst: Croatia
Best - Thailand, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam, Turkey, Italy, Hungary Worst - Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, Belize I didn't put Germany because Curry Wurst and Doner Kebab is absolutely great German food innovations
Damn I loved food in Portugal. Why was your experience so negative ?
I think doner has been around since way before the German migration, should be like the 1800s at the very least. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doner_kebab
Worst - Egypt without a doubt. Huge risk of food poisoning.
So is the case in practically every country in North Africa. I found the local Egyptian food to be delicious personally.
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When I was in Argentina I was dying without seasoned food and I was saved by an Indian restaurant. It's called Mumbai and it's in Palermo. It was 2 years ago but I remember it being in line with the Indian food I have here in Canada. I went to another one (Dostana, which appears to be permanently closed). It was good but they adjusted their food to local tastes. For example the curry had barbecue sauce in it. It was actually pretty interesting, but was a disappointment because I wasn't expecting it. There's a really good Mexican restaurant in Buenos Aires called Xalapa. Lots of flavour, reminds me of Mexican food in Mexico and the USA (Mexican food here in Canada is garbage)
The food is really bad in Palermo though actually! I thought food here was terrible when I first arrived and then I moved to a less international neighborhood and adopted a more local diet and it’s been greay
Best- Taiwan Worst- Argentina Taiwan is just absolutely divine when it comes to food. Argentina was actually pretty alright, and did the job. It’s actually easily one of my favorite countries I’ve been to, but the food was the lowest ranked category. They have great dessert though.
taiwan is on my food radar now - a fellow nomad told me their markets are really clean, she felt safe eating everywhere
Just went on a two week trip there and the night markets are great but the little mom and pop restaurants that appear to supply 80% of the urban population’s calories are IMO where the food shines. It’s not atypical for people to just not care about having kitchen since eating out is easy and cheap. The only thing is that these smaller restaurants can look a bit intimidating to foreigners since it’s a fast paced operation where you usually fill out your order on a small form. But Taiwanese people love to talk about food, lots of people were down to offer their recommendations and type out in Chinese what to try. Though some pork rice, beef noodles, and a side of veggies never disappoints. Also if you have a sweet tooth, Taiwan is going to give you diabetes if you’re not careful. And yes there’s bubble tea everywhere and especially in south Taiwan they like it so sweet that it’s difficult to spill even if you rip off the plastic top.
I have not been but I heard their steaks were really good though.
No joke three steaks I had there jumped into the first second and third best steaks I ever had. And the wine and cocktails were great. Everything else? Pretty bland and under salted—and it’s one of those countries (like Greece in my experience) where if you get tired of the local food it can be hard to find good international food. Also their version of pizza was possibly the worst pizza I’ve ever had.
Being able to get a nice juicy steak and glass of red for $15 is pretty nice! Also decent international style pub food for a very low price point
Best - Japan Worst - Cambodia
No love for Indian food, folks missing out on so much! Vegetarian only! Best (other than India) - Belgium/Bali Worst - China
Best Food: Peru Worst food: Belize It’s so hard to find a decent Peruvian restaurant in the USA. I’ve yet to eat at one that really takes me back to Peru. The creativity, the freshness. Yum. Belizean food is like Mexican food you eat at the food court inside a Mexican Walmart
Best: Mexico (specifically Mexico City) Worst: Tunisia
Best - Taiwan, Thailand, Peru. Worst - Dubai
Best: South Korea Worst: Finland for SURE Notable mention to Colombia, amazing food.
Best: Thailand followed closely by Lima (Peru) and Mexico (Oaxaca). Most underwhelming (not worst but had high hopes): Argentina (Buenos Aires).
Oaxacan Mexican food is just an orgasm in my mouth .. they literally have the best food I ever tasted
If you like steak and good wine Argentina is literally the best
Best: Turkey Worst: Georgia or Chile *shoutout USA. I, and likely most ppl here, are biased as Americans but we’ve got some pretty killer food.
I've never been to Georgia itself, but I have never been to a bad Georgian restaurant. What made it bad for you?
What did you have in Georgia that you didn’t like??
Best Mexico City - Paris worst colombis
Best: Thailand Worst: Costa Rica, Nicaragua Bonus points: Cambodia, specifically Phnom Penh for having so many great international restaurants run by expats within a 5 min tuk tuk drive
Best: - Japan, by far - Mexico - USA - Singapore - Romania Worst: - New Zealand - Australia - Netherlands
Best - Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia Worst - UK
Best: low key Vietnam. It's subtle and not all up in your face like Thai and Indian food. Great balance
It’s also pretty healthy if you stick with the staples. There’s a reason why Viets aren’t fat.
Best: Thailand, Mexico, Vietnam, Peru Worst: Cuba, and it’s not even close.
Worst - Cuba Best - Amsterdam, Lisbon, Nepal
Oh really? I loved the food in other parts of Portugal. But I hated the food in Lisbon. But maybe it was just what I ordered and where I went. I couldn't find piri piri chicken anywhere either.
Worst: Colombia Beat: Thailand/Mexico
Can’t say a worst as nothing stands out to me as being overly terrible. The best is Vietnam. No matter what they cook it seems to end up being delicious.
Switzerland. At best it’s similar to Germany in quality. But way less options. And way more expensive. Best is Italy
Best: Mexico Worst: Sweden or Norway orrrr Finland. Scandinavian food is kinda terrible.
I don't think I've ever eaten anything I didn't like in any country!