Foreign Food question

[Gun Grape]

Something strange that I have been thinking about and wondered what others thought.

I think I have complained enough on this board about the quality of Japanese and Korean food at local restaurants. And it got me to thinking.

No matter where you go, local influences will creep into the prep of the food. So it will take on a flavor that appeals to the locals.

Is there a type of food from a foreign country that you prefer the way it is cooked in your country over the original?

For me, the food I would rather eat in the US vice the "Real" stuff is Italian. I would much rather go to someplace like Olive Garden than have the same meal in say Trento or Naples.

Its the stronger, gamier, meats and cheeses that turn me off.

Anyone else have a "I like it better in my country than in theirs" food?

[YellowFever]

That's because you live in that slum known as Florida, Gunny. :P

Come to L A where the Korean/Japanese food is better than in Korea/Japan. :))

[Gun Grape]

Come to L A where the Korean/Japanese food is better than in Korea/Japan. :))

Hey the Spanish and Mexican food sucks here also.

But I've been to Lower Alabama. They dont even have a Korean Restaurant in Mobile

[Albany Rifles]

Well, I think Scottish food is better here than there!

Actually, I just had an interesting meal last night on this
We went to a local Mexican Restaurant and I ordered pork fajitas....better than anything I ever had in Mexico, Texas, California or Colorado. It, along with Pork Carnitas, are my big measure.

Maybe its this one restaurant, but I find it much better here in the Mid Atlantic than elsewhere.

As for Italy...you were in the wrong part...go to the Venuto. Food there is spectacular.

Though the best pizza I ever had was in .....Germany!

[bigross86]

The Humus here can't be beat (though I'm sure most Mediterranean people say that), though about 4 years ago I had some of the best Humus I ever tasted in the Village in Manhattan.

I walked in with my friend, sat down and we got 2 menus. I look at the menu and I see different meals, different combos, little bit of everything. When the waiter came to take our order, I asked him in Hebrew for 2 bowls of Humus and some Pitas, and he responded in Hebrew. He then went back to the kitchen where 2 Asian dudes were in charge of making the Humus.

Like I said, one of the best plates I've ever eaten

[Gun Grape]

Fajitas are TexMex. Not real Mexican food. When was the last time you ate good Tlayuda or a Chicken Mole in the States?

[RustyBattleship]

I like beef, particularly steaks, here in the USA better than anywhere else.

In Japan you have to be a major shareholder in Microsoft to afford one.

In the Phillipines they use Caribou as they have no beef cattle.

In Greece, you can find a couple of steak houses but they overcook it.

In Taiwan the only decent hamburger you can get as at the Nancy's Hotel in Kaoshiung (sp). And even then I'm still suspicious as to what it really is.

[gunnut]

American pizza is better than Italian pizza. Not that I've ever had Italian pizza, but I heard it's just not meaty and greasy enough like American pizza.

[ArtyEngineer]

Best Indian Food can be found in Glasgow Scotland. The "Koh-i-noor" at the top of Sauchiehall St is quite simply amazing!!!! But the food served bares only a passing resemblance to the same dish as served in India, thats if the dish even exists at all. Numerous Indian Curries have been developed specifically for the UK!!!! You are not going to get a Chicken Tikka Masala in Bombay lol.

Arty

[xinhui]

One lesson learned -- don't order Sushi in Texas. Just is something you just don't.

[xinhui]

The Chines food in Vancouver BC is close to home, IMHO.

The Central America food around Garfield street in San Francisco also rocks. some of them do not even speak English.

[gunnut]

The Chines food in Vancouver BC is close to home, IMHO.

The Central America food around Garfield street in San Francisco also rocks. some of them does not even speak English.

That's when you know they're authentic.;)

[YellowFever]

That's when you know they're authentic.;)

Hell, some of the best Japanese Sushi Chefs in Los Angeles speak with a heavy Spanish accent.

And there are dozens of illegal aliens (males) around Koreatown in Los Angeles that know how to cook authentic korean food at least as well as any womenfolk in my extended family.

The best pizza I ever had anywhere around the world was in the San Fernando Valley restaurant called Joe Peeps, made with loving care by a 47 year old Chinese guy. :))

Some of the people that I did business with in Korea look me up once in awhile when they visit the states and I ask them what brings them here to LA and their answer is that the Korean food here is better than back home in Korea. LoL

Gunny, you and your better half have got to visit LA, just for the authentic food alone.
It'll freak you out that the best Kalbi you've ever had in your life was marinated by a guy named Jose. :))

[Zaitsev]

Best Indian Food can be found in Glasgow Scotland. The "Koh-i-noor" at the top of Sauchiehall St is quite simply amazing!!!! But the food served bares only a passing resemblance to the same dish as served in India, thats if the dish even exists at all. Numerous Indian Curries have been developed specifically for the UK!!!! You are not going to get a Chicken Tikka Masala in Bombay lol.

Arty

Nopes you are wrong there..Chicken tikka Masala is nothing but yet another variation of the mughal dish....if you visit any Indian city that knows how to cook mughal dishes(not Mumbai puhleezz,everyting is too continental there....visit Delhi or Hyderabad or even Calcutta) you will see the sheer number of similar dishes that are there based on one base recipe...the tikka masala is nothing new,its just yet another variation of an already famous dish,which may well have been made earlier.

Anyways back to the topic,i will vote for chinese food in my own city to be better than original chinese stuff ,I have had both of them(Both at the same restaurant though,which is located in a area which has a significant,albeit decreasing chinese population since our independence), and anyday i'd prefer the Indianised version over the chinese one .

[Bigfella]

Hell, some of the best Japanese Sushi Chefs in Los Angeles speak with a heavy Spanish accent.

And there are dozens of illegal aliens (males) around Koreatown in Los Angeles that know how to cook authentic korean food at least as well as any womenfolk in my extended family.

The best pizza I ever had anywhere around the world was in the San Fernando Valley restaurant called Joe Peeps, made with loving care by a 47 year old Chinese guy. :))

Some of the people that I did business with in Korea look me up once in awhile when they visit the states and I ask them what brings them here to LA and their answer is that the Korean food here is better than back home in Korea. LoL

Gunny, you and your better half have got to visit LA, just for the authentic food alone.
It'll freak you out that the best Kalbi you've ever had in your life was marinated by a guy named Jose. :))

I used to work with a American girl who found it hilarious that most of the Chinese restraunts she went to in the US had kitchens full of mexicans, while the mexican restraunts in Australia had kitchens full of Chinese (mostly students). :))

I eat regularly at an Ethiopian restraunt. The owner is an Aussie & his wife Ethiopian. The place is always full of Ethiopians who seem to think the food is spot on. The chef is as white as me.

The Thai food here can be as good as Thailand - if you know where to go.

Vietnamese food here can be a bit different, but that is largely explained by 1) the large number of ethnic Chinese Vietnamese who run restraunts here and 2) the discovery that if you add chinese dishes (or something similar) to the menu more people eat there.