Pizza in Austria. From a shed, somewhere high up in the Alps. No inside seating just a guy selling street food pizza at freezing temperatures. There were plenty of people standing in line in the snow so I figured it should be good and my goodness it was.

Fair enough. Austria is right next to Italy so maybe it doesn’t really count?

There was a place I only went to once, closing night of it, that did amazing Mediterranean food. Probably as authentic as they could try to make it here in the states. It was to die for it was so good.

Otherwise, close by to where that place used to be is an Indian restaurant that has the best vindaloo I have ever had.

I had the best wonton soup I’ve ever had at some random Chinese restaurant in Montreal

It had little crispy bit of i think cracklins floating around in it

All of the food we had in Montreal was great, and this was just some random place we stopped in for a quick bite on our way somewhere

Indian food in the UK. I don’t think this will surprise anyone, though.

Carbonara in Krakow, Poland.
It was authentic and tasted incredible.

The next few I ordered at «italian» restaurants had ham, cream, peas (!!!) and one even onions. I just stopped ever ordering it out and learned to make it myself, but the one in Poland will forever be in my mind.

Brasil everything, pizza, hamburgers, sushi, pasta. They add their own style to international food and it’s awesome.

Oh, I have A Story.

I studied abroad for a year in Fukuoka, Japan (beautiful city, off the beaten path for foreigners), and the options where I was were pretty limited in terms of foreign restaurants. However, at some point, us international students discovered this little Turkish shawarma place hidden away somewhere, and it was absolutely delicious, very filling (in a way Japanese food generally isn’t), affordable, and unlike any of the other options. The word spread quickly through the I-house, and many of us became regulars (although it seemed mostly ignored by the locals). We were there so often we got to know the owner, who spoke English, he was ethnically Turkish, but had actually come from Germany and decided to move to Japan and open a restaurant. Over several months while we were there, we watched the place get noticably nicer, more decor, the guy started importing Turkish rugs to sell out front, etc.

Unfortunately, as our second semester came to a close, we went there one last time to say goodbye to the owner and his delicious shawarma. He said like, “Damn, you’re leaving? I don’t know what I’m going to do.” I’m pretty sure we were almost single-handedly keeping his business going, and it would take several months for the next exchange students to arrive and no guarantee they’d find the place or fall in love with it like we did. We didn’t really have a way of leaving a message for that next group, to say, “Hey, check out this shawarma place,” and I never did find out if the business survived us leaving.

Funny enough, this was how I learned what shawarma was, just before the first Avengers movie came out (dating myself here).

Had better sushi in Taiwan than Japan on the same trip.

Had some amazing Indian food in Bordeaux.

This place: https://rajistan.fr/

I was out on business floating around the Cayman islands going from point to point and met a small statured man from the Philippines. he had this amazing boat that was so whimsical it felt as if it had floated out of a story book. it had these incredibly tiny glass chimes hanging from the palm roof and with the washing of the waves it sounded like magic.

anyway, he offered us something to eat and we obviously couldn’t say no. he quickly began to work on his boat cooking up a storm. he was an absolute master at what he was doing! it was such a thrill to see him toss a bit of this and that into his pot and watch over it lovingly as it simmered. the air was filled with this amazing aroma of garlic, saffron, and tomato.

finally after a mouthwatering hour of cooking he plated the most beautiful Bouillabaisse for us to enjoy, and what a treat it was! it was the best Bouillabaisse I have ever had in my life!

unfortunately, I heard not that long after that the cartel found him and took his life. it’s a shame that nobody will ever get to experience his cooking again, he was truly a master.

Near my house in West Seattle there used to be a little hole in the wall place called Lee’s Asian, whose Seven Flavor Chicken I regard as one of humanity’s greatest achievements. Sadly they had to close because developers flooded in and all the commercial rents doubled. Thank you, density-hungry Seattle city council. Density! Density! But hey, at least we can buy $5 donuts now.

Look at this Scotch egg! Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Ramen in Italy. Not the best Ramen I ever had but best outside of Japan. I also had very authentic Chinese in Italy. Had some of the best burgers I’ve ever had in Japan. China had a lot of odd takes on American foods and chains. There’s kind of a long list here.

Do döner kebabs in Austria count as a Turkish food?

I had pretty good baguette in London.