International food love

[Trethowan]

I've not yet been there, but I love Indian food - the whole gamut from the some traditional takeaway stuff through to dishes Indian friends and colleagues have cooked for me to prove how bad the traditional takeaway stuff is; and in between good restaurants that those same friends and colleagues (and one in particular) have introduced me to and recipes they've given me or I've found online.

Particular dishes... from southern India dosas (there's a small food market at work every weekend that starts on Friday, and one of the stalls sells mung bean masala dosa and spicy chickpeas on the side), vada sambar and thoran - which has become my standby recipe for "what shall I do with these veg?". From northern India, dal makhani with paratha or poured over rice for the ultimate warming, filling comfort food; and momo, which I must learn how to make as the only place near me that sold them closed a couple of years back.

And now, despite it being just gone 1am and having had a filling dinner, I'm hungry

I haven't had any of these items yet. There is an Indian restaurant in town, next time I'm there I'll see if they have this.

[quidam]

Ah, Devon clotted cream....heaven. Here you go. The bottled stuff tastes reasonably close to the fresh English stuff.

http://www.englishteastore.com/british- ... MgodWCQAPg

or you can make it yourself.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... ecipe.html

Ooooo...Thank you! that's actually affordable!

my newest obsession is a Nepalese place called Yak & Yeti.

Okay, that has got to be the best name for a restaurant ever.

Calivano- Yes, good Mexican food is very hard to find the further north you go. I'm up in PA and would love to find a good Hispanic restaurant nearby. Truthfully, I could live off of Mexican food. Thankfully there are a few grocers near hear that do have the right ingredients for making your own, if you have the time a patience.

[MeltedCaramel]

Hmnn, interesting topic! Italian is the no-brainer, but coming from Italian roots I guess I don't consider it exotic? Although if I had a penny for every time someone mistakes something as simple as "Stuffed Shells" for seafood...*grumble*. For me the most "exotic" thing probably has to be this amazing little authentic Chinese food place by where I live. Just...everything is geared towards the Chinese pallete, and it's all refreshingly authentic. It has the silly Americanized food too for those that want it, but you haven't lived until you've had french fries that have been fried in the oil used to make amazing Chinese dishes!!

Favourite dish from there hands down has to be their Szechuan Chicken. I'm a sucker for spicy foods and this particular restaurant makes it spicy with a hint of sweetness that is just out of this world! The dish is so aesthetically pleasing too. I'm not much for "food porn" but everything from that gorgeous red sauce to the finely chopped, bright vegetables running through it just put on top of fluffy white rice, the sauce running down it...it's a stunning dish to be sure.

[MitisFeles]

I've been outside of Italy only for two or three days at once, travelling with school, so I hadn't very much occasions to enjoy food from other countries in their original incarnations. Above all I miss French croissant, they're so soft and buttery! I tasted delicious croissants here, especially in Sicily (with pistachio filling) but never like the French ones.
Talking about Sicily, in Italy there are a lot of local dishes that you can find only in a specific area, so I had some experiences similar to she-flames ones. I.E., now that I have no more reasons to go often in Sicily, I miss almost all of typical Sicilian sweets, in particular almond slush, and street foods like arancini. But living in Genoa I enjoy often pasta (trenette, to be specific) with home made pesto sauce and vegetable-filled pies.

keinaqueen, if you have a decent owen and a spare afternoon for the pizza dough to rise you can try to cook pizza at home, it's not difficult at all (my mom does it really often!)

[kenaiqueen]

keinaqueen, if you have a decent owen and a spare afternoon for the pizza dough to rise you can try to cook pizza at home, it's not difficult at all (my mom does it really often!)

Sadly, my oven is crap. We rent and the landlord buys as cheap as he can so the heat has to be carefully monitored. Also, I'm terrible at making bread. I do have a bread machine and I suppose I could take it out after the second rise to make my own pizza, but there is just something about the commercially made pizza ovens that do it better. There is a local "take home and bake it yourself" company and it's about the same level as the DiGorno frozen pizza, so it could be my oven is the problem.

I don't consider Italian food as anything exotic btw. One of my grandfathers was from Italy (Naples area) and he made the best homemade sausage. My mom (who was named Immaculata Florenza Damico) brought us up on quite a few Italian staples. Her lasagna recipe is still made by all my siblings. Ciao!

[Gift_in_Edge]

I live near a major university so there are quite a few international restaurant for the international students. I haven't been to many of them though. I like Mexican, Italian, and most Asian dishes.

My sis-in-law has me liking quinoa now after she made it for dinner when we visited last.

[VirgoVertigo]

I LOVVVEEEEEE Kinder Eggs, but they're completely illegal here. sob!!! Kinder chocolate is good in general, but it just seems so much tastier when there's a toy waiting inside ... i'll never grow up XD