British Expat Forum

OK, in theory we all live "abroad" so what's your favourite "foreign" dish? (No, fish 'n' chips, please! ) "Foreign" as in "not English"!

Mine is "Ameijoas a Bulhão" which is basically clams cooked in white wine, garlic and fresh coriander. A particular "Portuguese" restaurant (not tourist restaurant) I go to in the Ribeira in Porto (riverside Porto and UNESCO world heritage site) serves these clams as a starter. I ask for two portions, a basket of fresh bread and a beer or two and that's it. The bread obviously is for moping the plate clean of any juices and it's all finger food. Hmmmm! The best.

See ya!

I love Arbroath smokies, although as a Scot they're not foreign to me.

I like most fish as long as it's good quality. The Thais do some wonderful fish dishes. There are some places where you choose the raw ingredients, fish, mushrooms, veggies, etc and tell the chef how you want them cooked. Delicious! One of the places we frequent has the slogan - "so fresh they are still swimming"! It's not very nice condemning something to death but perhaps more honest than selecting from a display of already dead things.

I was interested in your comments about the Portugese restaurant - ie not a tourist restaurant. It's very similar in Thailand. The food in the tourist places is usually a poor imitation of real Thai food. It's all blanded down for the ferang palate. It can be quite difficult to get them to understand that some of us do like spicy food.

We once sent back a dish and asked them to add some flavour to it. They did the biz! Now they know us, we get our food Thai style. You can't blame them for being cautious, I suppose, and it's always easier to add something rather than try to take it away afterwards.

I really love clams too. So Jayne - can we get the recipe??

I think my favourite foreign dish would be Thai Green chicken curry, although I have to admit its probably a Canadian version of a Thai dish and probably nothing like a Thai dish would be in Thailand.

I'd bet my last baht on it, Liz.

Liz, I'll make a separate post for it but it's not the official recipe which I don't have. It's just how imagine they do it, nothing complicated. I don't do it at home because I'd get tired of them and the magic of eating them in this restaurant would be missing.

Thai green curry also one of my favourites but never had the real stuff. Love the coconut. Hm!

See ya!

I find it hard to say as my favourites change weekly, at the moment it'sa bowl of tiny baby squid in a crispy batter, a slice lemon and a really cold beer 8)

Oh yes! My favourites change all the time too. Quite often it's the things we can't get which are the ones I want the most.

We can get most things in Thailand, though, so that's great.

I have a thousand 'favourites' but one of my favourite favourites is Boston Clam Chowder, which I (or rather Julie in this case) reproduce here in Spain by substituting 'jibia' (which is the white 'body' part of a squid-like creature) for the clams. Clams are not quite so easy to get here as they are in the USA and after many attempts we now enjoy the jibia even more than the original clams.
I am also extremely fond of almost any Mexican food and enjoy the spicy hot flavour of many dishes there. I do not count 'chilli con carne' as a Mexican dish (though it's not bad) as this is a dish 'invented' by the Americans (Texans, I think) along the southern border states and is (almost) never actually served in Mexico.
Whatever your favourite enjoy it as often as you can, sometimes you'll end up living, like me, in a country that, surprisingly, does not enjoy or serve much spicy food...hence my own excursions into the culinary field.
Bob

That's easy, although I'm not so sure it qualifies as "foreign" food any more. Chicken Korma 8) (But it has to be real British chicken korma of course )

Alan.

Of course! The Indian food in India is totally different.

Spainboy is right. Here are a few of my favorites, by time of year or location:

Winter holidays - gulaschsuppe

New England in season - clam chowder

New England again - spider crab

Southern France - bouillabaisse

Cote d'Azur beach fodder - pan bagnat (salade nicoise in a huge bap-like bun)

Southern England - a good Madras chicken curry

Provence, near Grasse - a huge Thai takeaway counter. Everything is good

Portugal - any seafood

......

curry

Let me guess, it's the Invasion (or something similar) curry house in France that you've mentioned in your every posting so far.

Really Kay, you are becoming boring - Yes, I like curry. Yes, I have found a supplier that I would recommend. No, I don't work for them. You have issues, get over them.

Yes, we do have issues with people who join up simply to promote their own business interests. (This posting makes it clear that this is exactly what you've done.)

If you're bored, why don't you take your spam curry elsewhere?