Travel by food

When I get back from a trip, I often talk about the location based on the food I've eaten and if you've been following this blog, you will have noticed I often include photos of meals. So this post is about some of the places I've been and the food I enjoyed most or remember fondly from my visit.

Vietnam
The sterotype would be fresh rice paper rolls and pho, and while yes, you can't have been to Ho Chi Minh City and not had pho from a street stall, it's the iced coffee in the plastic bags I remember most and crave for. In fact I think this is what really got me started in the world of coffee.

China
I first had peaking duck pancakes in Bejing in 2002, but it's also where I fell in love with the spicy eggplant, often with pork mince.

USA
Yes, the serves are huge and there's HFCS in everything but the Mexican is hard to beat (in particular the Tex Mex in Phoenix and Texas), the seafood chowder in Maine and San Fransisco is devine and the steak, such as the one below we had in Vegas one trip.

Cook Islands
Ika Mata, the fish dish (often Tuna) that I order as much as possible when in the country. Good thing DH has a great recipe at home.

NZ
While, yes the lamb is good, we can get that in Australia as well, so it's the Venision I look forward to eating while in the South Island of NZ. Like this dish DH had at The Reef in Wanaka.

Hungary
I love pastries, and the cherry ones found in the Grand Market were divine.

Singapore
Chilli crab, I have nothing more to say.

Australia
While there isn't really a national dish (although Kangaroo cooked medium rare is very nice, really try it), seafood in Australia is plentiful and very fresh. The oysters are great straight out of the shell, or whole barramundi and don't forget fresh king prawns. But eating a seafood platter at Doyles at Watsons Bay or the platter we had below at the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar down near the Opera House.

Peru
I had never tried Alpaca until we visited Peru. It was a fantastic meat, especially the dish I had in Zig Zag, on a andean cheese mash.

Croatia
I ate squid on 10 of the 12 nights we were in Croatia (it helped that we spent most of the time on the coast). It was fantastic.

So what's your favourite dish and from what country?