My Top 20 World Foodie Travel Experiences

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Over the last twenty years, I’ve been fortunate enough to eat some incredible food around the world (I call this ‘traveleating‘). I just wish I had written about these experiences and taken photos. There are places that I won’t see again, restaurants that no longer exist, and special home-cooked meals that can’t be replicated. But the past is the past, and I look forward to visiting plenty of exciting destinations in the future, armed with my notebook and camera!

So, here are my top 20 foodie travel experiences, in no particular order than chronological..

• 1. Kobe, Japan, summer of 1989 - what else could I have eaten other than Kobe beef in the city of Kobe, famous for cows fed on beer and massaged to music? My precious portion was sliced into thick pieces and seared on a teppanyaki hotplate. It really was superb - tender, flavoursome and memorable even after 20 years. The Guardian article on kobe beef, Sacred Cow, is a great read and confirms that I haven’t just been imagining it all these years

• 2. Egypt, summer of 1990 - a month of travelling and camping up and down the country meant that I would eventually succumb to an upset stomach, but I did survive nearly three weeks before it happened. A simple dinner and a few hours’ sleep at St Catherine’s Monastery, before getting up at 3am to climb up Mount Sinai to watch the sun rise. Fresh fish served on our felucca on the Nile, followed by a night on the beach under countless stars

• 3. Beirut, Lebanon, summer of 1991 - driving through the stunning Metn mountains in an old Mercedes. Lazing by the pool at the St George Hotel. Sampling raw lamb’s brain, washed down with plenty of strong arak, at an outdoor dinner party with friends. And delicious kibbeh nayyeh - finely minced fresh raw lamb, cracked wheat and spices, all pounded into a creamy paste. A romantic dinner on a French restaurant balcony, just large enough for a table for two, overlooking the harbour. Read more on Lebanese food in the Slow Food article The Edible Landscape

• 4. Hong Kong, summer of 1992 - lobster sashimi, extremely fresh because the lobster had just emerged from the restaurant tank. Fish sashimi, which was even more fresh, because the poor fish was still ALIVE (I like to think it was technically dead) as it lay on the platter, head and tail still twitching, with its flesh having been expertly carved into thin slices, then layered back onto the skeleton to be eaten. The remainder went into the fish soup that was served afterwards. Live drunken prawns thrown into the hot pot, leaping about, before being cooked. And at the other end of the spectrum, here’s an interesting Saveur article (pre-1997) by John Willoughby on Hong Kong Home Cooking

• 5. Singapore, summer of 1992 - scintillating flavours and colours at cheap food stalls in hawker centres, where I could pick and choose from any stall that caught my roving eye(s). I think I must have spent the entire 10 days stationed at hawker centres! An old Saveur article by Jonathan Gold, Singapore Street Food, describes the food beautifully

• 6. Tokyo, Japan, May 1994 - sushi and sashimi served at a low wooden counter, set all around a beautiful fish pond, from where the fish came (OK, probably not in reality, but still, it was the concept that was appealing). Still haven’t been to Tsukiji Fish Market though, even after four trips to Tokyo!

• 7. Beijing, 1996-1997 - so many memories of food during the 2 years I lived there! Eating my own sandwiches on top of the Great Wall, with just my friend for company (it was such a deserted section that there was no one else around). Learning to make jiaozi at a friend’s home. Eating sliced raw tomato with sugar sprinkled on top - unusually tasty! Walking into my first restaurant on my first day in Beijing and seeing live scorpions in a tank at the entrance. Waking up to the daily sound of the food market opening up underneath my window. Feasting on heavenly Beijing duck (kaoya) at Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant. Enjoying an exquisite Imperial Court cuisine lunch at Ting Li Guan at the Summer Palace

• 8. Inner Mongolia, China, August 1997 - trekking across the grassy plains on horseback during the day, eating delicious roast mutton for dinner and sleeping tucked up in a yurt at night. Having a cup of strong yak butter tea in the morning

• 9. Atlanta, US, November 1997 - my first meal on my very first trip to the States was Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant near the motel where I stayed! The portions were gigantic to say the least, and impossible to finish

• 10. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 1997 - filming from the top of the Petronas Towers, then sampling weird and wonderful street food at the bustling night market. As I was with a TV crew, we must have shot hours of footage. Sadly, I don’t have the tapes anymore…Time Out Kuala Lumpur has just launched, so check it out

• 11. San Francisco, California, March1999 - excellent food in Chinatown. Filming at the 3rd Webby Awards, where I interviewed the guy who founded IMDb. Thai dinner with a complete stranger, followed by a ride across the Golden Gate Bridge on the back of his scooter (a bizarre experience!). Dreamy seafood dinner at a cute seafront restaurant near Palo Alto

• 12. Manhattan, NYC, 1999 -2001 - during the 2 years I lived in Manhattan, I really ate out a lot! Faced with so many amazing restaurants (and a tiny kitchen in a shared apartment), what choice did I really have? Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Italian, Argentinian, Lebanese…and caviar, caviar, caviar - not only was my boyfriend at the time Russian, but I was working for a dotcom the year before the crash. A good proportion of our VC money must have gone towards those mountains of caviar at our wild parties…This 2006 NY Times article describes how the delicacy has become even rarer still

• 13. Key West, Florida, June 2000 - the best Surf n’ Turf (lobster and steak) dinner I’ve ever had in my life. I can still picture it on the plate, and remember my delight at seeing it. Expensive, but well worth it

• 14. Kannami, Japan, November 2002 - an incredible seafood dinner at a friend’s weekend country home. We went straight from the train station (an hour or so from Tokyo) to the fishmonger’s, where her mother chose the freshest fish for sashimi, clams and other delectable sea creatures for dinner that evening. And afterwards, we went for a dip at the local onsen (hot spring)

• 15. Rio, Brazil, March 2001 + June 2004 - one word - Porcao - a must for carnivores. Warm pao de queijo, little cheese breads from Minas Gerais, made with potato flour and filled with melted Minas cheese

• 16. Lisbon, Portugal, July 2004 - eating pastel de Belem at Pasteis de Belem which has been serving these delicious custard tarts since 1837. I can still remember the taste when I close my eyes. Which is why I bought boxes of them to take home with me…

• 17. Frascati, Italy, July 2005 - a beautiful wedding ceremony and dinner of a friend who was fortunate enough to hold it at the spectacular Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati. Seated on the terrace, overlooking the grounds of the estate and the town, we watched the sun set while eating and chatting with friends

• 18. Taipei, Taiwan, November 2005 - the city of xiao chi (small eats)! Even though I was theoretically there for work, eating soon became my one and only preoccupation. Xiao long bao at a Shilin market food stall, jiaozi at a dumpling restaurant I’ll never find again, heavenly beef noodles in another backstreet Taipei eaterie, followed by more xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung, THE place to eat these incredibly tasty things. And the special sauce with noodles at Slack Season Tan Tsi Noodles made me go back for seconds!

• 19. Tallinn, Estonia, December 2005 - dinner at Gloria, in my opinion one of the world’s best restaurants, and an experience not to be missed. A horrible swordfish dinner, the restaurant’s signature dish, at Mookkala, which thankfully no longer exists. I list this as an experience because it’s where our term for ruined food, ‘mookkala-ed‘, originates

• 20. Madeira, July 2007 - A plate of perfectly grilled prawns, eaten while watching the sun set over the sea. A stunning location, perched high on a cliff above the Atlantic sea, for a quiet, traditional afternoon tea at Reid’s Palace Hotel

What are your memorable foodie travel experiences? I’d love to hear about them. Meanwhile, I’m going to write my wishlist of foodie destinations for the next few years!

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide