What's the best food you're had in another country that's not from that country?

I had one of the best seafood alfredo pasta dishes of my life in Cambodia. Just a random place down the street from our hotel in Siem Reab and I happened to see someone else order it or I'd have gotten another likely amazing plate of Nasi Goreng.

I also had insanely good sushi in Istanbul. Idk if this one really counts because I went with a local friend from university who showed us around, but I was still surprised since it wasn't a super pricey or ritzy kind of place and had a lot of locals working alongside some Japanese chefs.

Or a 70s rock song

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Singapore has some of the best food for sure. Absolutely world class across nearly any cuisine. Say what you will about their economy/politics, but that kind of variety is really hard to find.

I’d describe it as a Mediterranean fusion food. It’s not common, but when you see it, it’s typically an option at trendy artisanal pizza places.

I dunno, London has that sort of variety ... but is also a capitalist hellhole

Do döner kebabs in Austria count as a Turkish food?

Had the best Indian food, in Australia.

I had something in Germany they told me was from Austria that was just ham steaks with eggs and potatoes in an incredible red sauce.

I don't remember what it was called, nor where it actually originated from. But fuck, I wish I knew what that sauce was because the rest of it was super simple and something I can get easy at home. It's not the same without the sauce, tho. It wasn't spicy, it wasn't BBQ and it wasn't ketchup. It was just pure deliciousness.

I thought Boz was in Bali, by golly

Curry with nan in Japan

I'd throw San Francisco in there as well, but I don't think either really match Singapore in that regard. I think it's a combination of having been a gigantic financial and trade hub for centuries (I see London and San Francisco more as endpoints, honestly) and the pressure/post colonial culture from the island state's government to curate their image/culinary scene.

It's a very unique crossroads and set of circumstances which I have not seen anywhere else in the world.

Edit: "an" to "a"

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

London was, in some ways, a hub thanks to the Empire. Less so now, but it does have variety, much more than any other European city IME

You can get stuff like jellyfish salad, jerk chicken, Lebanese food, etc, with little effort.

Also, it's legal to take durians on the London underground, so that's one up on Singapore :-P

Paint my fence!

Lol the durian debate continues! Yeah, the variety is definitely true of London. It has more of an organic sort of variety that I would compare with San Francisco, New York, or Hong Kong.

I think what really hit me was the overt curating I saw in Singapore (which also has a chilling/freezing effect on the small restauranteur) All the restaurants I went to were completely amazing and, like anything in that city, way more costly than in any other country I'd visited that trip. Singapore, at times, felt a bit gauche and decadent with how great/polished everything was.

I also think it's interesting to see what permeates these trade hubs in terms of food. I will say that I did not catch any Caribbean fare in Singapore, although I wouldn't be surprised given its imperial past. International hubs for technology, finance, and pretty much anything else miss out on varied cuisines if they're sufficiently culturally or geographically insulated (looking at Paris and Shanghai from my experience lol).