In Germany, that’s more likely to lead you to an early heart attack than good food.
To find good food here, go to a restaurant with food from another country, where people from that country eat.
True in most places with large immigrant populations, and goes double if it’s not just “<country name>” cuisine, but “<specific region in country name>”. There is a place around the corner from my work that specializes in Lanzhou beef noodles - it’s down a side street in a little shopping arcade, I’m guaranteed to be the only white guy in there but it’s absolutely fantastic food
There was this fantastic Greek place who’s sign was literally just a hand painted map of the town the owner grew up in. Amazing gyros, unbelievably cheap. IIRC they were only ~$4, and then for like $1.50 more you could upgrade to a “plate” which meant you got EASILY double the filling.
Homie might have been treating us special bc we were regulars and were always chatting with him and his sons, but either way it was by far the best restaurant experience I’ve ever had.
It’s been a perpetual source of surprise to me that curry houses are so ‘non-specific’. Pakistan and India together make about 1.7 billion people, about a third of the planet’s population, and I’d have thought an easy way to distinguish a restaurant would be to offer something more region-specific, but it’s fairly rare.
Here in the UK, the majority of curry houses are Bangladeshi - used to be the vast majority, now it’s more like 2/3rds. We’ve a couple of ‘more specific’ chains - both Bundobust and Dishoom do Mumbai-style, and they’re both fantastic - and there’s a few places that do well with the ‘naturally vegan’ cuisines, but mostly you can go in to a restaurant and expect the usual suspects will be on the menu.
Same goes for Chinese restaurants - I don’t believe that a billion people all eat the same food, it’s too big a place for the same ingredients to be in season all the time. Why are they not more specific, more often?
It’s the stigma actually since 9/11 or the fear from it that can negatively affect their businesses including vandalism if not less attraction to their places.
The best Indian food I had was at a place in St Petersburg Florida on the first floor of an otherwise empty office building. We could smell the curry from the parking lot while still inside the car
This is kind of funny. I live in Germany and I’ve got better German food in the US. Very often German food here is kind of aiming to be cheap and filling, but kind of bland and boring. There are a few exceptions, and what you say about food from other countries makes a lot of sense.
In Germany, that’s more likely to lead you to an early heart attack than good food.
To find good food here, go to a restaurant with food from another country, where people from that country eat.
True in most places with large immigrant populations, and goes double if it’s not just “<country name>” cuisine, but “<specific region in country name>”. There is a place around the corner from my work that specializes in Lanzhou beef noodles - it’s down a side street in a little shopping arcade, I’m guaranteed to be the only white guy in there but it’s absolutely fantastic food
So true! Hand drawn sichuan noodles, south indian dosas… Its really the smaller regional places in calmer neighbourhoods.
There was this fantastic Greek place who’s sign was literally just a hand painted map of the town the owner grew up in. Amazing gyros, unbelievably cheap. IIRC they were only ~$4, and then for like $1.50 more you could upgrade to a “plate” which meant you got EASILY double the filling.
Homie might have been treating us special bc we were regulars and were always chatting with him and his sons, but either way it was by far the best restaurant experience I’ve ever had.
Oh that’s definitely the case in the US. You can tell it’s going to be a really good restaurant when almost no one there speaks fluent English.
Indian food restaurants have been a blessing in this although there are many Pakistani-Muslim owners posing as Indian ones in US.
It’s been a perpetual source of surprise to me that curry houses are so ‘non-specific’. Pakistan and India together make about 1.7 billion people, about a third of the planet’s population, and I’d have thought an easy way to distinguish a restaurant would be to offer something more region-specific, but it’s fairly rare.
Here in the UK, the majority of curry houses are Bangladeshi - used to be the vast majority, now it’s more like 2/3rds. We’ve a couple of ‘more specific’ chains - both Bundobust and Dishoom do Mumbai-style, and they’re both fantastic - and there’s a few places that do well with the ‘naturally vegan’ cuisines, but mostly you can go in to a restaurant and expect the usual suspects will be on the menu.
Same goes for Chinese restaurants - I don’t believe that a billion people all eat the same food, it’s too big a place for the same ingredients to be in season all the time. Why are they not more specific, more often?
It’s the stigma actually since 9/11 or the fear from it that can negatively affect their businesses including vandalism if not less attraction to their places.
The best Indian food I had was at a place in St Petersburg Florida on the first floor of an otherwise empty office building. We could smell the curry from the parking lot while still inside the car
… shouldn’t Pakistani food taste good as well?
Where was it said it will taste bad?
I thought it was implied.
This is kind of funny. I live in Germany and I’ve got better German food in the US. Very often German food here is kind of aiming to be cheap and filling, but kind of bland and boring. There are a few exceptions, and what you say about food from other countries makes a lot of sense.
Haha we visited Vienna from the US this summer and have been letting people know the best kebab places (why is the kebab so good)