International Food Rewind

So, while I wait here, metaphorically drooling with anticipation for my restaurant outings this weekend, I decided to include an update that is long overdue: my favorite meals of the summer.  I traveled to eight different countries and had some very, very delicious food while I was in them.  Thankfully, I took pictures of and blogged about most of the stand-out meals, so I remember them quite clearly.

In the first country, Spain, I had some rather incredible food; in particular, their gelato was the best I have ever tasted (that includes Italy!).  The best meal I had there was in the city of Cadiz, next to the beach in a tiny all-white restaurant that sold high-class, elegantly-prepared food for street cheap prices.

An exerpt from my former blog will adequately explain the experience:

"I pointed out a restaurant I had been eyeing, which was all white and, by the plating, looked expensive. Upon entering, we realized that although the food was good and plated beautifully, it was CHEAP. Dirt cheap. Dirt DIRT cheap. We had salmon rolls with cream cheese, walnuts, and raisins as an appetizer, as well as three cheese ravioli and salmon toast with cheese and anchovies. Jill had a glass of wine and I had a beer, and the entire bill was 16 euro..."

I was not entirely sure what was inside the "three cheese ravioli," but I am fairly sure it was fois gras, and it was absolutely divine.  As you can see in the photo above, they gave vastly generous portions, and I could not finish it all.  It was three euro for the entire plate.

In Italy, the food was, of course, incredible.  Authentic Italian food is not famous for nothing; however, it is quite expensive!  I had many good meals in Italy; the first night, in Rome, I had a delicious pasta e. fagioli whose taste was dampened by its ridiculous price.  The second day in Italy, also in Rome, my friend and I spent hours looking for an open restaurant at 3 PM until we located a pub serving antipasti.  We noticed their 'snacks' section of the menu and immediately gravitated to it, ordering a bruschetta sampler (Jill) and crostini with prosciutto and mozzarella (me).  Jill's bruschetta was impeccable, and the most notable was the piece that included olive tapenade (always a favorite).  Mine was also amazing, and it had been exactly what I had been craving at that time.  Italian mozzarella is really quite special, and I left that restaurant fully satisfied. 

The next night in Italy, this time in the port city of Civitavecchia, we settled into a restaurant on the beach to order some classic Italian dishes.  I could not make an adequate decision, and so our waiter opted to make it for me.  He brought me a plate with a giant chunk of parmesan on it accompanied by sliced apples and pears.  I have a significant fondness for both fruit and cheese and was floored with happiness when served this 'meal.'  The waiter proceeded to tell me that authentic Italian parmesan has more protein than meat in it and that I was getting my entire day's worth.  As a non-beef eater, I was unable to try the tortellini with beef sauce and pepperoni pizza ordered by my dinner comrades, however both were raved about.  Other Italian meal notables include: the five-euro salami and mozzarella sandwiches in Capri (where NOTHING is five euro), the half a cantaloupe and Italian beer I ate alone on the beach in Civitavecchia (infinitely superior to mediocre American cantaloupe), and the July fourth dinner spent in Capri (perhaps it was the wine that made the food taste good, but three months later I will not discriminate).

Croatia was the land of surprises, and the amazing food served there was no exception.  The following excerpts describe several of my experiences:

"We found this fantastic restaurant (the first place we spotted) and I had lentil soup and we shared a cheese plate. We each had a beer and she had something I cannot remember...and our bill was just thirty-two dollars."

"We stopped at a relatively expensive place, where I ordered a mozzarella salad and shrimp risotto, but the salad was overpriced and the risotto was al dente, which is not my preference.  Steph and Jill liked their dinners very much, however, and thought the prices worth it."

We also had a delicious pizza meal one night out in Dubrovnik's Old City.  The pizza in Croatia is quite comparable to that of Italy's, and I heard from my friends for weeks about how the pizza we had in Croatia was the best they have ever had.

However, the most delicious single item of food that I ate in Croatia was on the island of Lokrum, right off the coast of Dubrovnik.  There is one restaurant, and upon entering (a relative term, as the restaurant was all outdoors) we marveled at a fresh fruit salad being made for someone else in front of us.  We vowed to return, and did so after cliff jumping for three hours.  Nothing, and I absolutely mean this, could have been more satisfying than that fruit salad.  It consisted of freshly cut peaches, apples, kiwis, pineapples, and pears piled atop one another with a scoop of incredibly delicious vanilla gelato and embellished with whipped cream and strawberry sauce.  I sitll fantasize about this fruit salad, because it was, genuinely, so much more than that.  We also ordered a corn and bean salad, and although it was very good, paled in comparison to the concoction we had in front of us (we each had our own).  The peacocks wandering freely through the restaurant also did not hurt the experience.

Next was Greece, where two meal-moments stick out in my mind.  The second day I spent in Greece, I spent on the beach with two friends of mine.  After three hours of sun that would turn into a burn, we settled into a beachside restaurant for an exhausted meal.  Although the french fries and red-pepper hummus I ordered made a simple lunch, it made an incredibly effective one.  Tom and Brady consistently dug into my meal, although each had a full gyro plate in front of them.  Greece has the best french fries in the world, and I say that with conviction; the spicy red pepper hummus was the perfect dip for the perfect french fry, and I remember it fondly.

On the third day, Steph and I went to diner at some side cafe on the street next to our port.  We expected little, but what I received was amazing.  We first ordered a large block of feta as an appetizer.  We piled salt, pepper, and olive oil on top and enjoyed it with a fork and french fries.  I saw sausages hanging in the window, and requested a meal including two of them.  Placed in front of me was two gigantic sausages, sliced open longways over a bed of french fries, served with hummus, pita, and Greek yogurt (see above).  I could only finish one sausage, but I certainly cleared the rest of the plate.  It was one of the most satisfying meals I had the entire summer.

Turkey also had incredible food: comparable to Greece in content, though it differed in quality.  The french fries in Turkey were not very good, but the meat was incredible.  We went to a hookah bar in Istanbul the first night, and along with our apple hookah and tea, ordered a sampler appetizer plate, french fries, and hummus.  The result was very, very good, but I still have absolutely no idea what was on the plate and what I ate.  When paired with bread, everything on the plate was fantastic (though I avoided anything that looked like beef or onion).

For lunch the next day, we stopped by a hole-in-the-wall joint next to the tram after receiving a tip about the delicious sandwiches there.  The three girls I was with each ordered said sandwiches, but I opted for a "kabob," which in Turkey is simply shredded chicken atop a bed of rice.  Mine was served with french fries and brightly colored peppers, and I had forks all over my plate from the other girls, dissatisfied with their carrot, lettuce, and sparse chicken sandwiches.  The entire meal, including the diet coke, was two dollars.  I went back the next day.

In Bulgaria, the food was much better than expected.  Sushi is surprisingly popular there, and we visited a particular sushi restaurant that had its own private beach for its patrons to enjoy.  After spending several hours on the cabana beds tanning, my friends and I sat down to order.  The sushi menu is short and sweet, and I ordered a simple salmon maki with avocado maki.  Notably, the seaweed in Bulgaria is actually quite good, compared the chewy American seaweed that I refuse to eat.  We also ordered a side of white cheese fries (very good in Bulgaria; comparable to Greece) and a fruit salad for dessert.  Like Croatia's, Bulgaria's fruit salad was rather epic, and included three different flavors of gelato and was twice the size of the Lokrum island jewel.

Steph and I had another excellent Bulgarian meal in a ship-shaped restaurant.  We boarded and headed for the top floor, settling in for a delicious Bulgarian cheese plate followed by spicy chicken for me (Steph is not a fan of spicy).  As a devoted cheese fan, I was delighted with the enormous plate we were served (see below).  We were also given little toasts as well as three additional dipping sauces and free tapenade to enjoy it all with.  We enjoyed Bulgarian feta, goat cheese, and another kind (the names weren't listed, but flavor speaks louder than labels) with the tapenade and toasts and I most certainly did not need the chicken I was given afterwards.

Egypt was slightly disappointing; I was on a trip for most of the time and the food on the trip was not anything to speak of; I can thank Semester at Sea for that.

So, moving on to Morocco.  I was also on a trip in Morocco, and Semester at Sea once again disappointed me.  The first day, however, as I was wandering the streets of Casablanca, I came across these tasty little demons:

I'm not entirely sure how to spell it, but they are called what is pronounced like "bee-knee."  Or Beanie.  Or Bini.  Spelling aside, they were absolutely some of the most incredible tasting delights I have ever tried.  They are round, fried doughs sliced open longways; honey is then spread inside them and the entire concoction is dipped in sugar.  They even let me make one myself, but it didn't work out very well (it was harder than it looked).

We did have one rather fabulous meal while on our trip, however.  Right outside of Marrakesh, we ate at a very beautiful--and empty--traditional Moroccan restaurant.  The following exerpt describes it rather well:

"We enjoyed a Moroccan salad first: white rice, white beans, lentils, peppers, potatoes, chutney, and spicy sauce, yum. It was a giant plate placed in the center of our table, from which all eight of us took spoonfuls of the ingredients we wanted. I piled lentils, white beans, and spicy sauce on my bread and filled myself up before our second course, which was also incredibly delicious. We were served a plate with two different types of fried treats: triangular pastries filled with beef, and little rolls of cream cheese in a flaky crust; all was piping hot. I enjoyed my cream cheese rolls while the others devoured the meat triangles. Our final course was again family-style: a giant bowl-plate filled with cous cous, vegetables, and beef (they had chicken made especially for me, but I was far too full and gave most of it away). We finished with watermelon, which was the lowest point in my meal only because I am not a fan of the seedy fruit."

I have no idea how I LOST weight on this trip!  As you can tell, I had some incredibly amazing and fabulous food.