Hubs sent me this YouTube video and tells me that things like Brazilian pizza also exist. So anyone more traveled than me, have you ever had anything particularly interesting?

Edit: It’s also interesting to me how English adjective order affects this. The video is, for instance, describing Indian Chinese food, not Chinese Indian food. I’m sure other languages have something similar.

  • iltoroargento@startrek.website
    6·
    3 days ago

    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.

    • Cherry@piefed.socialEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      Singapore is streets above London. I love that for any price point $10/50/200 you can get a fantastic meal from a great range of cuisines.

      Personal fav was the Malay. Disappointment the Chinese HotPot. Surprise contender the Indian drink range…so nice in the heat. Best local was the Teh. It was amazing.

      • iltoroargento@startrek.website
        1·
        2 days ago

        I totally agree lol. Never been anywhere else like it. I’m surprised the hot pot let you down though. The only places I felt were middling were in Orchard Center.

      • iltoroargento@startrek.website
        3·
        2 days ago

        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”

        • Cherry@piefed.socialEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          Yeh London and Singapore. Have a similar thing going on. I also feel both have lot of average mid level capitalist places. They do each have the odd goodie spots. I used to love Camden but it’s become all about the insta post fire. Love all the stalls about SanFran.

        • SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          4·
          2 days ago

          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

          • iltoroargento@startrek.website
            3·
            2 days ago

            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).

            • SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone
              3·
              2 days ago

              Yeah, the careful curation of everything put me off, over all … I’d rather stick with provincial but real, personally (she says while getting a tattoo in a Vietnamese alley)

              I’ve only passed through Shanghai - what’s it like?

              • iltoroargento@startrek.website
                3·
                2 days ago

                Agreed. Singapore felt like Disneyland. There’s a place for that experience and I can only take it in doses lol.

                I loved Shanghai. During that trip, we stuck mostly to the historical bits, which I was suuuuper fascinated by. We had a few days there and a few more in and around Beijing with some traveling in between.

                Foodwise, it was awesome, but all very traditional fare (which I never grew tired of and would definitely go back). We were on our own, though, so we didn’t have the luxury of local friends and their preferences. Definitely got gawked at a bit more than in Hong Kong, but everyone was super kind. A bit more businessy, I’d say.