What's the nicest thing you've ever eaten in a restaurant? And been searching for ever since?

[catinboots123]

Mine was battered zucchini flowers, in Rome about 20 years ago.

Also snow crab on a boat trip in Florida also about 20 years ago.

Never been able to find anything similar to either.

I love courgette flowers. My dad grows them because you can’t buy them here.

Cooked (?baked) leek with some sort of vinaigrette dressing. Paris, 1980s.

My attempts to recreate it have been ... unconvincing.

Toffee bananas at a Chinese in York, about 30 years ago. Tried to make them, ordered them in other places, been back to York since to try to find the place, all to no avail.

Stuffed tomatoes, in Athens. It's not even easy to find a recipe to make your own (always peppers, sigh). I did eventually find a recipe but mine didn't come out anything like as nice as I remember. Never seen them in Greek restaurants here either.

Deep fried crispy aubergine from this Malaysian restaurant I used to go to in London. Salty and spicy. Cannot even find anything similar on google or other Malay menus and the restaurant closed suddenly years ago.

Peanut butter cheesecake with banana ice cream. A match made in heaven, who knew?

Baked Alaska in a hotel in Amsterdam. It tasted like I always imagined something so exotic should taste. All others before and since have been basically arctic roll.

Chicken tarragon in Paris, 1997. Random restaurant we stumbled on and would never find again. I've ordered it since but it's never lived up to it!

Where do you live? Stuffed courgette flowers are pretty common on a lot of menus where I am. Very easy to make yourself too. I’m a competent cook and can recreate most things I have liked at a restaurant, but for me you can’t recreate that atmosphere. Sitting on a terrace on the Amalfi coast in the evening sun, with a chilled white wine, fat green olives, a selection of seafood is heaven. Same with a refreshing Ti’punch in the Caribbean and some salt cod fritters. Or a lobster roll in Maine. I could recreate them, but doesn’t really taste the same in North London!

Massaman beef curry on a beach in Ko Tao Thailand 12 years ago. Have made it myself and tried in loads of restaurants since but never quite as good- think sitting with sand between toes helped a lot

Citronella Squid, restaurant in Viet Nam.

Kedgeree at a seafood restaurant in craster Northumberland. It was about 5 years ago and I've been itching to go back......

Tempura tuna steak in a restaurant in Adelaide. It was a really thick tuna steak so still mostly raw in the middle, and so tasty. It came with a wasabi sauce on the side. I've never bothered looking for it since as it would be a futile hope.

A lot of the dishes from Champor-Champor. I used to love that restaurant when we lived in London. Again they were too individual to find again anywhere else and changed frequently so you couldn't even have the same thing again at the same restaurant.

Fresh pesto in Crete. Flight was really delayed and we didn’t get in till gone 11 so the little cafe across from the hotel made us food. I smelled of garlic for days but it was the nicest thing I’ve ever eaten

Oo brilliant thread! Mine was 30 years ago in West Hampstead. I can’t remember the meat but it was very very soft and the sauce was amazing. I think it was this and I’ll treck up there now I’ve remembered it.
Traditional Braised Beef – “Svíčková”
Marinated braised beef, spice & creamy root vegetable sauce, bread dumplings

Tobacco onions in Derry. I've made my own but they are never as good

I had an amazing veggie burger in steak restaurant in Montreal (no idea why, I love steak!). It was delicious, partly because of the slice of smoked feta cheese on it. I've been searching for smoked feta ever since.

DH and I used to go to a restaurant in Soho that did the most amazing seafood ravioli.

The chef moved on a few years ago, and took his ravioli with him. I've been trying to track him down ever since.

Artichoke risotto at a restaurant in the Jewish ghetto in Rome; never had a risotto that was just so perfect.

The house salad at my local Japanese now sadly closed. It was lots of ribboned cucumber, sashimi and roe all dressed in a delicious mayonnaise vinegar type dressing.

Ooh orange chicken in Philadelphia. DH had it and I just had a taste. Mmm.

Got to a fancy Riad in Marrakesh much later than expected and forgot I’d ordered dinner. We didn’t want to eat so late but the manager was adamant we’d eat at the restaurant.

My god the lamb tagine was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. We didn’t bother eating out after that, the food was divine.

Tried making it and ordered here at restaurants but nothing can compare.

And vodka pasta in a tiny unlabeled restaurant in Rome, tucked away behind an anonymous bead curtain to the street. We tried to find it again but never could.

Really simple, but garlic mushrooms on toast in a hotel on the Isle of Wight. I've tried it in other places and making it myself, but I've never found anything that came close. It was divine.