Overseas / foreign food you miss?

[ClawsandEffect]

I salivate at the thought of Yang's Dumplings in China. Fried and crispy on the bottom. Filled with either pork and onion OR prawns, with a little soup in them too. Topped with sesame seeds.

Also xiao long bao, steamed soup dumplings.

OMG. My mouth is watering at the thought and it is YEARS since I've had them.

German food mostly - proper wiener schnitzel, jagerschnitzel, spatzle, oh, and the cakes of course.

A good soupe de poisson from the Côte d’Azur

Very specific but NikNaks crisps/chips from South Africa. They used to be imported to the UK but then there was a copyright issue with UK Nik Naks which aren’t the same thing. And I think their import is now banned altogether along with other Simba products because of all the lovely E numbers etc.

You occasionally get a few packets available at an online store but they are hard to find.

I miss my fingers being stained bright orange for two days after eating a handful.

I know the one you are talking about "xiao yang sheng jian", I love it too, I visit family in Nanjing every year and I will be able to have it again in August, yum!

we used to get the most amazing Filipina beef stew from a tiny little restaurant with special fried rice. Mostly at the weekends on th away back from the beach so we’d all be very hungry. This was a good 15 years ago in Muscat and it was about £1.50 ppn. Since moving back I have never found similar.

also proper shawarma with proper tahini. They do do some on the Edgware Road but it’s not quite the same ambience!

I am so jealous! OMG they are so good.

I didn't know there was an import issue with NikNaks.

But I agree with you, they are the best and the most moreish chips out there.

Only the original though. They brought out some new monstrosies in the form of Chutney flavour, and also now Kota flavour. So wrong.

I'll eat a bag of these in exchange for you having a steak tinned pie for me 😂

I am ready to try post you a tinned steak pie! What could go wrong

We used to be able to get them once upon a time, and then also some ruling came into play that no beef products were allowed in.

So no beef Oxo cubes, but can get the vegetable ones.

But we can get Bisto beef gravy granuals, so from that I have to assume, there is no beef anything in there.

Can you substitute NikNaks with Flings? Equally moreish.

Wow, never knew!

Flings are pretty good. And there’s a new something or other Crunchy version which is Nik Nak-like but missing something E numbers .

Proper ripe fruit that tastes of something!

@isthismylifenowyep, they are vegetarian, no beef involved!

I have never read the label or put an awful lot of thought into it, but this makes sense as to why we can get it. My mind is pondering a lot of why's right now.

I am not vegetarian, but if I were I am not sure I would want to buy something that was sold as beef flavoured.

But then again, gravy matters!

african Fanta. It’s liquid gold

I've moved around over the years, so I now miss things from 3 countries

A little pie called a tielle - only really found in one small town in France - Sete.

It is a flat, soft pastry pie filled with a mildly spicy tomato and octopus stew. It is delicious. I assume they do not travel well as I havs never seen them anywhere else.

They are sold everywhere in Sete. There is nothing better than going for a swim in the sea, walking back to the town and buying a fresh warm tielle and wolfing it in down in street with a bottle of cold Orangina.

I am popping up here again. 😀

I bought Fanta when I was in the UK, and I am sorry, but what is that?? 😂
It was hardly even orangey.

I am very partial to cold original Fanta on a hot day, but every now and then I go all out and get the grape flavour.

Beetroot soup and cabbage and mushroom pancakes from Poland.

Those little ricotta stuffed doughnuts from Italy.

Real Italian pasta. Not keen on the dried stuff in the uk, don’t really eat it, but cannelloni in Rome just melts in your mouth.

I do wish I could get the proper Nederlands pinda saus.

I tried to make it once, but we don't seem to get the magic ingredient of Ketjap.
It did not taste like pinda saus, just more of a runny peanut butter.

Food in Sydney was great - the full range of Asian food done well - Korean, Malaysian, yum cha, sushi as well as really good seafood, excellent coffee. I loved the choice available so easily.

UAE - flatbreads

Thailand - Massaman curry

South Africa - Malva pudding

My diet of dreams 😂

Bacalhau (salt cod). I'm from Portugal and it's our national food. We say 'there's 365 ways to prepare bacalhau, one for each day of the year'!

It's just such a versatile staple, and keeps well. My fave is bacalhau baked with chickpeas, onions & potatoes.

Proper poutine. There was a Canadian guy (usually hungover 😂) who had a poutine stall on Sundays on Brick Lane but he seems to have disappeared. So now no proper poutine unless I go to Canada. 😥 You can get most things in London (including decent xiao long bao) if you know where to go but sadly poutine is missing.

Lays Oregano crisps , have only ever seen them in Greece and they are really really good.. Also Greek cherries and apricots we use to go to a place on the Greek mainland every year at this time of year where they had local orchards and we'd buy them in the local market. They were so cheap ( cherries 1€ a kilo !) and delicious.. I am always horrified of the price of them in the UK and although cherries are good the apricots never are ...