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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask you what your most unusual/unexpected overseas food experiences are

153 replies

Bunnyfuller · 30/07/2017 09:21

I mean as in you order something, and the interpretation of it is so vastly different to expectations...

Sometimes this might be from fucking picky kids unrealistic ordering or just from a local idea that this is what people from your country eat.

My two favourites - a portion of fries on a side plate with a useful portion of cold tinned peas. And a full roast dinner. Pre cooked and straight out of the fridge (not reheated at all). The latter was put on for an official dinner, spectacular. Luckily there was lots of booze and some divine doughnut-y things I completely gorged myself on had a couple of for pudding.

OP posts:
JustCallMeKate · 30/07/2017 14:17

Hard boiled eggs in Vietnam - when cracked open, they had nearly fully developed chicks inside

I had this in Malaysia but it was a little duck inside. I never ate for the last few days we were there because of the thought of it.

StealthPolarBear · 30/07/2017 14:18

Love this thread

honeylulu · 30/07/2017 14:34

Lambs brains. Ordered by mistake on a work trip (posh restaurant on La Croisette in Cannes) so I kind of had to eat it to saved face. It was really quite nice though I had to shut my eyes - it looked all grey and swirly, like, well, a brain I suppose.

Also in Hawaii most of the food is fab, lots of fresh fish, amazing puddings etc. But they absolutely love Spam and if you're not careful it turns up in all sorts of things like Ramen, Thai dishes and as a side to American pancakes! I will eat almost anything but I don't like Spam! As the Monty Python sketch goes...

LockedOutOfMN · 30/07/2017 14:38

In Buda, we had chicken breasts with "seasonal vegetables" (it was early May) which turned out to be a huge pile of asparagus (a mound about the size of half a football on each person's plate) with an equally sized huge heap of grilled, whole strawberries. It was delicious and we devoured the lot.

Iseesheep · 30/07/2017 14:41

A buffet in Ethiopia where I was presented with a lump of beef on a plate that would feed a family of 10, whole, raw and carved fresh from the carcas in front of me. With no knife to 'deal' with it. The smell was horrendous.

Alpies · 30/07/2017 14:45

Eating bats in Seychelles!

Tigerlovingall · 30/07/2017 14:49

In North Carolina...we had a w/end right up in the north at Ashville, found it on Tripadvisor, hotel famed for its breakfast, what could possibly go wrong?

Fixed 3 course....1st course, large rosy red Canadian snow Apple, one of those if you micro it it turns into white tasteless mush? Anyway, it was cored, stuffed with raisins and maple syrup and cinnamon then covered with sugar crystals, on a bed of cinnamon maple sugar, finished with sugar crystals sprinkled over. And basil leaves for colour, texture and that bit of essential 'veg'.
2nd course, bacon and eggs. YAYY! Bacon honey roasted, honey soaked + you've guessed it, drizzled with a maple syrup and sprinkled over with sugar crystals. Eggs(2), Christ knows! And thankfully I can't remember.
Third course we declined...
BUT the coffee was good and the (large) servers SO helpful.

Quick trip back to our room, frantic scrubbing of our teeth, swigging of mouthwash, check out, then off to THE loveliest Lebanese place for proper food.

LinoleumBlownapart · 30/07/2017 14:54

Desserts/sweets in Brazil never hit the mark, not sure what it is that they lack, too sweet, not sweet, not sure what. But there is one exception that is pure heaven- passion fruit mouse or lemon mouse, it's not really mouse, more like creamy heaven. It was a pleasant suprise. I would kill for it Grin

glitterglitters · 30/07/2017 14:57

When we visit quite touristy places and order something local or native to the region, and being English it comes with microwaved veg and chips as standard lol

glitterglitters · 30/07/2017 15:00

Oh and a pizza restaurant in Bangkok that was run by an Italian (he had white trousers so he definitely was Italian) but having had a lot of Japanese and Asian clients they had some weird pizzas.

The weirdest was called something like "Bridge of Sighs" which was a pizza with a cocktail stick, prosciutto and mortadella bridge,topped with Gorgonzola and apple.

Hmm
Original poster
Bunnyfuller · 30/07/2017 15:01

Lol at the super sweet food. I used to work with some Americans, shift work, and tasted some of their NC meals....not a fan, grits boak!

One of them was called Randy Shaver. Made the 3 in the morning porn name game a bit redundant.

OP posts:
spacefrog35 · 30/07/2017 15:04

A beautiful fruit salad, with a rich toffee sauce & octopus tentacles Confused

PearlyPinkNails · 30/07/2017 15:19

In Morocco DD ordered beef stew and received a cows ankle in a bowl of plain warm water.

Tomato' salad in Austria was half a lettice, not chopped, literally half of a lettuce with two who!e tomatoes.

In Greece we let out host order for us and our starter was three who!e sparrows in a pale brown sauce.

Tigerlovingall · 30/07/2017 15:32

YAYY! High fivesbunny

True, their overload sugar rush food is something else. Have swerved grits tho. Glory be! Grin

Anyway, now awaiting my taxi en route to n.c. And the family....tea bags, marmite and salmon and shrimp paste (for the cat! Will take any pill atorl for S&S paste Grin,

Original poster
Bunnyfuller · 30/07/2017 16:48

Lol Tiger give em all a big y'all hi from me :-)

OP posts:
Tobebythesea · 30/07/2017 17:10

We went to the same restaurant in Hungry two nights running as we had enjoyed the meal the first time so much. Had a lovely berry strudel the first night so I recommended it to a family member. They got cabbage strudel Hmm

Tissunnyupnorth · 30/07/2017 17:15

Holiday in Normandy. Never realised Dover some is actually Normandy sole in France! Logical but still tickled us.

Tissunnyupnorth · 30/07/2017 17:15

Dover sole that should be!

Cagliostro · 30/07/2017 17:19

Set menu in Spanish hotel restaurant. Given a little sorbet as a palate cleanser between starter and main.

It was thyme flavoured sorbet.

Rednailsandnaeknickers · 30/07/2017 17:21

@lamado yep "latte" is Italian for milk. So they were correct.

If you want what we in the U.K. call a latte you need to ask for caffe latte, milky coffee but it's only for kids and students, most adults mainline espresso

LunaLovegoodsWand · 30/07/2017 17:29

honeylulu Also in Hawaii most of the food is fab, lots of fresh fish, amazing puddings etc. But they absolutely love Spam

Grin Love this. How has this love of Spam come about?!

In India I ordered a freshly sqeezed lemon juice from a streetside stall - lovely and refreshing in the heat. Took a large swig and immediately spat it everywhere as it was full of salt. Was quite embarassed as that seemed really offensive (and immediately bought another without salt!)
Not me, but someone I was having breakfast with in Indonesia ordered porridge "with two boiled eggs". The boiled eggs, naturally, arrived peeled and floating in the porridge...

Also, not quite the same thing but when I was in Cambodia there was a local (?) urban myth that if you ate mangosteen with sugar, you would die. Boyfriend at the time decided to prove it was fine - ate a mangosteen and reached for the sugar bowl - and the family went mad, shouting, jumping on him to prise the sugar out of his hands, hiding the other sugar bowls. He did it in the end (and lived to tell the tale) but I was a bit worried myself by that point! It just seemed so bizarre that this urban myth would come about.

AgentCooper · 30/07/2017 17:32

Zuppa inglese is an easy (but comedy gold) mistake to make tiger Grin

DSis bought a can of what she thought was some sort of 7-up type drink in Chinatown in London. It was flat green tea and she spat it out all over the street.

In Andalusia, me and DH ordered a house specialty of fried aubergine as a snack. When it came out it was a massive, massive mound of deep fried aubergine in batter and the batter had obviously been used recently for frying fish. It was nasty.

And when I went to Egypt with my family when I was about 10 me and DSis asked for fruit juice, got what looked like a pale Ribena, and it was hibiscus juice. Which I'm sure was probably quite nice and I wouldn't mind trying it now but as a child....naw.

walkingtheline · 30/07/2017 17:35

Ordered a 'Canarian salad' in Lanzarote - was a fruit salad. Equally perturbed by Canarian potatoes, which turned out to simply be wrinkly new potatoes. (The sauce was good though!)

Rednailsandnaeknickers · 30/07/2017 17:41

At an event in Australia, one of the main course options was a thai style green curry. Yum thinks I, and tucks in. Turns out Skippy the kangaroo is rather delicious in a curry.

In Rome, DS went up to the cafe counter, looked at the freezer and ordered what he thought was mint choc chip ice cream. Turned out to be pistachio. He wasn't keen so I had it and it was absolutely gorgeous, best ice cream ever.

SealSong · 30/07/2017 18:05

In a Malaysian food night market, skewers of barbecued chicken butts. Chicken butts, the chewy gelatinous bits just above their arse holes. Flavour was lovely, texture not so much (grim).