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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:
Tanith · 31/07/2017 22:25

My friend and I, as teenagers, went on a day trip to Belgium with a very early start. Once the cafés had opened, we settled down in one that promised a "full English breakfast".

It turned out to be a bacon and sausage omelette - the eggs of which were so lightly cooked and runny they were virtually raw.

My first lesson that it's generally better to choose local dishes, not their interpretation of favourites from home.

WarwickAlice · 31/07/2017 22:47

Oh god, this just reminded me of the worst food experience of my life. Shudders. We were in Myanmar (Burma) and ordered some pork from the menu of a lovely looking restaurant. When the 'pork' arrived, it turned out to be a giant, wok-sized pan of offal on skewers with a gas hob underneath. We got the waiter to take that away then ordered something else. It got no better! I thought I ordered a stir fry but I actually got cold meat stuff that was all jelly, skin and gristle with no meat, and my dh got a pile of sinewy chicken bones with no flesh on them. Worst experience ever!

lastqueenofscotland · 31/07/2017 22:57

I'd out myself with one of the funnier ones as it's turned into a family story we tell everyone.

Had a few disasters when I lived in china. Confused

Narnia72 · 31/07/2017 23:18

On tour with orchestras I've been entertained by the hosts and served a variety of local delicacies, which we've had to sample to be polite. One on the worst was in Kazakhstan, we were served some kind of sausage. Bit into it., it was vile. I asked the host what it was and was told proudly stuffed horse's rectum. Apparently I turned green. I then had to run round the rest of the orchestra letting them know what it was. Several were sick. Grim.

Fishwiife · 01/08/2017 08:38

I was served "the mouth of the water mouse" in Kiev... that is in fact a beaver... it looked like the pink bit on a set of dentures but long and fatty.

Best mate reckoned she never thought I would eat beaver... I didn't

WouldRatherHaveWine · 01/08/2017 09:24

Prawn toast in londons china town, served with strawberry yogurt

Rabbit in Greece- came roasted and whole on a huge plate, complete with toenails

Exs DMs roast beef. I swear that shit was a slice of welly boot

crabwoman · 01/08/2017 16:05

My DSF was on a business trip to an industrial town in china.
He was taken to a the best local restaurant by his host. When they arrived they were taken into a stinking courtyard with dozens on animals lined up and tanks full of fish.

They were then instructed to pick an animal to be killed and cooked for them!!

DSF picked something he hoped might be like seabass, and his business partner picked some sort of bird.

DSF is half Chinese and used to slightly more unusual foodstuffs, but even he was Confused
His fish was oily and muddy like carp, and the bird was very 'Gamey'!

youlittlecharmer · 01/08/2017 16:53

love this thread!

tiny cafe on formantera - ordered latte, got cup of frothy warm milk. thankfully could top it up from DH's americano.

rome - friend spent a long time trying to order pizza and chips - ended up with a margherita pizza topped with chipped potatoes Grin

recently on honeymoon in croatia - ordered ham and cheese tortellini in nice italian restaurant and was served very dry supermarket-style pasta shells in a thick cream sauce full of diced spam. very odd.

cambodianfoxhound · 02/08/2017 06:52

One I love, if you order lime soda in pretty much any part of Asia, you are served with fresh lime soda as standard. They keep big jugs of freshly squeezed lime juice and then mix with soda water and give you a little side jug of sugar water to sweeten it to your taste. So refreshing in the heat, I always struggle to find this outside of Asia. In other places it tends to be lime cordial or just the odd slice of lime in soda water.

Cantseethewoods · 02/08/2017 07:30

Spain: Ordered white wine -vino Blanco. Got pronunciation wrong. Got Sherry ( Fino). This happened a lot. I just thought Spanish white wine wasn't very nice Grin

Jux · 08/08/2017 13:58

I love squid and octopus, so ordered a seafood salad in Malta - I got exactly what I expected and it was delicious. Meanwhile, ddd expressed interest in the tentacles so tried one and loved them too .

DH however had been typically squeamish, shuddering everytime I put something in my mouth. However, when dd pronounced it delicious, he girded his loins and tried a bit of octopus, tentacle and suckers and all. Lo! He loved it too.

Thereafter, both dh and dd picking at my salad and I got very little of it (their meals were pretty yummy too so I had some of each of theirs, luckily).

The most extraordinary thing was that dh ate both squid and octopus.

MorrisZapp · 08/08/2017 14:08

Pub lunch in small town near Edinburgh. List of baked potato fillings included 'chicken and bacon'.

It was a baked potato, split, with a fried rasher and a chunk of dry chicken breast sitting on it.

justilou1 · 08/08/2017 14:18

Pineapple and sauerkraut salad. Envy

hellokittymania · 08/08/2017 14:20

Since the UK is a bit of a foreign place to me, can I just add that I still can't remember the difference between minced meat and mincemeat. Which one is the meats and which One isn't?

Mince pie or minced pie really confuse me. I thought it was the pie filled with meat.

And yes to the person mentioning carrot cake in Singapore. I wasn't expecting what I was given.

tiredbutFINE · 08/08/2017 14:27

Tourist trap in Edinburgh- garlic bread. One slice of thin white sliced loaf, toasted by leaving near a lamp so that it had not actually browned, with garlic marg, cut in two triangles. We left.
Veg pizza in India - frozen pizza base with sauce, uncooked carrot and broccoli with cheese melted on top. In my defence I had a dodgy tum and wanted "plain" food.
The Greeks have got it nailed with chip omelettes though. After a week on a school trip as vegetarians we were treated to fish (nope) plain boiled spaghetti with fresh cabbage, ham pizza (nope) plain boiled green beans, and finally the food of the gods- chips IN an omelette. For a country where the main religion advocates 40 days of lent following a vegan diet they were very lacking on non-meat or fish ideas.

LapinR0se · 08/08/2017 14:34

I'd love to know what visitors to England class as very odd food!

YetAnotherSpartacus · 08/08/2017 15:13

AgentCooper 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

Oh what a shame! It's meant to be like aubergine tempura and eaten with local honey. It's divine if done properly.

LightDrizzle · 08/08/2017 15:16

Our Spanish au-pair from Andalusia took a while to get used to the way we serve serve meat or fish , veg and sauce or gravy all on the same plate. I think veg is often ordered as a side dish or much more parsimoniously served.
We managed to turn her though, and sent her back to Spain a firm gravy advocate and devotee of English Sunday roasts.
A funny thing was her mum made her pack a huge bottle of olive oil to use. She assumed we didn't have or use it here and would force feed her daughter with food fried in lard.

catbasilio · 08/08/2017 16:08

My worst experience was in China town in London some 13 years ago. Was busy chatting with friends, didn't pay much attention to the menu and ordered something that said "chicken" on the menu...
What I got was boiled chicken feet with claws in broth Shock
I nearly screamed to take it away from the table (I shouted "I will pay! I will pay! just take it away!!!) Didn't help that both my friends at the table were vegetarians.

AgentCooper · 08/08/2017 19:51

Spartacus, that's what we'd heard and were excited to try it because we both really like aubergine and honey. But Jesus, the fishy batter. DH went white after a few mouthfuls and headed for the lavvy - the heat didn't help though!

UtterlyFcked · 08/08/2017 20:05

Sea urchin. I have no idea what I thought I was going to receive, but as you sensible people might expect, it looked and tasted like a sponge of the sea. Vile Blush

A chef friend is a vegitarian, so I asked for "vegetarian surprise". He presented me with a bacon sandwich. It was indeed a surprise.

Ifitquackslikeaduck · 08/08/2017 20:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

budgiegirl · 08/08/2017 21:35

Many years ago, in Romania, I ordered a green salad. I was presented with a bowl of vegetable oil, about 2 inches deep, with three very dark , oil soaked green leaves which had sunk to the bottom of the bowl.

Thenorthbloodywellremembers · 08/08/2017 21:48

I've had lots of interesting food around the world but the most odd was in a very smart private members club in London - a fruit salad topped with a black olive Hmm

Welshwabbit · 08/08/2017 22:41

I am not an adventurous eater but have also fallen into the andouillette trap. My husband, however, eats anything. In Japan he had horse sushi (which he said was nice) and black sesame ice cream (disgusting, apparently).