Best in the World, Food, Travel

Best Meals in the World

A good meal is more than just a restaurant. In fact, a good meal doesn’t even have to take place in a restaurant. It could be a meal you’ve cooked in your own house to enjoy with friends and family. It could be a mystery dish you bought from a street vendor in Vietnam or a regional specialty in Singapore that tastes great no matter who made it. Or, in my story below, it could be a memorable experience of eating with a mobster on the beach in Thailand.

Below are six answers from some of the top travel bloggers in the world to the question “What’s the best meal in the world?”

Eating Dinner with a ex-Mobster on the Beach in Kamala Beach, Thailand – The Wandering Gourmand

Let me set the scene. My wife and I had just completed the 24 hour journey from the United States and arrived in Kamala Beach, a village on the island of Phuket. After scrubbing off the road dirt and catching a few Zs, a “friend of the family” offered to take us to dinner at his favorite restaurant in town – Poo Maa Beachside Restaurant.

Our “friend of the family” wasn’t quite what we were expecting. A tall, six foot something, Italian man with a limp arrived on a motor scooter to pick the two of us up. Hmm… the math didn’t add up. After brief introductions, he said that he’d take my wife to the restaurant first where his girlfriend was waiting and come back to pick me up. Off she went in her knee length, flowing brown dress and no helmet.

Best Meals in the World

Poo Maa Beachside Restaurant in Kamala Beach, Thailand

Ten minutes later he came back for me. I asked if we could stop by an ATM so I could access some bahts. On the way, he proceeded to tell me that he would be leaving Thailand soon as he owed a couple of million dollars on a real estate development gone bad. I assured him banks were willing to work with faulty loans in the current business climate. He then told me the money was owed to the Thai mafia. The scooter ride to the ATM just got uncomfortable.

Where did he drop off my wife again? Would a ransom be involved?

The restaurant he had chosen, Poo Maa, was an idyllic picture of paradise. It wasn’t just on the beach, our toes were actually in the sand. The kitchen was a tiny grass hut which was run by the owner’s wife. His daughter was our waitress, and the owner ran the bar. I feasted on the freshest, tastiest Thai food that has ever hit my taste buds. If I wasn’t so enthralled by the tales our “friend” was reliving about running sports books, getting pinched for an apartment full of illegal weapons and drugs, and getting deported from Barbados, I probably would have licked my plate of red chili prawns clean.

Poo Mass was hands down our best meal in Thailand. So good, that we actually returned the next day! But by ourselves without the threat of getting fed to the fishes… Poo Maa is located past White Orchid across the street on the beach.

Bryan runs The Wandering Gourmand travel blog and has traveled to five continents, 19 countries, and 70 cities over the past eight years, all while holding down a full-time job.  He also has a passion for exploring regional foods and drinking craft beer. He wants to help you travel, too. Click here for instant access to his free guide 8 Steps to Going on Your Dream Vacation.

Best Meals in the World

Poo Maa Beachside Restaurant in Kamala Beach, Thailand

Shan Soup in Myanmar (Burma) – A Little Adrift

Ranking up there as pretty much my death-bed choice of meals is tohu nway, a traditional Shan soup from Myanmar (Burma). The soup is usually served for breakfast, but you can sometimes find it later in the day—or if you’re me, you aim at hunting down three different preparations in one day. It’s creamy and hot with a bit of crunch and the perfect kick of chili. I don’t think I am over stating that it’s essentially happiness in a bowl.

Shannon O’Donnell is a long-term traveler on the road since 2008. She hunts down fascinating stories of people all over the world, loves sharing on Instagram, and was named a National Geographic Traveler of the Year in 2013 for her work promoting ethical travel and volunteering to students all over the world. 

Best Meals in the World

Shan Soup in Myanmar (Burma) – Photo Courtesy of A Little Adrift

 

Mystery Meal on Kagoshima Island, Japan – Everything-Everywhere

It was a set meal I had at a hotel on Kagoshima Island, Japan. I didn’t speak Japanese and no one there spoke English. I eventually got the point across that I wanted to eat and they brought out what was the best meal I’ve ever had. I still don’t know what many of the dishes are to this day.

Gary Arndt is an awarding winning travel photographer who has been traveling around the world non-stop since 2007. In 2010 Time Magazine named his blog, Everything Everywhere, one of the Top 25 Blogs on the Internet and it earned a Gold Medal in the Travel Blog category in the 2012 North American Travel Journalist Association (NATJA) awards.

Follow The Wandering Gourmand on Facebook for fun chatter on food, travel, and craft beer!

Rujak Cingur in Surabaya, Indonesia – The Travel Tart

‘What the?’ I hear you say? Yes, you read right.  Rujak Cingur is Cow’s Nose with Peanut Sauce. Here’s a picture of Rujak Cingur below when it arrives from the kitchen!

Best Meals in the World

Rujak Cingur in Surabaya, Indonesia- Photo Courtesy of The Travel Tart

In the spirit of continuing to try the local, and sometimes, odd specialties of each place I have visited in Indonesia (such as Tea with Egg, and Ice with Red Beans), I decided to try this bizarre food – even bizarre for me!

Rujak Cingur is a specialty dish of the East Java city of Surabaya, in Indonesia. Alderina from the local Surabaya blogging community, Tugupahlawan, introduced me to this fascinating meal!

The ingredients for the Rujak Cingur recipe are: sliced cow’s nose (including the cartilage), peanut sauce, shrimp paste, noodles, cucumber, tempe (a local ingredient consisting of fermented soybean cake), pineapple, and immature mango.

The nose meat is cooked in a pan with all of these ingredients, and the peanut sauce is added last to smothe the mix, which is probably not a bad thing!

In terms of how to eat this – basically, use your knife and spoon to load the mix into your mouth, and start munching away without trying to think of what you are eating!

I must admit, I found Rujak Cingur a bit hard to stomach.  You will know when you are eating the nose when you firstly chomp on the soft meat, and then on the crunchy cartilage bits! Crunchy and meaty at the same time! But overall, I was quite surprised again just how good this dish tasted.

You won’t know until you try it!

The Travel Tart writes about the funny, offbeat and weird aspects of world travel today. Travel wasn’t meant to be taken too seriously! Check his website or sign up for his silly newsletter!

Best Meals in the World

Singapore Chilli Crab in Singapore – Photo Courtesy of Travel Dave

Singapore Chili Crab in Singapore – Travel Dave

If you ever get the chance to visit Singapore, be sure to try chili crab, the nation’s favourite dish. Singaporeans head to the east coast, which is a short taxi ride from Marina Bay, around 5 minutes journey and will cost you under S$10 (around £5 can share with 4 people). You can buy chili crab at Clarke Quay but its very touristy and you can be charged a small fortune, investing in the taxi ride is worth it by a long shot. The East coast area of Singapore is surrounded by a costal beach front and can make a magical backdrop when the sun starts to set. Jumbo Sea Food is the local’s choice for the best chili crab in Singapore with fair prices and fast service. Chili crab is stir fried in a tasty sweet and savory tomato and chili based sauce. It may sounds spicy, but it’s rather subtle for its given name. Be sure to order a side of fried buns to dip into the yummy sauce at the end so nothing goes to waste. Enjoy wearing your novelty bib and eating chili crab on your next visit to Singapore!

For the past 10 years Dave studied, worked and travelled around the globe visiting 70+ countries.  He fell in love with Food on his travels whilst living the expat life in Singapore and writing a blog about offering helpful advice for backpackers on a budget. Can check out Dave over at www.traveldave.co.uk or on twitter at @traveldaveuk.

Best Meals in the World

Singapore Chilli Crab in Singapore – Photo Courtesy of Travel Dave

Pork Rissoles in Hanoi, Vietnam – No Ordinary Nomad

The meal that always comes to mind for me when I think of the best meal in the world is one that I experienced while honeymooning in Vietnam. I’ve tried several times to cook it myself at home, and at various Vietnamese restaurants since, but none has ever come close. My husband and I were walking through the Old Quarter of Hanoi soaking up the hustle and bustle of the tiny streets of Vietnam’s northern capital. All manner of delicious scents wafted our way, but one really caught my attention – a young Vietnamese woman was crouched over a tiny charcoal grill on the side of the street, barbecuing the most delicious smelling pork rissoles.

I quickly went over and asked her (with a lot of sign language and charades!) where we could eat some and she pointed to a small eatery across the road. We went over and of course there was no menu, so we just asked the ladies for one of whatever the lady across the road was cooking and were charged the princely sum of about $1.50 each.

We took a seat at one of the child sized plastic tables and chairs, and soon bowls of soup, fresh herbs, spring rolls and fresh vermicelli noodles arrived. Watching the locals eating around us, we soon worked out that we were meant to dip everything in the richly flavored fish sauce broth, which had the pork rissoles we had seen outside in its depths. The freshness of the herbs cut perfectly through the salty broth and the enhanced the delicious charcoal flavor of the pork patties.

Best Meals in the World

Pork Rissoles in Hanoi, Vietnam – Photo Courtesy of No Ordinary Nomad

Researching later, I worked out this dish was called bun cha which is a local Hanoi dish. So if you’re wandering through the Old Quarter and see a lady crouched over a charcoal grill, don’t walk past – make sure to go and taste some delicious bun cha!

Erin is a travel and adventure blogger who fell in love with Asia six years ago and has travelled every chance she gets since! She has canoed through limestone karsts in Phang Nga Bay, stayed with a local Indian family in Varanasi and watched the sun rise over Mt Everest from the summit of Kala Patthar. You can read about Erin’s adventures on her blog No Ordinary Nomad.

What’s Your Answer to the Best Meal in the World?