It’s a bit of a fool’s game to proclaim the 50 best foods in the world and where to eat them. But I think The Observer makes a good case. For one thing, they say the best places to get certain food like vegetarian curry or sushi are located in their countries of origin and in big cities. That’s not surprising to me. Also, the reviewers are people like Raymond Blanc and Michel Roux: they know their food. If Even if these are not the 50 best foods in the world and where to eat them, you could do alot worse than eat these foods in these places.
I was surprised that the best place for steak was El Carpicho, in Jimenez de Jamuz, Spain. But as they say:
Time magazine called it “the perfect steak”. American Vogue’s exacting food writer Jeffrey Steingarten said it was “probably the greatest steak I’ve ever eaten”. They were referring to an enormous chuletón taken from the central rib section of a 16-year-old Rubia Gallega ox, dry-aged for 90 days, and served in the cellar dining room of a rural bodega named El Capricho, near León in north-west Spain.
Certainly with all of that, it had better be fantastic!
I was not surprised but pleased to see that the best place to eat roast chicken is still L’Ami Louis in Paris.
This Paris fixture, open since 1924, is the ultimate French bistro. Heads of state (Clinton, Gorbachev) and cultural giants (Welles, Hemingway) have come here to feast on sumptuous roast chicken, served whole with matchstick pommes frites and a simple green salad. It’s touristy and expensive and the decor is a bit clichéd, but such details become trivial once the chicken (which inspired Simon Hopkinson to write his much-loved Roast Chicken and Other Stories) turns up at the table.
Sure it’s touristy, but I still aim to get there one day and after a day of fasting, do my utmost to devour one of those delicious chickens with lots of frites and mayo and a bottle of cold, crisp white wine.
(Found on Kottke).