From Eggslut to Tim Ho Wan: The 10 meals around the world that are (and aren't) worth queuing for

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From Eggslut to Tim Ho Wan: The 10 meals around the world that are (and aren't) worth queuing for

By Ben Groundwater
Updated
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There's a certain ridiculousness to queuing up for food. Why wait for hours at one restaurant when you could walk straight into another one just down the road?

However, as any true food lover will tell you, some places are worth the wait. At some restaurants, you'd patiently stand outside for hours in the snow or the rain or the cold night air just to taste their signature dish. You'd put up with whatever you had to for a sample of their cuisine.

For foodies who don't mind a queue, these are some of the world's finest restaurants that will always make you wait.

Eggslut, Los Angeles

Come on. You don't call yourself "Eggslut" unless you're looking for publicity, unless you're wanting to be known. And this Los Angeles institution is certainly known. It's not just the nudge-nudge-wink-wink name that draws the crowds, however. It's also the eggs. Specifically, it's a sandwich called the Fairfax, with its slab of creamy scrambled eggs topped with cheddar cheese, caramelised onions and sriracha mayonnaise on a warm brioche bun, that brings all the boys (and girls) to the yard. Prepare to queue.

Worth it? In a word, yes. You need this deliciousness in your life.

See also: The perfect breakfast with the offensive name

Lune Croissanterie, Melbourne

Though plenty of Melburnians seem philosophically opposed to the indignity of waiting in line for food, there are a few places that will get them queuing. One is the sporadic In-n-Out pop-up burger restaurants. Another is Chin-Chin, the pan-Asian juggernaut on Flinders Lane. And the last is Lune Croissanterie, the famed Fitzroy pastry shop outside which you'll find a queue of hungry croissant fans waiting from the wee hours on most mornings. Lune closes when it runs out of croissants – and it always runs out of croissants.

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Worth it? You know it.

Padella, London

For a cosmopolitan city positioned so close to mainland Europe, London has a curious dearth of great, affordable Italian restaurants. Enter Padella, a Borough Market eatery run by a couple of local English guys who truly love pasta, and who do it extremely well. So well, in fact, that there are queues around the block near Padella pretty much every night as patrons seek to get their hands and forks on one of the restaurant's six daily pasta dishes. Critics are raving; diners are raving. What's not to love?

Worth it? For good, affordable Italian food in London? Definitely.

Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle, Singapore

Singaporeans don't mind queuing for good food. You'll find interminably long lines outside plenty of the city-state's best restaurants, as well as near its favourite hawker stands. Not many of those lines, however, can matching the permanent snaking queue of salivating chicken-rice fans near Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle in the Chinatown hawker centre. The stand was always popular; however, since it won a coveted Michelin star in 2016, most patrons can expect around a two-hour wait for their food.

Worth it? There's plenty of great chicken-rice in Singapore. Maybe give this one a miss.

See also: Seven dishes you must try in Singapore

Franklin Barbecue, Austin

You want queues? Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas, has queues. It has queues before it opens every day. It has queues two or three hours long. It has queues of people who know full well that they may not even get fed, that the "sold out" sign might have gone up on the window by the time they make it to the front, but they're prepared to take that chance. The reason everyone is here is the spectacularly good Texan barbecue: slow-smoked brisket that will feature in diners' beefy dreams for years to come; succulent pulled pork; juicy sausages kissed by flame. Bon Appetit named this place "The Best BBQ Restaurant in America", and you can see why.

Worth it? Y'all better believe it.

See also: The top 10 must-try American foods

Da Enzo, Rome

This small trattoria, tucked away on a backstreet of Rome's Trastevere neighbourhood, doesn't look like much from the outside – but that's part of its charm. Da Enzo is a family-run eatery that does things right, using great ingredients and treating them with care to produce spectacularly good Roman cuisine. Though the restaurant takes bookings for its first seating at 7.30pm, beyond that, it's first-come, first-served, and the queues go well down the street most nights.

Worth it? Absolutely. Though try to book for the first seating.

See also: The 15 dishes every visitor must try in Italy

Rokurinsha, Tokyo

The sprawling Tokyo train station is home to plenty of restaurants, but perhaps the most popular are in "Ramen Street", a collection of eight ramen-noodle restaurants that each do a slightly different style of soup. The most popular – and, we can say after tireless research, the best – is Rokurinsha, which does "tsukumen" style ramen, where thick noodles are dipped in a rich pork-and-fish broth. It's absolutely delicious, and the locals are clued in: there's a long but very civilised queue at all hours of the day.

Worth it? Most definitely. Arrive early to avoid the bulk of the crowds.

Le Bouillon Chartier, Paris

This Parisian institution is legendary, not just for its food, but its popularity. There's sometimes a queue here to get in to the queue. The crowds come for the brasserie's Old-World allure, for Parisian charm at an affordable price, for the brasserie staples such as steak frites with a glass of bordeaux that won't set you back much more than the cost of entry to the Louvre. The downside is you'll be sharing the entire place with other tourists – oh, and you'll have to queue.

Worth it? If you have time to spare, yes. In a hurry? Skip it.

Ben's Chili Bowl, Washington DC

Since 1958, Ben's Chili Bowl has been doing what it says on the box: serving bowls of chili. And people have been loving it. You'll find everyone from local regulars to nosy tourists to big-time celebrities hanging out on any given day at this no-frills, family-run joint on U Street. Though Ben's serves hot dogs, and cheeseburgers, and even salad bowls (shudder), the queues out the front are for Ben's Famous Chili Half Smoke, a bowl of meaty goodness you won't soon forget.

Worth it? Yes – though to avoid the crowds, check out the restaurant's three alternate locations.

Tim Ho Wan, Kuala Lumpur/Singapore/Hong Kong/Sydney/Melbourne

Mr Ho Wan, if that is his real name (it's not – it's Mak Kwai Pui), has created quite the empire here. Ever since his original Hong Kong eatery gained a Michelin star and shot to worldwide fame with its delicious and affordable dim-sum-style Chinese cuisine, the place has exploded, both in popularity and reach. Patrons can now dine on Tim Ho Wan's famous baked pork buns in 45 locations around the world, from south-east Asia to Australia to the US. And at pretty much all of those locales, they'll face a long wait to get in.

Worth it? For a wait of longer than half an hour, no. But if the line is short, jump in.

See also: The 50 dishes every traveller needs to try once

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