This was published 1 year ago
Forget trends - these 10 international dishes will never go out of style
By Ben Groundwater
Dim sum: Steamed dumplings, braised meats, fried vegetable cakes, steamed buns - try them all. Credit: iStock
When considering the dishes one would like to enjoy eating, and eating again, for the next 15 years of your travelling life, you can't go for the fads. You don't even want anything too complicated, anything with foams or spheres or scientific trickery.
You want the classics, and that's exactly what I've chosen for this special edition of Wish Dish, celebrating Traveller's 15th anniversary and casting my mind (and tastebuds) forward to 15 more years of global deliciousness. I've opted for the heart-warmers, the food with soul. Dishes that have always been good; dishes that will always be good.
PINTXOS IN SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN
First entry and already I'm cheating, because this is not one dish, but a series of dishes. In fact it's an almost limitless kaleidoscope of gastronomic creativity, small plates consumed while moving from bar to bar in the Old Town of San Sebastian in the Spanish Basque Country, drinking beer and wine and vermouth and cider and having the time of my life.
SUSHI IN TOKYO, JAPAN
Credit: iStock
Tokyo is hands-down the best city for eating in the entire world, so there had to be an entry. But would it be ramen, or yakitori, or yakiniku, or soba, or katsu? In the end, for pure theatre, for pure experience, for purity itself, I've gone with sushi. To sit in a high-end omakase restaurant in Tokyo and watch the masters at work is like nothing else on Earth.
NASI LEMAK IN KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
This dish is just pure, savoury, delicious comfort food at its finest, spicy and unctuous and crunchy and filling. Nasi lemak is a Malay classic, a base of fragrant coconut-and-pandan rice served with peanuts, crisp fried baby anchovies, a boiled egg, cucumber, and sambal belacan, usually augmented with a fried chicken leg, or a curry. Perfection.
CARBONARA IN ROME, ITALY
Credit: iStock
Take me to Rome. Take me to a trattoria in Trastevere, or Testaccio, or San Giovanni, feed me with antipasti and then prepare me for the main attraction, for the carbonara, for the greatest pasta dish of all time. There are many other pasta dishes I would like to dine on over the next 15 years. But if it has to be only one, it's Roman carbonara.
ASADO IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
An asado in Argentina is a thing of beauty and wonder, a day-long worship around the humble parrilla barbecue, the consumption of heroic amounts of food in the form of chorizo, morcilla, ribs, sweetbreads, skirt steak, flank steak, sirloin, rib-eye… and maybe even some vegetables. All high quality, all cooked with supreme skill.
DIM SUM IN HONG KONG, CHINA
All right, all right, I'm cheating again. But come on! How can you choose between the myriad options available to you at a classic Hong Kong dim sum joint? You can't. And you shouldn't. You should try them all: the steamed dumplings, the braised meats, the fried vegetable cakes, the steamed buns … Everything.
CHILAQUILES IN MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
The perfect breakfast doesn't exist? Then you haven't eaten chilaquiles. This is a dish of fried tortilla chips drowned in a green or red sauce – featuring plenty of tomatillos and chillies – simmered until everything softens, then topped with shredded chicken, queso fresco, avocado, coriander, and sometimes a fried egg. In other words: the highlight of your day.
THE 'TRIFECTA' IN UBON RATCHATHANI, THAILAND
In Thailand's north-eastern Isan region, the best plate of food you could dream up is one of sticky rice – an all-important staple – with gai yang, or Thai-style grilled chicken, and som tam, or green papaya salad. These three hit all the essential Thai flavour points, spicy, sweet, salty and sour, and work so perfectly together that they can be thought of as one.
MEZZE IN BEIRUT, LEBANON
A proper Lebanese mezze platter is sheer joy. All of those tasty morsels, and the meal has barely begun. All of the Levantine classics, the hummus, the baba ganoush, labneh, pickled turnips and cucumbers, stuffed grape leaves, olives, fresh bread, fresh herbs and more. I could eat this every day.
CREME BRULEE IN PARIS, FRANCE
Credit: iStock
I don't often order dessert – I'd rather fill up on savoury – but when I do, I'm always looking for a creme brulee, delicately flavoured, not too sweet, and with a crisp, crackable top. I can't see that changing, especially in the celebrated French capital.
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