ilovetulips

I thought that I would ask this question because France is known for wonderful food. People also love the food in Italy. I hear the tapas in Spain are great and England gets a bad wrap for bland food. I was wondering which ones are your favorites in Europe or in the US. Do you think that people visiting Europe for the first time may have unrealistic expectations of the food? For example, comparing Italian food to American Italian food or comparing things like croissants to breads in France. By the way, I will be a first timer to Europe in May.

hopscotch

I just had dinner and came to my favorite forum. I think, ilovetulips, that you have set off a contentious thread. What you wrote is true but will be disputed by others. I agree with what you "hear" about French, Spanish, and English food. Some will post later and say that English food has improved. The Arctic may have warmed also.

elaine

Is a 'bad wrap' a rancid taco?

cigalechanta

There are some very good restaurants in London that I can rate very highly such as Caprice, Gavroche, the old Tante Claire, The River Cafe, But I love the food in Paris and Provence but for seafood Normandy/Brittany. I like the tapas bars in Spain, and Italy is another country to love for it's food.
I have never been to Japan but I love Japaneese food.

ilovetulips

Sorry, a bad rap. I guess I was thinking of food, literally.

indytravel

Hands down for me: Lyon, France.

bobthenavigator

I really like New Orleans.

Underhill

In France, Burgundian food is our favorite. In England, Indian food. In Italy, pasta just about anywhere. Choosing a favorite in the U.S. is more difficult because of the great variety of cuisines available. Locally we like Chinese and Thai.

PJI

Italy, just about everything in Italy! I gained more weight than I care to mention in the years we lived there. YUM! Spanish food I could take or leave.

JulieVikmanis

I love French food and still consider it my favorite in spite of trying to see what all the fuss is about with alternatives. For that reason some of my favorite French areas are: Paris for its range of choices and it's wonderful old fashioned bistros, Alsace for the hominess and cost/value ratio of its offerings even in Michelin 3 star places like auberge de L'Ill, and the Loire for the elegance of the places where you can be served three hour meals starting and ending with apertifs and coffee in a separate sitting room before and after having your actual dinner in the main dining room in such places as Domaine des Hauts de Loire, and Lion d'Or in Romarantin-Lanthany (sp?) I find I like the Spanish tapas idea better than its actuality and I was disappointed in the Basque cuisine about which I'd heard so much (though I'm planning another trip there to see if I can't figure out where the good stuff is.) Food served next to a coast is almost always fun for me because I love oysters and seafood. In the US I favor San Francisco for its range and its options and its efforts to present new things without being New York. I love the restaurants in Acapulco and treasure my dining experiences there not for the food but for the ambiance--outdoors with gentle breezes often on a hill overlooking the twinkling lights down in the bay. And finally, though I put off visiting London or any other part of England for over 25 years, after I finally did, I find myself going back for the food as much as anything else. They are very excited about new things and seem to do many things right in their efforts to "catch up" with the rest of the trendy culinary world. Thanks for asking the question. Formulating my answer has been fun for me.

mamc

Most of all, I love the food in Paris. There are countless excellent restaurants, bistros, cafes, markets, boulangeries, patisseries, etc. Everywhere else we have been in France, the food has been fabulous but making sure we find the right spots has required research. I have literally never had a bad meal in Italy and most of the time have had incredibly good food. We really enjoyed the food in Andalucia. Despite all of the advance warning about lackluster food, we had wonderful food, again the result of research. I have had good, bad and indifferent food in the UK and mostly bad and indifferent in Germany and Switzerland. Maybe that is partly because I prefer French and Italian cuisine to German.

kfusto

Italy, especially Sicily. Lots of wonderfully fresh seafood prepared without heavy sauces. Great fruit and vegetables. Freshly squeezed blood oranges in the morning. Wonderful cheeses. Great coffee.

I do not like Frech food personally, too much butter and cream (a cafe in Paris would not make a sandwich for me without butter on request) and too heavy on the sauces.

BTilke

Its' so hard to choose! I like the cuisine of the Loire Valley and central France--not so heavy and I'm a sucker for goat cheese. And I love the cuisine from central Austria as well...grilled trout, salads with pumpkin oil, the wine. Or northern Italy.
In Paris, I think too many places are coasting on the reputation of French food and cutting corners. For the money, I ate far better in Brussels. In fact, Brussels is one of my favorite places to eat. The list of moderately priced, attractive restaurants is almost endless.

billy_boy

Most boulangerie offerings in France, anywhere Burgundy, fresh seafood in SF Chinatown, Roman food in Rome, red-sauced-and-garlic Italian food in Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, NY.

Ann41

Went to Rome recently, and couldn't wait to eat my way through the city. We were sorely disappointed. While we didn't have any bad meals, we also didn't have any that would be considered all that good. It was also so average. And I did a lot of research on restaurants. Oh well. Paris, however, was great, and we both really enjoyed every meal we had.

ira

Interesting question, love

Vienna - pastries, dumplings, beer, white wine
Munich - Pretzels, beer
Prague - bagels, sausage, game, dumplings, beer
London - Indian and Moroccan
Paris - What's not to like
Venice - Seafood risotto
Naples - Pizza, lemon pastries, limoncello
Bologna - Everything
Copenhagen - Smorrebrod, Wienerbrod, beer
New Orleans - Commander's Palace, Mother's
Savannah, GA - Wild shrimp
Baltimore, MD - Crabs

martytravels

Paris, because it's where you can get food from all the regions of France. Plus the boulangeries, patisseries and crepe stands are among the great joys of life.
London, because of the availability of so many world cuisines, esp. the awesome shwarma stands and multitude of Indian restaurants.
New York, because it's a cuisine melting pot.
San Francisco - great seafood and killer dim sum.
Montreal - Great French food with a North American twist and breakfasts to die for.

mr_go

Chicago! So many great places offering so much great ethnic cuisine from around the world...plus the greatest steaks, ribs & We had dinner at the Russian Tea Time last night...and I could not have been happier!

mr_go

That second sentence was supposed to end with the word "pizza" and a period. Sorry.