Comment by autarch | Hacker News Reader

Comment by autarch | Hacker News Reader

I'm an American married to a Taiwanese woman, so I've been there many times. I've had a lot of amusing "Western" (by which they mostly mean American) food on these trips. The last time few times I was there I went to a vegan place that specializes in Western food. Some of the stuff was what you'd expect, like a burger and fries, but there was also some oddities.

My favorite was the mashed potato sub, which was room temperature mashed potatoes mixed with bits of chopped vegan ham and carrots, served in a hot dog roll, topped with ketchup and mustard. It was really good, though it cracked me up that this was what they might think we eat in the US.

I've also noticed that many of the vegan Western food places serve dishes that they call "risotto" which are basically just cooked rice with sauce on top. I understand how they settled on risotto, but it can be a bit of disappointment if you're expecting actual risotto.

Overall, I have a lot of fun trying the Taiwanese interpretations of American food. The food quality there is just really high in general. Even if it's weird, it's weird with good ingredients and flavors, so you never end up with something inedible, just surprising in a fun way.

I had the best Italian food outside Italy :) in Japan at a conference. The food was super simple, but really authentic---like, what you could find at a family gathering or potluck party---and good. Plus the pizza makers were tossing dough like there's no tomorrow, one of them had even learnt in Italy!

Japan has won best pizza in the world 5 times by some Italian pizza judging contest in Italy

https://www.google.com/search?q=japan+wins+best+pizza

Yes there is also bad pizza in Japan but, for example, there are around 90 "certified" neapolitan pizza restaurants in Tokyo.

https://www.pizzanapoletana.org/en/

Whether or not you believe the certification means anything, the point is there's lots of good pizza.

There's also lots of bad too ...

Chefs in Japan are incredible at doing non-Japanese food. I haven't had the best croissants in Paris, but croissants I've had in Tokyo are better than the ones I've had in Paris.

I guess it can boil down to the range of qualities available.

In France croissants are available everywhere but you have a very high range coming from high artisan standards to very low industrial products with very basic places in the middle mostly heating stuff rather than doing the whole process.

In Japan i guess there's less available bakeries specialized in things like croissants and they sell it as a high quality product. There's also highly qualified bakers from France that are working in foreign countries.

Too much possibles biases to really judge.

You're so right. I'm from Italy, and I had some of the best pizzas ever in Japan.

That might be down to preference. French croissants tend to be crispier, saltier, less sweet, and more sour (from the cultured butter) than Japanese croissants. But you can get French style croissants in Tokyo, Maison Landemaine [0] in Roppongi even has two types, the French using imported ingredients. It really tastes like the best ones I had in Paris. I think it’s the different butter that makes the difference, I don’t think my taste is developed enough to tell the difference in flour. Both are very good.

[0] Maison Landemaine 03-5797-7387 https://goo.gl/maps/KsWoBvWk6dcyUfkq8

One of my Japanese acquaintances told me that over the years he visited Moscow, Russia, local sushi has turned into a delightful food, you only have to forget the idea that it might be related to what Japanese consider sushi.

I frankly find it great: instead of a copy, you get something new, and hopefully tasty!

> instead of a copy, you get something new, and hopefully tasty!

The British versions of "Chinese" and "Indian" work incredibly well at this. There was also a big fusion food boom recently, a few years before the pandemic.

Some form of Western precedent for the mashed potato sub can be found in the Swedish fast food classic "tunnbrödsrulle". It's a flatbread wrap with mashed potatoes and hot dogs served with condiments like shrimp salad, pickle relish, roasted onions and of course ketchup and mustard.

Similiar for Japan. Tehre's a restaurant here in Singapore, Ma Maison, which is basically Japanese interpretations of western. The ever popular hamburger patty on a hot griddle covered in brown gravy. Don't know what the hell it is supposed to be, but tastes good. I have heard, never experienced, would never try, that "spaghetti napolenese" is supposed to be ketchup on spaghetti. That may be apocryphal. It's certainly disgusting.

> The ever popular hamburger patty on a hot griddle covered in brown gravy.

That's simply a Hamburg steak, which is not Japanese but rather German in origin. The Salisbury steak is a relative of the Hamburg steak, with the additional of fillers such as eggs and breadcrumbs.

Japanese version is sweeter and has soy sauce

King Mary Italian in Taipei. 'spaghetti al fungi" was shitake in a cream-ish sauce. It was good, but it was not very italian.

And my taiwanese hosts said the name was .. yea.

I went to an Italian place in Kaohsiung a couple times many years ago. I was surprised that focaccia was really good. The pasta dish I ordered was a bit odd. I remember they put baby corn in it and the tomato sauce was much sweeter than I would have expected.

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