10 Meals I Cannot Stop Thinking About

One West Virginian summer long long ago, I made my way down to mecca (South Myrtle Beach) with my best friend and her family for a week of chain restaurants and band-aid filled swimming pools. I was a picky eater as a child but it just so happened that my favorite meal was available at every chain restaurant in town: Boneless Barbecued Chicken and a Baked Potato, Extra Butter.

Dearest readers I cannot explain to you the level of joy that bonelessbbqchickenandabakedpotatoextrabutter brought to me. Every day of vacation I’d bide my time, suffering the beach until dinner where I’d order bbcaabpeb and sit in bliss, dunking each fake-charred bite of chicken breast into room temperature sweet baby rays.

This post is about meals I cannot stop thinking about. Here’s an example: The baked potato at Greg Norman Australian Grille at the Barefoot Landing shopping pavilion in Myrtle Beach. South Carolina. 2009. The potato was HUGE. They gave triple the amount of butter I required. I used it all. Even ate some of the skin. I have chills just thinking about it.

Anyway I was with my best friend and her family at Margaritaville, knee deep into my bbcaabpeb and I was getting vocal about it when my friend’s stepmom looked me in my eyes and said “gluttony is a sin, you know”

to which I replied —

My friends miserable step mother was right — I have been indulgent with the amount of good food I’ve had in my life. And that’s before I spent the last 15 months eating through Asia and South America. One cruel thing that happens when eating deliciously as often as I do — the meals, however amazing, inevitably flatten and get lost in the sea of all other delicious meals. It’s sick, I know, but it becomes impossible to remember all the “unforgettable” bites after a while. My steak is too juicy my lobster is too buttery!

Today I’m sharing a list of places that I Cannot Stop Thinking About. I didn’t have to scroll my photos, google maps or instagram archive to remember these meals. They are plastered in my brain where they will live on forever next to that giant baked potato from Greg Normans Australian Grille in Myrtle Beach South Carolina.

There are some notable gaps here — no sushi from Japan, nothing from Malaysia (arguably a top 5 food country), and only one addition from our last 4 months in South America. This is not a perfect or complete list, nor is it a guide, it’s just a brain dump of the meals that have lingered for one reason or another.

If you want an exhaustive list of our favorite restaurants, that’s available in google map form here, and in our many city guides available to paid substack members :)

1. Lamb shish and mezzes with raki and beer from Zübeyir Ocakbaşı in Istanbul. I was nervous about the food leading up to our one-year trip in Asia. Landing in Istanbul and eating ocakbaşı that first night completely set me at ease. Our server led the way — sending out lamb shish kebab, hummus and various dips and yoghurts washed down with raki, the national spirit of Turkiye. It really set the tone for our entire trip — and was the best kebab I’ve had to date.

2. Lian pi (凉皮) noodles in Xi’an’s Muslim quarter. Rice starch noodles tossed in black vinegar, chili oil, and sesame paste, served cold with julienned cucumbers. Made fresh for $2 on street. Xi’an was one of my favorite stops of the entire trip because of the food. Everything — EVERYTHING was delicious, but I think about lian pi every single day.

   

3. Shrimp kilaw, pancit pancit, beef cheeks with grilled bone marrow and a bottle of red from Automat in Metro Manila. This has to be the best execution of filipino food maybe ever? Every single bite was a masterclass in elevating classic dishes to the highest level. My only regret — getting only 2 orders of shrimp kilaw. Don’t miss drinks after at Annex House.

   

4. Mutton barbecue and lamb raviolis in a cream sauce with nama beer and sake from ARCO in Sapporo. We spent a month in Hokkaido eating gooooood but this meal shines brighter than the rest for me. I love lamb, and I love Sapporo — and being in Sapporo, grilling lamb over a cast iron grill while drinking a crispy draft beer is the place I go when I close my eyes. And that’s to say nothing about the fresh raviolis in cream sauce which top 99% of pastas you’ll ever have. Don’t leave without a hokkaido milk cream cone from the soft cream house down the block.

   

5. Pork belly samgyeopsal, alllll the banchan, white rice, soju and terra from 장수정육식당 in Seoul. It is impossible for me to turn down samgyeopsal in Korea. I have likely done irreparable damage to my organs from the amount of pork fat soaked kimchi I have consumed — and I will not stop. This place is my favorite because it was near our apartment in Seochu-gu, the ladies who run the shop were unbelievably kind to us every time we came in despite our non-existent Korean in a very local neighborhood. And the food is phenomenal. You don’t have to go out of you way to go here — but I will :)

6. Coconut curry, natural wine, and the whole grilled fish from Maadae Slow Fish Kitchen in Chiang Mai. This is a perfect restaurant but you do need a reservation. The fish in coconut curry was a life changing bite of food, paired with a delicious bottle of natural wine??? Burned into my brain. Don’t miss drinks after at North Country across the street.

7. Crispy fried Phở chiên with eggs and stir-fried beef from Phở Cuốn Chinh Thắng in Hanoi. Traditional pho is simply to clean and healthy for me — I much prefer these deep fried pho cakes topped with thinly sliced beef and egg. A simple dish executed perfectly — and one of those things you can’t get anywhere else in the world.

8. Mushroom risotto and a bottle of red from Beato in Osaka. I understand that listing Italian food in Japan as one of my top meals is controversial. You have to understand that we discovered Beato after 6 weeks of nonstop Japanese food when we desperately needed a palate cleaner. I would have accepted Olive Garden, but instead I stumbled upon the worlds best risotto. This place is legit, the chef trained in Italy and hires Italian servers. Thinking back to this meal reminds me how special it was to have so much time in Japan that we resorted to Italian food in the outskirts. No photo evidence!

9. Spicy xiǎomiàn noodles in Chongqing. I wish I could give you the exact cart name but I can’t find it! Regardless — xiǎomiàn noodles (also called Chongqing noodles) are everywhere in the city and they are one of my favorite noodle dishes ever. They light your nostrils on fire with mala but are also rich and thick thanks to the yellow peas that mash into a paste as you finish your bowl. Heavenly.

   

10. Filet a parmigiana for two from Pastorinho Café in Sao Paulo. We’ve been in South America for the last 4 months. I’ve had a handful of life changing steaks in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. But alas — the most memorable meal this year is the filet a parmigiana from the Pastorinhos grocery store lunch counter. Every single element was perfect — the filet was tender, the mashed potatoes (!) were seasoned perfectly, the tomato sauce was fresh. It was packed with two seats left, seemingly just for us. Deliciously savage without being greasy. A perfect meal.