Murgh makhani, or “butter chicken”. It’s an Indian curry dish that was straight up stolen from the gods.

Every time I go to an Indian restaurant I haven’t been to before, that’s the dish I order to judge whether that restaurant is worth revisiting.

When it’s done just right, mouthgasm guaranteed.

The thing that sticks out in my mind right now is the steamed pizza buns (pizzaman) from 7-11 in Japan. That feels somewhat embarrassing to say because it’s just a convenience store snack… but I miss them constantly.

Pizza Napolitana

One specific brand of salmon from my local supermarket that I never found again.

When I was in Bangkok for a week, there was a little noodle stand at the corner from our hostel. They had 2-3 options, but the owner of the hostel recommended the chicken stir fry noodle, and instructed us on how to order it.

I have never tasted anything in the same class as this. We seriously ate there maybe like 10 times in 6 days and when we left I kept thinking about it for months. I’m vegan now and the thought of eating meat repulses me, plus it’s been almost ten years, but I still think of this place regularly. I want to find the family that runs/ran it and pay them a bunch of money to make me tofu stir fry noodles.

It’s always changing, can’t choose from the plethora of tasty yummieeeeeeees. :3

I know it sounds posh but it really isn’t, I had a real french chef cook a Duck Confit with asparagus and one other thing that makes this the best ever: yellow cassava (Arracacia) puree. This shit, arracacia, is a root (kind of like cassava or potato) impossible to find. I think you can only get it in south america but it’s soooooo good. You know when you mix 2 things and it’s just magic? That’s arracacia and aspargus. I ate the same dish 3 days in a row and almost cry when I had to come back. Still dream with it

That one homemade pizza I made once.

Like I don’t even think I proofed the boules, but it was like chewy and crispy, with the perfect black peaks coming out of the oven.

One time I went to this Afghani (Hazaragi) restaurant with friends in another city. Most of us were vegetarian, and they had heard this place had good vegetarian food, so that’s what we ordered.

There was this simple garlic dal that I still think about. It was so perfectly flavored and balanced and seasoned, with a depth of flavour that surprised the hell out of me. I suspect the vegetable stock they used was cooked long and slow for a very long time, but I’ll never know its secrets for sure.

Everything else we ordered was tasty enough, but this was next level. And it wasn’t just me, everyone at the table agreed. And it was just a bowl of lentils! It’s not like we hadn’t had dal before.

They’ve since changed chefs/owners. The closest sounding recipe I’ve found is this one from a thankfully decent UX site (ignore the coconut milk in the url, there is none) but using stock instead of water and probably much less ginger. I still mean to try this recipe but with more fried garlic… perhaps I have underestimated the masala.

Lasagna, hands down. It does something special to me.

All kinds of Indian curry. I cannot get enough of it.

kashkeh bademjan

A pork belly enchilada at a little restaurant in Majorca. Bonus: it was both the best pork belly and the best enchilada I’ve ever had independent of those things together.

I made chicken soup one time and the broth turned crystal clear. I’ve never been able to recreate it and I’m upset I didn’t write it down.

Lots of food, to be honest. The one that comes to mind right at the moment is the Teriyaki Glazed Hen of the Woods Mushrooms with Tomato Polenta, Sweet Red Peppers, Roasted Rapini at Equinox in DC - it was really good!

Oh! and the vegetarian b’stella at the old Marrakesh restaurant, also in DC.

The chocolate suicide cake and the beer-cheese soup at the 93rd Aero Squadron in Philly.

The pretzel shortbreads at Lost Bread, also in Philly.