# Non-US Doper Visitors: Your must-have foods **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161 "2012-08-21T14:08:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/61 "2012-08-24T05:44:35Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > As for the rest, I’m thinking there might be some good business in opening Tex-Mex chains in Europe or Australia! There are some “mexican” places here but they don’t generally have the courage to be what they should be, often they copy the US blandness of say Los Hernandos or Taco Bell. Which is a little weird as we are generally very accepting of authentic ethnic cuisine of any persuasion. The Thai and Vietnamese here is, for instance, highly spicy and overall simply exceptional (and indeed as good or better than in those countries themselves, I’ve heard). There are a handful of latin american places with some degree of authenticity here, but they are few are far between, sadly. There’s a place near where I live called Azteca which food-wise was really good and interesting, but when the owner comes out in a stereotypical “mexican” outfit, singing cliched songs in tuneless spanish, that’s it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/62 "2012-08-24T06:07:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Are you traveling in the western US? White Castle is an eastern chain. The closest ones to Calgary would be the Minneapolis area. Dammit - we were in Minneapolis! Sometimes we remember to look, and sometimes we forget - we must have forgotten when we were visiting Paisley Park in Minneapolis. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/63 "2012-08-24T06:07:51Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > There are some “mexican” places here but they don’t generally have the courage to be what they should be, often they copy the US blandness of say Los Hernandos or Taco Bell. Which is a little weird as we are generally very accepting of authentic ethnic cuisine of any persuasion. The Thai and Vietnamese here is, for instance, highly spicy and overall simply exceptional (and indeed as good or better than in those countries themselves, I’ve heard). > > There are a handful of latin american places with some degree of authenticity here, but they are few are far between, sadly. There’s a place near where I live called Azteca which food-wise was really good and interesting, but when the owner comes out in a stereotypical “mexican” outfit, singing cliched songs in tuneless spanish, that’s it for me. Hey Askance, Have you run across a newish mexican chain [Guzman y Gomez](http://www.guzmanygomez.com/). Curious to know if it is is closer to what you’d expect in the States or more of the same imitation stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/64 "2012-08-24T07:08:19Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > [Benji](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TeKz1WbvUh0/TClxuT8I0tI/AAAAAAAADSU/3JV8TPTnqf8/s1600/benji.jpg) sausage? Wouldn’t that be more Korean than American? Yeah, as mentioned it’s more of a “breakfasts of the world” place… American breakfast there (as well as a Full English Breakfast!! ::slobber::\*\*) is just a side effect… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mengvs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@mengvs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mengvs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/65 "2012-08-24T07:14:35Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Hey Askance, > > Have you run across a newish mexican chain [Guzman y Gomez](http://www.guzmanygomez.com/). Curious to know if it is is closer to what you’d expect in the States or more of the same imitation stuff. I lived in southern California for 3 years before moving to Australia, and Guzman y Gomez comes pretty close, I’d say – it reminds me a bit of Baja Fresh. On the plus side, the dearth of Mexican restaurants here in Australia was the impetus for my learning to cook a lot of the dishes myself. The only things I miss are good quality tortillas (believe it or not, the Woolies “Select” brand of white corn tortillas are actually not too bad) and Cholula hot sauce. Coles stocked it briefly, but it’s been gone from their shelves for at least a year now and a company representative told me they had no plans to restock it. Pity. ---
**Author:** ![mengvs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@mengvs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mengvs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/66 "2012-08-24T07:18:19Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > There are some “mexican” places here but they don’t generally have the courage to be what they should be, often they copy the US blandness of say Los Hernandos or Taco Bell. Which is a little weird as we are generally very accepting of authentic ethnic cuisine of any persuasion. The Thai and Vietnamese here is, for instance, highly spicy and overall simply exceptional (and indeed as good or better than in those countries themselves, I’ve heard). > > There are a handful of latin american places with some degree of authenticity here, but they are few are far between, sadly. There’s a place near where I live called Azteca which food-wise was really good and interesting, but when the owner comes out in a stereotypical “mexican” outfit, singing cliched songs in tuneless spanish, that’s it for me. Azteca’s! I love their chilaquiles. And yeah, the owner is a bit of a trip, to put it mildly 😉 Have you been to Cafe Pacifico in Darlinghurst? It’s the closest to authentic Tex-Mex I’ve found in Sydney, but unbelievably expensive, so we don’t bother going anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/67 "2012-08-27T01:57:07Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Hey Askance, > > Have you run across a newish mexican chain [Guzman y Gomez](http://www.guzmanygomez.com/). Curious to know if it is is closer to what you’d expect in the States or more of the same imitation stuff. I went there once. Seemed pretty much straight-down-the-line fast food tex-mex. Maybe a tad spicier than taco bell or Los Henandos. . FWIW I hate chain stores and restaurants in general, I want one-owner-one-store places, with some personality - and no, the singing owner does not count 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/68 "2012-08-27T04:42:17Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > French toast may have a lower fat content, but the impression it left on my stomach was a lot heavier. And I didn’t even add all the sugary stuff my friends would put on it… And as for “nothing alike”, hey, by your own description French toast = Croque monsieur - savory + as much sugar as possible. Which sounds very American, actually, but “nothing alike”? French toast is similar to pain perdu. ---
**Author:** ![Ted\_Striker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Ted\_Striker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ted_Striker)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/69 "2012-08-27T12:23:20Z")
> [@bathsheba](#): > > My idiot husband wanted to try Taco Bell. It lived up to its reputation. Go to a real Mexican restaurant next time you come to (North) America, _ **NOT** _ Taco Bell. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/70 "2012-08-28T08:00:38Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > _looks both ways_ > > I’ll trade you a bottle of grenadine for a box of Irn Bru, which I found to be easier on my stomach than Coke 😃 Hmm, I would if the postage wasn’t horribly expensive. If [Sodastreams](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodastream)were still big I’d have been able to post you bottles of Irn Bru concentrate to make up yourself though 🙂 (and I suppose you probably don’t want to hear that I’m off on a tour of the Barr’s Irn Bru factory next weekend, free samples included!) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/71 "2012-08-28T08:23:08Z")
Welch’s grape jelly: we don’t have that in Australia. A visit to Denny’s or IHOP. Dunkin Donuts. ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/72 "2012-09-13T00:48:36Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > Root beer - just not generally available here in the UK. As an ex-pat in the UK, root beer is one of the things I miss most. I also miss graham crackers, Annie’s organic cheddar bunny crackers (better than goldfish!), decent hot dogs (if such a thing could be said to exist), saltines (though I have found an Italian cracker which is near enough), and proper chocolate chips (Oetker brand just isn’t the same). My mom also sends me boxes of Russell Stover chocolates for Christmas. I would also like to have occasional access to pumpkin puree for baking purposes. I’m not keen on pumpkin pie, but I’d like to make pumpkin scones and pumpkin soup sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161/73 "2012-09-13T01:09:10Z")
Oh yeah, and Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, I miss them. And Dim Sum. For some reason, you just don’t find any of them here in western Scotland. We did go to one Thai restaurant in Glasgow, but it wasn’t what I was used to in the States and Canada, and didn’t have the iced tea that I like so much. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-doper-visitors-your-must-have-foods/632161.md?page=3)