The world's 20 best cities for food

[Shawn]

Not seeing Tokyo triggered me for a second and then I got to the whole "20 places we decided to highlight this year" bit.

Osaka is a good choice for Japan. There are a few versions of this saying but it basically goes "Japan's head is Tokyo, heart is Kyoto, and stomach is Osaka." Pretty accurate.

[ColDayMan]

Yeah, Osaka is a great choice. I've had some amazing meals in Tokyo (including with you, Shawn) but Osaka was a highlight, for me, in regards to bringing it every time.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Top-rated chefs actually like to bring some exotic touch to their creations here in Paris, cause their gourmets enjoy surprises.
They find inspiration from the entire world indeed.

If they stick too much to French traditional cuisine all the time, they're rated "vieille France" (old France), which means good cuisine, but lacking creativity, imagination, not innovative or quirky enough.
So they have to find tricks, often mixing influences from various countries to keep their businesses trendy.
This would be important to wealthy foreign tourists or businessmen used to Parisian luxury.
Again, they just like to be surprised sometimes.

Agreed, but again, not all of the world's "best food cities" actually do that. The Italians for example don't and the Asians generally don't do it much either.

At the most they may seek some influences from other regions of their own country.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by The162urbandude

This list is weird. What exactly is Portland known for anyway besides Voodoo Donuts?

Ok ... I'll be the one to jump to Portland's defense ... haha

From the article:

“New Orleans has gumbo, Boston has clam chowder; Portland, on the other hand, isn’t known for just one iconic dish, but rather for its food scene at large,” Time Out wrote. “The laidback Oregon city has made headlines for being one of America’s most exciting food and drink destinations, where the city’s best plates can be found not only in restaurants but at food carts, farmers markets and breweries.”

And from a local food critic:

“Portland’s reputation has graduated from ‘Portlandia’ and peanut-butter-bacon Voodoo Doughnuts,” Reichert said.

They only picked one city from each country, and it's based on thousands of local reviews. Portland is no New York or SF, as it's the 25th largest US metro. But for a city of its size it offers a ton of diversity that's super accessible. It seems everywhere you go there are food cart pods in the most unexpected, random places offering neighborhood gathering places in formerly blah areas.

Best US Foodie City
https://www.oregonlive.com/dining/20...odie-city.html

Top 10 Global Vegan City
https://www.oregonlive.com/dining/20...the-world.html

Best US Food Truck City
https://www.oregonlive.com/dining/20...n-america.html

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

Yeah, Osaka is a great choice. I've had some amazing meals in Tokyo (including with you, Shawn) but Osaka was a highlight, for me, in regards to bringing it every time.

We never posted the pics we took from Bunkyo Civic Center! Man has that view changed...

For Japanese food, Osaka is hard to top. So many different Japanese signature dishes originate there. And it has the best Korean food in the country. The one area Tokyo does better is with non-East Asian food. You get all these Japanese chefs who work in top-end restaurants in places like Florence, Paris, New York, Dubai, and who come back to Tokyo wanting to slavishly recreate that experience to a level of detail only found in Japan. I think there are more French three star Michelin restaurants in Tokyo than in any city other than Paris?

[James Bond Agent 007]

And another food-related list: 50 best restaurants in the world:
https://www.cnn.com/travel/worlds-50...024/index.html

[MolsonExport]

I mostly stopped paying attention to these "Best Restaurants" list after one such list had ranked a restaurant that was known for serving a dish with live ants crawling on it, as number one.

https://qz.com/334111/the-worlds-bes...ered-with-ants


The image on the first page of the CNN link looks extremely unappetizing. Food is not just meant to be visually appealing. Quite frankly, if it doesn't taste good, I couldn't give a shit what it looked like.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

And another food-related list: 50 best restaurants in the world:
https://www.cnn.com/travel/worlds-50...024/index.html

I’ve been to all of them, but one, and I still find that hot dog at Costco tops them all.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I mostly stopped paying attention to these "Best Restaurants" list after one such list had ranked a restaurant that was known for serving a dish with live ants crawling on it, as number one..

Don't you know? That would be part of the appeal. Truly avant-garde cuisine!

[edale]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

And another food-related list: 50 best restaurants in the world:
https://www.cnn.com/travel/worlds-50...024/index.html

I've been to one of the restaurants on this list- number 49, La Colombe in Cape Town. It was a really spectacular dining experience, and because it's in SA, it was very reasonably priced from an American perspective.

I found Cape Town, in general, had a really great food scene. My friends and I ate very well there, and there's a really unique mix of cuisines represented due to all the cultures that live there. Excellent wine, too.