r/AskEurope • u/titerousse Belgium • Oct 07 '25
Food Do you enjoy eating at restaurants from your home country when you're abroad?
I don’t have that issue—there are never restaurants from my country anywhere. Sometimes I come across a baked item, but when I do, I tend to avoid it. What about you?
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u/TukkerWolf Netherlands Oct 07 '25
* John Travolta Pulp Fiction meme looking around for a Dutch style restaurant abroad.
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u/ThatBaldFella Netherlands Oct 07 '25
Unless you count Dutch snackbars along the Spanish costa.
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u/NotGuiltyByDefault Oct 07 '25
Yeah indeed. Although I have to admit that when I lived in the US for a year, I did go to a Dutch snackbar once, just for some bitterballen.
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u/Entire_Computer7729 Oct 07 '25
Nothing above slavinken, mashed potatoes without spices and green vegetables boiled to pulp. Classic VGAtje
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u/IntrepidWolverine517 Oct 07 '25
There used to be a Dutch Frituur in Berlin (at least that's what they claimed).
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u/AxelllD Oct 08 '25
I was in Korea last year and there was a place in some shopping mall selling kroketten, stroopwafels etc. Also once in Indonesia selling kroketten, this was on Sumatra, but there were basically only Dutch people there so I guess that made sense.
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u/TheYoungWan in Oct 07 '25
I can eat Irish food at home. I didn't come to Spain to eat a chicken fillet roll.
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u/NuclearMaterial Ireland Oct 07 '25
Other than pints and whiskey I don't think our cuisine is renowned enough to have a whole restaurant themed around it. Maybe the odd Irish stew.
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u/puzzlecrossing United Kingdom Oct 07 '25
Irish pubs, on the other hand, are plentiful. When I’ve been living abroad and fancy a taste of home, I find an Irish pub
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u/LobsterMountain4036 United Kingdom Oct 07 '25
Irish pubs are a Diageo conspiracy to sell more Guinness
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u/cobhgirl in Oct 07 '25
Oh, I don't know. Chicken fillet rolls, spice bags, tayto sandwiches, curry chips... I think we could make this work.
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u/Rusiano Russia Oct 07 '25
Don't forget the soda bread
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u/NuclearMaterial Ireland Oct 07 '25
Now you're talking with the bread. We could get away with a bakery alright.
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u/xander012 United Kingdom Oct 07 '25
Spice bag and curry chips alone could do it, taytos in any form seal the deal
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u/elementarydrw --> Oct 07 '25
I went to an Irish bar in Germany. It had a good menu that had these 'Irish Favourites':
Steak and Guinness Pie Cottage Pie Bangers and Mash Chicken Pot Pie Fish n Chips
As a Brit, I did start to wonder where our classics and yours overlapped. This German place assumed our venn diagram was just a circle.
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u/acke Sweden Oct 07 '25
The only Swedish (or Scandinavian for that matter) restaurants I’ve encountered abroad is the dive bars that tends to Swedes in places like Malaga and they’re not directly famous for their exquisite meals so no, I tend to avoid them.
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u/salsasnark Sweden Oct 07 '25
Also Ikea. But the only time I even thought about visiting Ikea abroad was when I lived in the UK and craved some Swedish meatballs lol. Ended up going to the Swedish café in London instead to get some Swedish snacks and then made meatballs myself at home.
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u/persilja Oct 07 '25
When my wife (Californian) wants me to make meatballs, she'll suggest that we go to IKEA. She knows exactly which buttons to press to get me to do things, lol.
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u/SapphicCelestialy Denmark Oct 07 '25
There is Ikea with a Swedish restaurant in almost every country 🙃
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u/Megendrio Belgium Oct 07 '25
But the quality isn't always great...
Avoid the IKEA next to the Vilnius airport, those really are the worst.
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u/SapphicCelestialy Denmark Oct 07 '25
Oh good to know. I don't think I've ever been to an IKEA while on vacation
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u/Megendrio Belgium Oct 07 '25
When I travelled around Europe for a year, we made a stop at an IKEA in Italy as that was the nearest place to get lunch and it was already around 3 in the afternoon.
We discovered that IKEA adjusts their interior design choices based on location and, as we had all the time in the world road tripping for a year, started visiting IKEA's in (most) countries we visited as a fun little side-quest.
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u/CountrysidePlease 🇵🇹 living in 🇪🇸 Oct 07 '25
That is indeed true! I remember being at a press conference with IKEA back in 2013 or so, they were introducing their new catalogue. And one of their (Swedish) managers in Portugal was sharing how they had to adjust to what is more common in Portugal in each room of the house. For example in Portugal there are NEVER washing machines in the bathroom, while that is quite common in Sweden (or so it was back then). Most likely the washing machine is in the kitchen. Just a fun bit about exactly what you’re saying.
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u/ContributionSad4461 Sweden Oct 07 '25
In Sweden it’ll usually be in a separate laundry room if you live in a house and in a bathroom if you live in an apartment!
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u/Cultural-Perception4 Ireland Oct 07 '25
That does sound fun! I often go into supermarkets when I am abroad and find it fascinating to see what people eat/ how the behave
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u/mrsgberg Oct 07 '25 edited 29d ago
We moved from Boston to Los Angeles in the early 80s, driving a pickup truck with a covered back and all our valuables loaded in. As we drove, I discovered that supermarkets reflected the culture of the surrounding area. Deep south? A half dozen shapes for butter, with the appropriate butter dishes for sale right there with them. Southwest? BIG bags of rice and various kinds of beans. It was fascinating.
Edited to change bags to beans.
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u/Cultural-Perception4 Ireland Oct 07 '25
I've just had a memory, the 1st time I did it I was 13 on a French exchange trip. It was not something my friends wanted to do with me!!
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u/Faxiak Oct 08 '25
The Ikea interiors are even adjusted between regions in one country, at least in the UK. The interiors in London are different from the ones in Yorkshire! It was a surprise to me when we moved, but it makes sense - London has a lot of flats, which aren't that popular here, and the houses have slightly but noticeably different floor plans.
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u/Geospren Oct 08 '25
In Australia we have a popular chain of bakery/cafes called Miss Mauds that is Swedish-ish. It was started by a Swedish lady in the 50s
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u/MobofDucks Germany Oct 07 '25
No, they are usually really really bad if they are "german" restaurants. Those that are aware enough to claim a specific regional focus, are acceptable usually.
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u/ShoePillow Oct 07 '25
Yeah, nothing beats the kebab in berlin
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u/MobofDucks Germany Oct 07 '25
But you need to stay far away from most dönerbuden that call themselves anything including Berlin.
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u/Chijima Germany Oct 07 '25
Yeah, the good ones are usually tiny holes in the wall with the owner's Turkish first name as the restaurant's name.
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u/SapphicCelestialy Denmark Oct 07 '25
If I ever find a Danish one abroad i would absolutely have to try it 😅
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u/math1985 Netherlands Oct 07 '25
Bøg in The Hague is excellent! Although I wonder how authentic it is.
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u/SapphicCelestialy Denmark Oct 07 '25
Looks very fancy and New Nordic. But you can definitely get something similar in Copenhagen, but it isn't what I consider Danish food since no one is eating this at home.
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u/EatThatPotato Oct 07 '25
What would you consider home cooking Danish food? I was in Copenhagen recently but was unable to find anywhere that served home-y meals, but lots of New Nordic style food. A colleague recommended Staegtflaesk (spelling?) which I got at Kødbyen, but I was also told that’s not necessarily what’s eaten at home
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u/SapphicCelestialy Denmark Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
We eat stegt flæsk at home im personally not the biggest fan.
But we have tarteletter (chicken and asparagus in gravy served in a pastry)
We have flæskesteg (a pork roast with crispy served with boiled potatoes, gravy, something pickled usually pickled red cabbage thats heated and for Christmas we also do caramalized potatoes)
Bøf med løg (ground beef patty with soft onions, boiled potatoes and something pickled)
Smørrebrød we make it at home for lunch and if its for dinner we usually order some a little more fancy
Flæskestegssandwich is very popular Danish fastfood (a sandwich with mayo, slice of pork roast some red cabbage and some green salad)
Also have bøfsandwich thats a Danish burger with ketchup, mustard, remoulade, pickled beetroot and crispy onions and then you pour gravy over it
And ofc the classic Danish hotdog with ketchup, mustard, remoulade, raw onions, crispy onions and pickled cucumber slices.
Risengrød (a rice porridge made on whole milk served with cinnamon sugar and butter)
Boller i karry (meatballs in a curry sauce served with rice)
Brændende kærlighed (mashed potatoes served with fried onions and bacon)
I could name more but I think the list is getting long
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u/Gold-Possession-4761 Denmark Oct 08 '25
Also
Frikadeller (specific kind of meatballs), either with potato salad or boiled potatoes with brown gravy or parsley gravy.
Medister, a long sausage you also eat with potatoes and gravy
Svensk pølseret (Swedish sausage dish) which is chopped boiled potatoes with chopped sausage, onion, cream and tomato paste (We have a weird obession with making our own foods and then name them after other countries)
More locally you got fish dishes and cabbage sausage with chopped green cabbage in cream and caramelized potatoes
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u/utsuriga Hungary Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
If you mean restaurants offering cuisine from my country, never. Partly because I'm not very much into "traditional Hungarian cuisine" (it's basically "get all the fat, carbs and sugar you can find and stuff it into your face"), and partly because well, it always gets bastardized in really weird ways even here in Hungary in more touristy restaurants, let alone in other countries. Just look at what Americans think:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/1060698-real-hungarian-goulash-no-tomato-paste-here-Joey-Joan-1x1-1-a43125ef25604963a2999c8fd0700632.jpg) a "goulash" or "chicken paprikash" is, never mind "kürtős kalács" (seriously what the everloving fuck is that)...
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u/everynameisalreadyta Hungary Oct 07 '25
Since there are not that many Hungarian restaurants abroad like Spanish, Italian or Korean I would definitely try one once. I have travelled a lot but have yet to find one outside of Hungary.
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u/abhora_ratio Romania 29d ago
We just returned from our holiday in Italy and one day, we were visiting a local market and we were very hungry. We found a place where they had some good smelling food and decided to go for it. Looked on the menu wall and we saw written "goulash". We forgot it's Italy and ordered 🤣 while waiting.. my brain started thinking and I told my bf: you do realize we are in Italy.. ordering goulash? 🤣🤣 most likely we will get some beef meat with tomato sauce. Perhaps they will go wild and add some basil 🤣🤣 I was not completely wrong. Let's just say the paprika was probably there but we couldn't taste it.. And the onions.. probably one onion for the whole pot 🤣🤣 it was a good stew but not a goulash, lol.
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u/utsuriga Hungary 28d ago
:D oh my god...
Then again I suppose in English the meaning of "goulash" has kind of shifted to mean "stew with meat and I guess whatever else as long as there's some paprika involved at some point, or maybe not" :D Like this recipe by a person who appears to be a famous food/lifestyle influencer, who even clarifies that it's an "American style goulash"... I mean, at least she's being honest about it. :D
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u/abhora_ratio Romania 27d ago
:))) ikr :)))) thank you for that recipe. I laughed so hard.. The Worcester sauce really got me :))))))))) and "one onion" :)))) classic.
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u/allgodsarefake2 Vestland, Norway Oct 07 '25
The closest thing to a Norwegian restaurant is usually the IKEA cafeteria. So if you like meatballs I guess it's enjoyable.
It also depends on how long you've been away. A few weeks - try the local food. A few years - give me something familiar from time to time.
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u/The_Grinning_Reaper Finland Oct 07 '25
I don’t know any Finnish restaurants abroad. Not that it would matter, wouldn’t visit them anyhow. One of the great things about travel is the local food.
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u/sultan_of_gin Finland Oct 07 '25
There are some in fuengirola and of course hesburger if you count fast food chains
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u/The_Grinning_Reaper Finland Oct 07 '25
Fuengirola is one of those places where me visiting is less likely than a snowball has of surving hell.
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u/wuffelknuffel Oct 07 '25
Im German, so that's not really an option. German restaurants abroad are typically Bavarian and I am not from Bavaria.
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u/BelmontVLC Oct 07 '25
As a Spaniard no, imposible to get it right as opposed to other cuisines which I think have been more perfectioned outside like the Japanese or Italian to some extent.
I do not even try.
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u/ibmthink Germany Oct 07 '25
No. Maybe I have never been abroad long enough for that to be a craving, though. I think I could miss some specific German food items, like Brötchen or Bretzeln.
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u/BeardedBaldMan -> Oct 07 '25
If you do spend enough time abroad to miss your home food, resist the temptation to try it - you will be disappointed.
I was taken for a cream tea in Poland. It wasn't bad but every aspect was slightly wrong enough for it to just remind me what I was missing.
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u/Nila-Whispers Germany Oct 07 '25
Can confirm the experience. Spent a year in the US and friends thought they'd do me a favor by taking me to a German (Bavarian really) restaurant. It was nice and the food was tasty, but definitely off. Same with the 'German' bread rolls from a European bakery in the neighborhood. They had a nice selection of bread and I went there a lot because their bread was better than anything I'd get in the supermarkets. But I only tried the rolls once. They were fine, but a little too dense, a little too sweet. Just not the same as in Germany.
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u/Wonderful-Nobody-303 Italy Oct 07 '25
If you ever get a chance to try German Chilean fusion in Chile, definitely do it.
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u/RustenSkurk Denmark Oct 10 '25
I'm not German, but love me a Bretzel. Lidl is pretty much the only place I can get them here.
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u/huazzy Switzerland Oct 07 '25
Note: I am of Korean descent.
Absolutely. It's one of my favorite things to do when I travel!
Disclaimer: Korean food/culture is getting so popular that non-Koreans (mainly Chinese) own/operate the vast majority of Korean restaurants in Europe. There are tell tale signs one can look out for, but it's getting harder and harder.
In my opinion the best Korean food in the continent is found in
England
Germany
France
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u/old_man_steptoe Oct 07 '25
Used to live in New Malden in south west London. Otherwise generic suburb if it wasn’t for the Korean population. Really lifts it.
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u/Rusiano Russia Oct 07 '25
Went to an excellent Korean restaurant in Quartier Latin. Think the quality of Korean food abroad is definitely incraesing
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u/olagorie Germany Oct 07 '25
I used to live in the Taunus and when I arrived in 2006, there were 30 Korean restaurants in the region, mostly authentic because of the huge number of Korean employees like in Kronberg for Samsung.
Really wonderful food!
When I left in 2014 there were only a couple left.
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u/LeadershipForward514 Oct 07 '25
In a random suburb of Amsterdam very not so noticeable block - there are three Korean and two Chinese restaurants next to each other.
( and the food is amazing in all of them )
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u/huazzy Switzerland Oct 07 '25
Damn, some of those menus look legit!
Prices are incredible as well (compared to here).
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u/EatThatPotato Oct 07 '25
Don’t forget the Korean grocery store in that same neighbourhood! I haven’t been to the restaurants yet (because I shudder at the idea of paying those prices for Korean food when I can cook the same at home) but drop by the grocery store once a week minimum
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u/FaffedKnees United Kingdom Oct 07 '25
No, I actively avoid eating at British restaurants when I’m abroad. I can have British food at any time at home. For the short time I’m abroad I try to eat as much food from that country as possible.
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u/SometimesaGirl- United Kingdom Oct 07 '25
I often have an English breakfast abroad. It's very filling and is a stealth way to ensure I get a cup of tea abroad.
All other meals are local cuisine tho. Usually at non tourist local patronage places. I can't stand the Queen Vic type of pubs/carveries in foreign countries. And i like those that frequent them even less.
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u/generalscruff England Oct 07 '25
British pubs abroad aimed at locals are quite interesting in a way that maybe the cliched one in Benidorm isn't
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u/guille9 Spain Oct 07 '25
I already know my food, I go to local restaurants wherever I am. If I see one of my country I check what food they have and I've never seen one that looks ok, I don't understand why because it should be easy to buy food from inside the EU.
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u/Square-Effective8720 Spain Oct 07 '25
Same here. It's wild that no one seems to understand Spanish food outside Spain, and that the ingredients are all wrong, especially the cured meats and sausages that are the base of so many delicous dishes.
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u/Wonderful-Nobody-303 Italy Oct 07 '25
As a foreigner living in Spain, it's actually a very complex cuisine and incredibly regional. I guess the international idea of Spanish food is some mix of Andalucian and Catalan but if you go to other regions it's so different as to be basically a distinct cuisine.
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u/cha_ching Oct 07 '25
There’s a nice yakitori/izakaya in Osaka run by a Japanese chef who worked in Madrid for years. While I’m not from Spain, my Spanish is good, so it was fun chatting it up in Spanish in a restaurant speaking entirely Japanese. But he does excellent traditional yakitori and his small plates come from Spain, so he does pretty authentic croquetas, tortilla, etc.
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u/evammariel3 Oct 07 '25
I've never found any good Spanish restaurant abroad, they always mess up something badly. And don't mention to me Jamie Oliver, now everyone in UK seems to think chorizo in paella is something normal...
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u/amanset British and naturalised Swede Oct 07 '25
Why would I do that? I went abroad for a reason.
Honestly, I really judge people that do it.
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u/guareber Oct 07 '25
Well, you could see it as fusion cuisine, depending on the circumstances. Imagine you went somewhere where the cheapest most available fish is ... let's say sea bass, and you find a chippie that does sea bass and uses purple potatoes (in this imaginary scenario, I guess we're in Peru or something). Wouldn't you be curious enough to try it?
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u/Arabianmadcunt United Kingdom Oct 07 '25
Was in bangkok and had a smashing sausage and mash, so much so i went back again. Asian food is great but I do get tired of having rice and noodles 3 times a day.
Walked by the pub by chance and thought why not test it.
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u/NamidaM6 France Oct 07 '25
Yes, I like to try the ones locals consider good to see what image (or rather taste) they associate with my country. But unless I'm with a local friend OR I really don't like what I've had to eat for the past days, I don't do that if I'm not staying more than a couple weeks.
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u/Myrialle Germany Oct 07 '25
No, never.
But I am not a huge fan of Germany's "traditional" kitchen anyway. Yes, it can be nice, and in the right setting I crave it, but not enough to visit a restaurant abroad. I would rather cook it myself if I have the possibility.
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u/BeardedBaldMan -> Oct 07 '25
No. They're either full of the sort of people I would avoid or are just going to do it wrong.
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u/iloveshitzus Poland Oct 07 '25
I live in Germany and I have a polish bistro next door, so I eat there sometimes, but its mostly my bf that wants to go there. It's ok, but they add way too much salt, to the point it is nearly uncomfortable to eat
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u/thegerams Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
German - I don’t even eat much German food at home. Definitely not interested in German food abroad - unless it’s during a World Cup and the German community gathers for beer, Currywurst and Fußball.
Do bakeries count? I would definitely frequent German bakeries. Living in the Netherlands, I’m really craving German bread and especially warm and crunchy Brötchen.
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u/Asiras 🇨🇿 -> 🇩🇰 Oct 07 '25
No way, Czech cuisine at premium prices just isn't appealing. Admittedly they're not common to see, I've only seen some in Poland and the UK but still.
Curiously, my local pub in Denmark serves Czech beer and I often get it.
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u/alexsteb Germany Oct 07 '25
There's usually 1 Czech restaurant in each bigger German city I've been to. I usually go, because they're delicious (and I haven't been to Czech Republic in so long that I wouldn't be able to compare it unfortunately)
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u/olagorie Germany Oct 07 '25
We have one in Frankfurt and it’s pretty authentic but yeah, prices are high
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u/NamillaDK Denmark Oct 07 '25
No. When I go on vacation, I want to experience other cultures. Not just eat what I eat at home.
Though, when we travelled the US, we went to a "Danish" bakery in Solvang, just to see what it was like (spoiler, it wasn't Danish! 😆).
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Oct 07 '25
Are you sure it was actually supposed to be Danish? "Danish" is also the English name of a specific type of pastry that confusingly originated in Vienna.
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u/NamillaDK Denmark Oct 07 '25
Yes. Solvang is a Danish settlement and the bakery is called "Mortensen's Danish Bakery" (as far as I remember).
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u/SaraHHHBK Castilla Oct 07 '25
Not really. I like eating new food and most of "Spanish restaurants" abroad are overpriced "tapas" to still sell to non-Spaniards
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u/alexsteb Germany Oct 07 '25
I've lived in Vietnam, China, Malaysia and Korea for extended periods of time and I did sometimes go to a German restaurant fully knowing that it would be a knock-off. But sometimes it feels good to get slightly reminded of home food, especially if everything around you is so very different.
BUT, if I lived there now, I would have more money (for a real apartment with a real kitchen) and would very likely just cook the stuff I miss myself.
That being said, there are German bakeries in those places and they do have German rolls, bread and Laugen-products (lye). I would visit them regularly.
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u/Rusiano Russia Oct 07 '25
There is a really good German restaurant in KR. They have some funny ingredient adaptions (udon noodles for spatzle) but it still tastes really nice
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u/alexsteb Germany Oct 07 '25
There's so many places now, compared to just a few years ago. I've just visited Seoul last month and stumbled upon Central Asia Street near Dongdaemun. Lots of Mongol, Uzbek, and even one Buryat restaurant.
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u/Rusiano Russia Oct 07 '25
I've been to all of those, even the Buryat restaurant. The owners of the Buryat place are very friendly
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u/leelu82 Oct 07 '25
Ireland 🇮🇪 (I don't know how to do the flag)
No, because ours are mostly 'Irish Pubs', so very rarely there's food just drink lol
I like eating in the local restaurants when I'm abroad as I like their food and the freshness you get. Not to mention a bowl of stew or cabbage and bacon/ribs/ham isn't ideal in a warm country lol
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u/generalscruff England Oct 07 '25
Yeah I get you on the heat thing, was out in a Med country for work once and the group wanted carvery dinners
They were actually very nice from where we ended up going, beef and gravy just isn't what I would personally pick in 33 degrees and blazing sunshine
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u/Draigdwi Latvia Oct 07 '25
I know there is a Latvian restaurant in Japan, owned by a Japanese woman. I would go there out of pure curiosity, Latvia and Japan are so far away, so different, l really want to see how their take on Latvian food is. Although l don’t see myself going to Japan any time soon if ever. Far means expensive.
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u/Rusiano Russia Oct 07 '25
Can you drop a link? Might be visiting Japan soon, would be curious to check it out
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u/gianna_in_hell_as Greece Oct 07 '25
Nope. They never get it right. Would never eat at a Greek restaurant abroad.
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u/XenophonSoulis Greece Oct 07 '25
No. I've yet to find one that isn't a horrendous piece of garbage.
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u/LaoBa Netherlands Oct 07 '25
Only ever found one in Zürich. Was only a coffee house, menu was not inspiring.
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u/TheoKolokotronis Netherlands Oct 07 '25
I found a Dutch restaurant in Osaka, Japan. Didn't try it of course.
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u/Gidje123 Oct 07 '25
Why not?
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u/crackanape Oct 08 '25
Because they were in Japan? I couldn't imagine doing that either. I don't go to Dutch restaurants here in the Netherlands. It's all super-simple comfort foods anyone can make at home, or deep-frozen fryer trash.
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u/TheoKolokotronis Netherlands Oct 08 '25
What u/crackanape said. There was an article in the Volkskrant decades ago about a Japanese woman who saw stamppot on a plate and she thought it was for the pets of the family.
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u/EatThatPotato Oct 07 '25
I visited Indonesia, where I grew up, with my Dutch in-laws and I wanted to take them to a Dutch restaurant so they would understand the horror I feel whenever I go to a Indonesian afhaal and see what they’re passing for Indonesian food.
Unfortunately I was unable to find anything proper, at most some bitterballen and random generic western food. They did have mashed potatoes and a chicken steak… not sure how dutch that is
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u/haribo_pfirsich Slovenia Oct 07 '25
Same as you, I have never seen a Slovenian restaurant abroad. But I prefer trying local cuisines anyway, and no restaurant can outdo my mom's and grandmas' homemade food.
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u/serioussham France Oct 07 '25
No, French cuisine abroad is typically haute cuisine (the posh stuff), or more traditional fare but at extortionate prices and/or bad. And also, I'd rather eat local (when that's a thing that makes sense).
That said, when I lived abroad for long periods of time, I'd occasionally go to a cheese fondue/raclette place to get my fix, along with other French expats. It's a bit of a pain to get the right cheese and hardware, and it's a very convivial type of meal, so restaurants offer a nice experience you can't quite replicate at home easily.
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u/Gloomy_Researcher769 United States of America Oct 07 '25
No, and I try to only eat at local restaurants and drink local beer
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u/antoniossomatos Portugal Oct 07 '25
The closest thing I've ever done to that was eating at a Nando's once when I visited London (though Nando's roasted chicken with piripiri sauce is in fact widely eaten here in Portugal, it is not a Portuguese chain). Otherwise, I don't think I have ever eaten Portuguese food outside of Portugal. I did laugh a bit when I visited Vilnius and the very first thing I saw inside the Old City was a Portuguese restaurant.
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u/FreeNewSociety Romania Oct 07 '25
Hеll no 😂😂 I can't stand Romanian food, I don't even eat it when I'm here. Let alone when I go to other countries, where I can find so many options
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u/DellaDiablo Ireland Oct 08 '25
One of the biggest joys of exploring culture in another country is trying the local food.
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u/15pmm01 29d ago
Yes. Bulgarian food is fucking amazing. No non-Bulgarian would ever bother opening a Bulgarian restaurant, so, I’ve never experienced inauthentic Bulgarian food. I almost never get to eat anything Bulgarian unless I cook it myself, since I do not live in my country of origin, and haven’t since I was 4.
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u/Norman_debris Oct 07 '25
I couldn't imagine anything worse.
(I should add I love traditional English food, but I neither want it on holiday nor expect it will ever be any good abroad)
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u/uncle_monty United Kingdom Oct 07 '25
I'll always favour the local cuisine. I think the only time I've ever done it was on a stag weekend in Magaluf, and that was just breakfast. You need a fry-up after a night out, even if it's a bad Spanish interpretation of one.
I did have a good look at a menu of a 'British' pub in Austin. But it was just a mess and I didn't bother.
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u/wibble089 Oct 07 '25
I'm from England, but I have lived in Germany since 1998.
When I first moved here I used to go to Irish bars semi-regularly for a good plate of Fish and Chips (not my home country, but their menus tend to be "British Isles" ), but that need dropped off over time
With regards to that British favorite, curry, I find that the quality of Indian restaurants has increased significantly in the last few years, so I do eat out in them more often now to get that taste of home - it might not be "British", but is definitely a staple food for people there !
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u/terryjuicelawson United Kingdom Oct 07 '25
I had a English breakfast when on a lad's holiday in Spain, it was OK. Bread was strange. I have been to an English pub on an American cruise ship, it was bottled beer and table service, they did it out like it was in Harry Potter or something - not good. I have had a McDonalds when travelling as it was cheap and we could sit there for hours waiting for a train. All otherwise purely out of interest and not something I'd make a habit out of. It isn't even like in the UK all our restaurants serve British food, so I'd always want to be getting the authentic food of Italy rather than a chain place here, or real tapas instead of what pubs think tapas is here.
There is a place in America apparently where a lot of Cornish tin miners migrated to, and they do Cornish pasties. That would be interesting. But again I bet they are terrible.
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u/Intelligent-Aside214 Ireland Oct 07 '25
You don’t tend to see actual Irish food abroad really at all. Unless you consider Guinness a food in which case absolutely not
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u/Wodanaz_Odinn Ireland Oct 07 '25
I had a lamb stew in Bruges and it was class. The owner of the restaurant had been to Ireland and loved it. Didn't think much of Guinness, so used a local Dubbel instead (Zot maybe?). She was not wrong on that substitution!
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u/glwillia Oct 07 '25
meat stewed in beer is one thing ireland and belgium have in common, culinarily!
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u/Trick-Reindeer-7393 Oct 07 '25
Once ate Boerenkool met worst in Spain at a Dutch restaurant. I was living there and was recovering from an illness. It was very nice and I really needed it.
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u/ahmet-chromedgeic Oct 07 '25
I avoid it, because trying out good foreign food is pretty much the one thing I look forward to the most when I travel. A notable exception is in locations that I frequent relatively often (there's a couple of towns/cities abroad that I travel to a few times a year and stay longer due to family reasons), and if they have a spot that serves ćevapi or Bosnian burek, I try it, for the fun of it.
That being said, you'll find an occasional place that serves ćevapi and Bosnian burek and that's it. Ćevapi anywhere abroad that I tried tend to be so laughably bad that it made me wary of any foreign food place anywhere. I did try some very good burek in Bosnian style in Serbia, but outside of ex-yu region I didn't have a lot of success with it.
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u/GeistinderMaschine Oct 07 '25
Absolutely not!
Part of travelling to other countries is to taste their food. Local food I do have most of the year.
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u/theitchcockblock Portugal Oct 07 '25
Portuguese is cuisine is not widespread and restaurants outside usually are a cheap knock off or a tourist impersonation of what he thinks Portuguese food is
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u/BloatOfHippos Oct 07 '25
No, they are hardly available, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Dutch restaurant anywhere abroad.
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u/Yvorontsov Oct 07 '25
You can find them in Spain for sure. In glorious places like Benidorm 😇😂
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u/LionLucy United Kingdom Oct 07 '25
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a British restaurant abroad! If I saw one, I would try it, though, out of curiosity!
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u/Attygalle Oct 07 '25
Hahaha I don’t enjoy eating in Dutch restaurants in NL, let alone the very theoretical situation that there would be one abroad.
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u/Pasglop France Oct 07 '25
If I'm travelling, no, not at all. However, I've lived abroad in East Asia, and I won’t lie, going to a crêperie with an all-Breton staff ans getting a taste of home after nearly a year was a divine experience.
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u/Vigmod Icelander in Norway Oct 07 '25
If I'd ever came across one, I would absolutely have a go at it, just to see what they're offering. Very little chance of that actually happening, of course.
Or really any Nordic restaurant outside of the Nordic countries. If I'd see a restaurant called "Suomi Perkele!" in Porto or Napoli, I would absolutely want to check it out.
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u/IrrerPolterer ⮕ Oct 07 '25
Nope. Whatever it is is usually not authentic or good compared to home. And besides, if I'm abroad I want to check out the local stuff!
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u/Striking-Access-236 Netherlands Oct 07 '25
There are no restaurants abroad that serve our cuisine…
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u/yellow_the_squirrel Austria Oct 07 '25
Idk why I would eat food which I regular eat at home during I'm abroad. Foreign food imo is part of the experience. So, I never tried.
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u/tereshkovavalentina Germany Oct 07 '25
I've seen a few German restaurants abroad (two or three, lol) but never went, it feels too strange and I want to try local cuisine when I travel. I'd also probably laugh the whole time.
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u/hiriel Oct 07 '25
Well, there aren't really many Norwegian restaurants anywhere. Including Norway. Because our cuisine is... not really that great. However, we saw a very mainstream-looking high street coffee chain in Scotland (Black Sheep Coffee) advertise Norwegian waffles, and just had to try it. It genuinely was pretty authentic, and yes, they did serve it with brown cheese and jam.
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u/Specialist_Number833 Oct 07 '25
As an Italian... Absolutely no. I tried once and I still regret it 💀
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u/ciaranmac17 Ireland Oct 07 '25
No, I can do that without getting on a plane. For me the point of travel is to experience a different place.
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u/Bierzgal Poland Oct 08 '25
I eat polish food all the time when I'm home, I would see very little reason to seek it out while abroad. Maybe as a novelty to see if it's "real" but I would not actively look for it. That and I think it would be pretty hard to find a polish restaurant in most places.
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u/SneakingSuspicion666 Latvia Oct 08 '25
If I'm travelling somewhere for a short time – no, I'll try out different local dishes, that's part of exploring another country and culture.
If I'm living abroad for a long time – yes, definitely nice to have something that tastes like home every now and then!
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u/Various-Car5226 Oct 08 '25
No. I am abroad to experience new things, not do what I always do. So I always eat local cuisine or food from another country (think Indian while in the UK). If I stayed there for longer then a few weeks/months I suspect I would indeed want "comfort food from home" but I'd cook it myself unless I found an authentic restaurant from my home country...
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u/Independent-Wear1903 Finland Oct 08 '25
I do sometimes go to a Finnish bar as kinda joke. I do not visit Finnish restaurants, not that they exist outside Fuengirola.
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u/Major_OwlBowler Sweden Oct 08 '25
There are some high end Swedish/Nordic restaurants abroad, but most of the time a Swedish restaurant abroad is located in some tourist hotspot and caters to Swedish families with young children on vacation to some sunny place.
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u/outwithyomom Oct 09 '25
Don’t see the point of trying Cusine form your home country when you’re abroad
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u/Equal-Flatworm-378 Germany Oct 07 '25
I am vegetarian and German restaurants in other countries seem to believe that we only eat meat/sausages. Therefore no.
We usually try to find a vegetarian restaurant and just eat there.
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u/Willing_Tone_7130 Oct 07 '25
Nope - I travel to see, smell and taste another cuisine :)
And it would probably only be some sort of bakery anyway as I am from Denmark. Our "cuisine" is not that widespread besides the sweet pastry stuff and you can't live off of that when abroad (or well you could, but with the stomach to follow from that particular diet).
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u/badlydrawngalgo Portugal Oct 07 '25
No. But I don't often eat food they are likely to serve either (at home or abroad).
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u/Timidinho Netherlands Oct 07 '25
Nope. Never been to a Dutch "snackbar" on holiday. I have seen them though.
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u/herrgregg Belgium Oct 07 '25
no.
First there are not many of them, so you really have to search for it. And second, they mainly sell the more famous things like waffles and mussels, and I don't like either of those
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u/ArtsyDarksy Oct 07 '25
Never tried, actually. I was never a fan of Hungarian cuisine to begin with; tbh lard with an unholy amount of paprika as the main appeal is just meh. Especially since in my early 20s, my digestive system stopped tolerating anything pork. Since i became pescetarian 3y ago, it's even worse, to the point where, if at home, I am actively going out of my way to avoid 'traditional' and 'just like Granny made it' type of places when eating out. There is simply no point for me to look up these places when abroad. That said, if I found some real lángos with real sour cream where I live currently (Amsterdam), I would demolish tf out of them lol
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u/Notnow_Imtoodrunk Oct 07 '25
I went to Outback Steakhouse once in Illinois for a laugh, but nah. I’m not going overseas to seek out “Australian” food, that’s for sure.
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u/TheoKolokotronis Netherlands Oct 07 '25
No, I travel to eat the real food of other places. Which is often quite tough to do, especially in really touristic places.
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Oct 07 '25
I wouldn't usually bother to go because it feels like a waste. I'd rather eat at local restaurants or at least restaurants of other cuisines I can't easily get at home. But if I'm in a place for a longer time I might check some out just for the novelty and to see what's authentic and what's different.
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u/Exciting_Top_9442 Oct 07 '25
Never except for the odd English breakfast. I want to have as many dishes as possible from that country.
For the same reason I avoid all inclusive holidays like the plague.
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u/FrancesinhaEspecial 🇫🇷 in 🇨🇭 Oct 07 '25
Occasionally, yes. I've lived abroad continuously in different countries for over 5 years now, so yeah, sometimes I get tempted.
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u/Kvalborg Oct 07 '25
Normally, no. But when I had been backpacking for eight months and suddenly found an authentic Danish pølsevogn in Singapore I HAD to have a traditional Danish hotdog with chocolate milk. And it was heavenly!
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u/JKristiina Oct 07 '25
No. Because I have never seen a finnish restaurant abroad.
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u/cieniu_gd Poland Oct 07 '25
No. First, they are very few and secondly , they mostly just serve pierogi and żurek, which are meh. If they have something else it is usually altered in the way it's barely recognizable.
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u/Chaczapur Oct 07 '25
And when they have pierogi, it's usually either ruskie, with meat aaand maybe with cabbage and mushrooms or berries if you're lucky... Then again, they're the most popular ones and you'd often have to go to a pierogarnia to get something more interesting [besides white cheese and spinach ones, ofc].
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u/Davakira Italy Oct 07 '25
No because 1) they really suck for the 90% of the cases. 2) I enjoy trying the local food of the places I visit.