TDG #029: 58 Weeks and 24 Countries in 10 Meals

Ten memorable meals I can't stop thinking about.

“What’s the weirdest thing you ate?”

It’s a common question along with the other Pulitzer-winning ones like “How was it?” and “What was your favorite country?"

But the answer is definitely the guinea pig in Ecuador.

Sure, there was other weird stuff, but I usually go with the guinea pig to make people squeamish and wildly uncomfortable. Also, it was pretty delicious (and homegrown, too!).

Anyway, one of the fun games Steph and I like to play is reminiscing about all the different foods we ate across the 58 weeks and 24 countries on the road. You might be inclined to think we were eating and drinking all day, gorging ourselves on the finest culinary delights of whatever locale we were in - but sadly, we were too poor for that. Instead, many nights were spent cooking at home to save money and for therapeutic relief; I find healing in cooking.

But we did eat pretty damn well and had many memorable meals. But there are a handful that stick out. So here's an unordered list (or not-so-subtle flex) of the best things I've eaten across the last year. Some are generic, some are specific, but all are delicious.

It's worth noting that few (if any) of these meals were found in "best restaurants" guides. Rather, most of these were found by just showing up, talking to strangers, and being open to the experience. You have to risk a bad meal to have a great one.

*There are no pictures here because I’m incapable of taking good pictures of food. I’ve tried, and I can’t do it.

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Garlic Soup Bratislava, Slovakia

Slovakia was home to one of the biggest culinary surprises of the trip. I had no idea what to expect of Bratislava, let alone what I would eat there, but I figured it would fall squarely along the "Potato Europe" lines.¹

During our first meal, one of our friends ordered garlic soup from the menu - it was creamy (but not too rich), garlic-y goodness inside a crusty bread bowl. Pure comfort food; put this and a beer in front of me on a cold winter night, and I’m happy. After that revelation, the hunt was on to devour all the garlic soup in the city. The best was from 17's Bar, hands down.

Parrillas/Bodegónes Argentina

It’s no surprise the Argentines do steak well. But knowing they do and experiencing it firsthand are two different things entirely. The parrilla/bodegón is a neighborhood grill that serves your three basic food groups: meat, wine, and a simple salad. That's it.

The most notable is the entraña, the equivalent of a skirt steak. But the way the asadors cook the entraña in Argentina is a work of art. Couple that with spoonfuls of chimichurri, and you've reached nirvana, my friend.

The other crowd-pleaser is the choripan - bread, chorizo, and chimichurri. So simple, but so good. There's something about that Argentine chorizo and chimichurri combination that can't be beaten.

Terracotta Restorant Tirana, Albania

This small, unsuspecting restaurant in Tirana served the best meal I ate in the 58 weeks on the road. It's called Terracotta Restorant, located on the far west side of the Blloku neighborhood.

There's no menu, but not in a prix fixe kind of way. When you're ready and seated, the owner (who's also waiting tables) will come up and recite the various menu options for the day. All of it was incredible, but by far, the winner was this crispy pork cheek and burrata pasta - fuck was that thing good. The singular best thing I ate across 20+ countries.

Fried Porcinis and Alba White Truffles Piedmont, Italy

One of my biggest goals in life is to make my girlfriend, Steph, eat mushrooms. If you think I’ve set my goals too low, you’re wrong. Whenever I see them on the menu, and before I can even think about ordering them, she gives me the nastiest look. But I’m happy to report there has been progress!

In the northwest corner of Italy, the Piedmont region is the defacto home to the mushroom. If you go in the Fall, you’ll hit Piedmont at the mushroom harvesting season, perfect for people who love gorging on autumnal cuisine - namely the famous Alba White Truffle and the delicious Porcini. Of course, being the person she is, these are the only two forms of mushroom that Steph has ever willingly eaten - shaved white truffles on Piedmontese tajarin (butter pasta) or fried freshly harvested porcini mushrooms. Typical.

The Mushroom Burger from K’an K’an San Cristóbal, Mexico

At least, that was until we went to San Cristobal, Mexico. In this small town in the highlands of Chiapas, is K'an k'an, a vegetarian restaurant that grows its own mushrooms for use in burgers, tacos, quesadillas, etc. We tried a few mushroom dishes, but the burger was something special.

You need no other information aside from the fact that not only could Steph eat a whole one of these by herself, she also craved it. In fact, the last time we went there, they only had one mushroom burger left for the day, and I let her have it. That's true love.

C.A.N.C.H.A. Buenos Aires, Argentina

The Italians and the Argentines have a spiritual and culinarily connection. Of course, that includes pizza. Though I have to say, the Argentine style of pizza isn't exactly my favorite - a little too much dough, a little too sloppy. Just not quite right. Don't get me wrong, after a few glasses of red wine, cheese on bread in any form will do the trick.

But one place in Buenos Aires that does pizza right is C.A.N.C.H.A. in the Villa Crespo neighborhood. - I dream about this pizza. If I had to describe it, I'd say it leans more Neapolitan, but it's not quite that either. The dough is light, chewy, and crispy all at the same time. Our friends even met us in Buenos Aires, and one, who is a New Yorker, put C.A.N.C.H.A. in her top five all-time (!!). They have a few different rotating types, all of which are awesome, but specifically the "Strata," which is stracciatella cheese, basil, and tomato sauce. Simple, elegant, perfect.

The Francesinha Porto, Portugal

This monstrosity of a sandwich is a Porto specialty consisting of wet-cured ham, linguiça, fresh sausages like chipolata, steak or roast meat, melted cheese, a thick spiced tomato sauce, and beer sauce. Oh, and it's served with French fries.

Steph and I made a video about finding the best francesinhas in Porto and had to give up halfway through because we couldn't eat them all. But does one sound good right now? Yes, yes it does.

Ćevapčići The Balkans

There are many words for this kind of pork, lamb, and beef sausage: ćevapčići, ćevapi, qebapa, and many, many more. It’s a testament to the region's rich cultural and linguistic history that I dearly love.

But whatever you want to call it, is there anything better than a good sausage? I think not. I've had them in Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovenia. Typically, it's served with some flatbread (as a sandwich or on the side), some yogurt sauce, minced onion, and salt - I would be perfectly happy eating ćevapčići all day, every day. It's such a no-frills meal; you can sit down at any grill, order ćevapčići (or local variant) and a beer, and just be happy.

Qifqi Girokastër, Albania

One of this trip's other big culinary surprises was qifqi from Gjirokastër, Albania. It’s always a delight finding hyper-regional specialties in a country. Qifqi are fried rice balls made with cooked rice, eggs, dried mint, olive oil, salt, and black pepper. They are incredibly simple but extremely cozy and so delicious. They’re also vegetarian!

Time for a confession.

Steph, myself, and a friend we met on a bus found ourselves in Gjirokastër for a few nights last January. Since it was winter and we were virtually the only tourists in the city, there weren't many restaurants open for dinner. We were walking the small historic downtown, trying to find some grub. This small restaurant had a couple of lights on, but other than that, it felt closed. But the owner/chef was standing outside, and after some eye contact, pointing, and head nods, we were beckoned in.

The chef took a few minutes to make room for us and clear off some tables - the restaurant felt like it hadn't seen a patron in a few days, and admittedly, we were internally questioning our decisions. But the chef was extremely earnest, so we thought, what the hell, let’s take a seat. A few minutes later, there we were, just the three of us in this little restaurant eating the best damn qifqi we'd had.

That was a great meal.

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Some Other Stuff to Read

I loved reading this obituary for a quiet life.

CNN put out this fun retrospective on physical boarding passes, which are, unsurprisingly, being phased out. I wish I had kept more of my old boarding passes from over the years, but alas, our younger selves don’t do well with foresight. Do you collect boarding passes? If so, what do you do with them?

Here’s a story about TikTok emptying an Albanian town. I’m genuinely not too sure what to make of this.

It really does feel like the easy days of flying are truly over. The same goes for airline points. I used to, and still do, collect and play the airline and credit card point game. But between the changes to airline loyalty programs and the taxes and fees, it just all feels less worth it. I always opted for quantity over quality (business or first-class) - my favorite redemption used to be using Aer Lingus Avios to book a 26,000-point roundtrip flight from Washington, D.C., to Dublin (and from there a $5 Ryanair flight to wherever). Recently, I booked a flight from Seattle to London roundtrip for 40,000 points and $200, and that felt…fine? I guess airlines are banks nowadays.

Brendan Leonard shows you how to make the perfect cup of coffee.

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That’s it for this week, friends. After a few weeks in California, I’ve finally made it back to Seattle, Washington. We’re staying with friends/family until we find an apartment and sign a lease here in the next few weeks. Apartment hunting is exhausting!

But two nights ago, we took an impromptu camping trip with some friends, which was incredibly refreshing. After being away for so long, it’s easy to forget how beautiful it is in the Pacific Northwest; I’m fortunate to call it home.

Anyway, thanks for reading and hanging out this week.

Cheers,

Skylar

1. An accurate depiction of Europe.