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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

I'm gonna narrow this down to two categories because many foods could land on this list

Pizza: either Chicken Bacon Ranch or parmesan sauce pizza (also called Asiago). Recently discovered the latter and I honestly can't go back to red sauce

Chinese Food: Crispy Honey Chicken from my local Golden Rice restaurant. They're wildly old-school, drive thru with paper menus, a menu taped on the window and no modern drive thru. They used to be a dine-in location but last I knew they closed that part of the restaurant. They own my soul with their Crab Rangoons and once I tried the CHC, i never looked back

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.

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.

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.

Fried rice at a greasy spoon diner chain restaurant in the Osaka area.

Probably the equivalent of someone saying the best food they've ever had was a Moons Over My Hammy, but it is what it is 🤷

kashkeh bademjan

A pizza my parrot ordered. May have been a shoe.

It's really hard to say it's the best, but the most memorable bite I've ever had was my first bite of Japanese F1 Wagyu at Jean Georges in Las Vegas.

Now, I am not a foodie, and I don't often dine at Vegas steak houses, so I don't claim any kind of refined palate.

That first bite defied all expectations about what steak was or even what meat could be. I know this sounds crazy, but in many ways it had more in common with candy than with the cow it came from - but it wasn't sweet.

Clearly I am stymied in my attempts to describe such a memorable bite, because it was so unlike anything else I can relate it to, but suffice to say it was amazing.

I had a really good meatball sub when I was like 10 and I still think about it on occasion

I ordered a Japanese Poke Bowl once. It was rather pricey but holy fuck it was good. I don't remember the exact ingredients, but I think it was sushi rice, mushrooms, dried shallots, salmon, fermented quail eggs,... Don't remember the veggies but man the combination of flavors and textures was just chef's kiss

Chef in a small town in a small town in Montana made ham hocks as a special. IIRC, he said that shit was slow cooked overnight for like 14 hours. I've never had pork that good since.

I am having trouble identifying one as best. But made gumbo one year for Christmas that can only be described as perfect. My foodie lawyer brother in law said best he had ever eaten, and our family is mostly from New Orleans so all of us have had good gumbo. That meal, with gumbo, red beans & rice, is up there.

Restaurants-wise, there was a Peruvian place a chef opened a couple of towns south of us, and everything he cooked was ridiculously delicious, out of this world. We went there like ten years ago, and still talk about it. Even the house made salad dressing was one of the best tasting foods I've eaten. It closed, we can't find the chef. We had salad, a chicken dish, tuna, and bananas foster.

Freshly caught trout. All I did was fry it in butter or something but man... fish caught minutes ago is on a higher plane.

Also lasagna sans carne.

Mom's Lasagne

Avocado toast on sourdough with a crispy fried egg on top.

Watermelon Sugar

It's heavily hyped, but authentic A5 Wagyu. It's so rich you can really only enjoy a tasting portion, a few ounces at most (which for the price is all you should get anyway). It practically dissolves in your mouth.

Cheese cake at Lackland AFB. Damn that was good.

The Avocado Tartine (+ Poached Egg) from Tartine Bakery here in California.

I'm a carnivore, through-and-through... but that $20 piece of avocado toast is orgasmic.

Second place: Tacos de Pastor de Trompo from this little stand in Ensenada (Baja, Mexico). I'm not sure if it's even still there, but those tacos were ecstasy.

Tiramisou

Indian anything

"Arabisches Reiterfleisch" after a long day out in the woods when I was at the "Pfadfinder" like scouts. Its a mix of bolognaise (vegan today), apples, pickle, potatos and more.

At a local Italian place called Ozzie’s, they used to have a crab pasta that is easily my favorite dish from any restaurant I’ve ever been to (like lick the plate good). They took it off the menu about 15 years ago, and I was so devastated that I think I actually felt my soul leave my body when the waiter told me. He had to give me a few minutes to mourn, and to this day I still feel sad/hopeful when I go back in and look at the menu. Fuck. Now I’m sad again.

Hard to choose, ever changing. Right now it's probably the chocolate and walnuts pastel that I used to eat downtown.

The jerk chicken from 3 dives in Negril, Jamaica. It might be influenced by set and setting with a gorgeous sunset and being extra hungry after getting all extra loose at Rick’s cafe but it’s one of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had. That or the earl gray brined double pork chop at Perry’s in Puyallup, Wa. Or my own recipe for “bacon beer cheese soup poured over ripped up Dill rye toast.” Or ….. I better stop here

I followed Binging With Babish’s recipe for Cubanos (from the Jon Favreau movie “Chef”) to the T and it came out like the BEST sandwich you could ever imagine.

I tried it first with french bread and was sorely disappointed. I found a local baker who made pan cubano sandwich rolls to order. 100000000/10 would go to a stupid amount of effort to make one sandwich again.