The first time I saw L’As du Fallafel on a list of the best places to eat in Paris, my reaction was basically “falafel in Paris?? Get the hell out of here.”
The second time, I was like “did you not hear me? I said get the hell out of here.”
The third and fourth time, I decided to start paying attention.
I mentioned, in my last post, that they’re pretty seafood crazy here in Hamburg. Specifically, they seem to really love fish sandwiches, because pretty much everywhere you go near the water, there are about a million different vendors serving them up.
Prepare yourself: this is going to be one of those posts where I rave about something that I ate, and where you think “jeez, this guy needs to get a grip.”
Because I just ate a kebab sandwich from Rüyam Gemüse Kebab, and holy frigging moly you guys. Holy frigging moly.
There’s a place back in Toronto called Porchetta and Co. that serves what was, up until now, the best porchetta that I’ve ever had. I had kind of assumed that it was porchetta perfection; I honestly didn’t think it could be topped.
It has been topped. Sorry, Porchetta and Co.: your porchetta sandwich is officially garbage.
So here’s a thing that happens a bunch in Portugal. You’ll head to a restaurant, all excited to try whatever dish they’re known for; you’ve walked a few kilometres to get there, and oh, what’s this? Yeah, they’re closed for the next three weeks. Apparently Portuguese chefs love to shut down for the month of August.
This recently happened to me (for the third or fourth time), and so I was wandering around looking for something to eat. I very quickly (and fortuitously) stumbled on a park that just happened to be hosting the Porto Food Festival.
If you were under the impression that over-the-top gut-busting meals are the sole domain of the United States, prepare to be proven wrong, sir. Because here in Porto, there’s an insane sandwich that’s just as artery-clogging as anything you’ll find at the carnival.
I was walking back to the Airbnb the other day, and I passed a storefront that was just three vending machines in a small space — two were pretty standard (drinks, chips, etc.), and the third had a variety of hot sandwiches like fried chicken, burgers, and the one I tried, kebab.
Two thoughts immediately crossed my mind:
You know what’s better than eating one bifana? Eating two bifanas. And you know what’s even better than that? Eating three.
I spoke the other day about the joys of random discovery; you can add this to the supporting documentation for that argument.